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Flamboyant all-rounder of yore
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If the fielding is good, then even an ordinary side looks formidable
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Photo: K.R. Deepak
Syed Abid Ali
Contemporaries and those who have seen him play, recollect that he was a fleet-footed sprinter with the energy of a marathon runner and the heart of a lion. They also add that he would have been a perfect fit for Dhoni’s young devils. His game was tailor-made for the modern one-day cricket and T20. Syed Abid Ali, the gutsy all-rounder from Hyderabad, was rather pushed into the team to replace the then Indian captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who opted out due to injury, in the first test against Australia, 1967-68. He not only made the Australians struggle to claim six wickets for 55 runs on debut, but also scored 33 runs in each innings.
He surprised the Australians with his pace and bounce, which was relatively unknown till such time from an Indian test side.
Abid Ali played significant roles in India’s first-ever wins in the West Indies and in England in 1971. In the final test of the historic series against the West Indies, he clean bowled the legends Rohan Kanhai and Gary Sobers with in-dipping yorkers (then called shooters) with successive deliveries.
His heroics made cricketing greats like Frank Tyson and Gary Sobers walk up to him with a few words of appreciation.
The former international cricketer who has now donned the role of a coach for the Andhra Ranji team was here recently for a coaching camp to prepare the boys for the K.S. Subbiah Pillai Trophy.
On the role of coach he says, “A coach is a team builder. He is the central figure in a team. His basic role is to knit a side to a winning combination. And I am enjoying my job. The amount of commitment, involvement and positive response you get from willing learners is a unique experience.”
This is his second stint as coach for the Andhra team. In his very first outing, Abid Ali made the beleaguered Andhra team top the table in the south zone. He enjoys a lot of faith and respect from the young Andhra side.
He divides the game of cricket into three departments: Batting, bowling and fielding. “I give maximum importance to fielding. If the fielding is good, then even an ordinary side looks formidable. And to be a good fielder one should give emphasis to fitness. A good fielder stands out from the rest of the crowd,” he says.
Himself an electrifying fielder in his days, in a way he justifies the omission of a few senior players from the ODI side on the basis of poor fielding abilities. “A complete cricketer is the one who is good at any one of the departments in addition to fielding. A specialist batsman should essentially be a good fielder and similarly a specialist bowler should also be a good fielder. Look at Eknath Solkar, Ricky Ponting, Jonty Rhodes, Yuvraj Singh or Michael Clarke, they stand out mainly because of their fielding abilities. I am in total support of Sunil’s (Gavaskar) criticism of Munaf Patel. Fielding is an art and one has to enjoy it,” points out Abid Ali.
Talking of fast bowlers, he expressed satisfaction the way things are shaping up. “In our days the focus was on spin bowling and we produced legends in that art. Today there are a number of budding fast and medium fast bowlers knocking the doors. In Andhra itself we have a couple of good fast bowlers like Kalyan and Vijay Kumar. We have to carefully pick and groom them at the right time.” Giving a few tips to budding fast bowlers he adds, “A fast bowler should primarily concentrate on his run up, the whippy action and the follow through. .” The gutsy all-rounder was critical about the mushrooming of cricket academies. “Thanks to the immense popularity of the game, cricket academies have become money spinning academies and for some parents they are baby sitting avenues. We should focus on quality rather than quantity, ” he suggests.
Tears welled up on the veteran cricketer’s eyes while speaking about his cricketing days and his team mates. I am in touch with most of them like Bishen (Bedi), Prasanna (Erapalli) and Tiger (Pataudi), but I personally miss Jai (M.L. Jaisimha). He holds Jai in high esteem and considers his former state (Hyderabad) captain as the shrewdest cricketing brain he has ever come across.
Though he now lives in the US and shuttles down on short coaching assignments, he wishes to start his own academy and settle down in India permanently.
SUMIT BHATTACHARJEE
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