Well played Abid Ali!

In cricketing circles, 1971 is widely considered the year when Indian cricket came of age. That year, the team shocked everyone by winning back-to-back away series against the West Indies and England.

Fans who were resigned to seeing the national side lose matches with amazing regularity were pleasantly surprised with this sudden turn in fortunes.

The players were treated as heroes and feted accordingly, with individuals and organisations competing with each other to host events and dinners for them. Even now, a good five-and-half decades after that golden summer, old-timers still get goosebumps and turn emotional while talking about the accomplishments of Indian cricketers during these two tours.

Syed Abid Ali, who passed on March 12, was a member of the playing eleven for India during both the victories. He also holds the unique record of being in the middle when India won both these matches, with the winning stroke against England at Kensington Oval coming from his bat. He was also one of the six players who played in all the eight Test matches during the two series (five against West Indies and three against England).

He opened the bowling for India in all these Tests and batted mostly in the lower middle order, always coming up with useful performances when the side needed them. He was also a brilliant fielder, especially while standing close to the wicket, where he was part of the cordon led by Eknath Solkar, who lent an extra edge to the famed spin quartet. He was ahead of his time in physical fitness and remained in supreme shape throughout his entire career.

Born in September 1962 to a modest family in Hyderabad, Abid Ali faced considerable hardships during his early life. As the eldest of six siblings, it was his duty to contribute towards the family finances as well. His cricketing prowess earned him a job in the State Bank of Hyderabad.

In his younger days, he would wake up early in the morning to do his exercises, then go to the bank in the forenoon to work there, practice cricket in the afternoon and attend evening classes to complete his degree. It was a punishing schedule but he did not baulk from following it religiously every day till all his siblings could stand on their feet.

Initially, Abid Ali was considered as a wicket-keeper batsman, and he started bowling regularly only after making his debut in first-class cricket. Though his performances with the bat and the ball during the Duleep Trophy matches in 1967 were not outstanding, his commitment and all-round skills won him the support of skipper Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi while selecting the national squad for the tour of Australia and New Zealand. Abid Ali grabbed this opportunity with both hands and devised a string of memorable performances that justified Pataudi's trust and faith in his abilities.

On his debut in the first Test of the series against Australia, Abid Ali returned with match figures of 7 wickets for 116 runs (6 for 55 in the first and 1 for 61 in the second innings). His six-wicket haul in the first innings was to remain the best in his Test career.

He did not disappoint with the bat either, scoring 33 runs in each innings. Forced to open the innings in the remaining Tests, Abid Ali took his time to find his groove but came up knocks of 78 and 81 in the last match of the series at Sydney. Thus, his debut series, against the mighty Aussies in their own den, was by all accounts a successful one.

Abid Ali had a good start to the series against New Zealand that followed immediately thereafter. In the first Test, he took 4 wickets for 26 runs in the first innings and opened the batting for his side. But he failed to do anything spectacular with either the bat or the ball during the remaining three Tests. However, his overall performances during the eight Tests were such that he was hailed as one of the “finds” of the tour, along with Russi Surti, a left-handed all-rounder, who also equipped himself well in the twin series.

When New Zealand and Australia toured India in the winter of 1969-70, Abid Ali was expected to cement his place in the national squad. But, by a strange turn of fortunes, he lost his place after the first Test of the series against Australia. To be fair, he played in all the three Tests against New Zealand, where he opened the innings but he had only one half-century to show for his efforts. Since the pitches were prepared to help the spin bowlers, he did not have any chance of picking up many wickets.

In the first Test against Australia he batted in the lower middle order and failed miserably. As a result, he was dropped from the side. Solkar took over his place as a lower order batsman who could also bowl medium pace.

At this juncture, a word needs to be told about the opening batsmen that India had during the 1960s. It may surprise many to know that, after the exit of Nari Contractor from the scene in 1962, the task of performing the specialised job of opening the innings was given to batsmen who were more equipped to bat in the middle order during this decade. In this manner, Dilip Sardesai, ML Jaisimha, Farokh Engineer and Ashok Mankad, who had all started their career as middle order batsmen were asked to open the innings in Tests. They acceded to this demand as this guaranteed them a place in the playing eleven. But none of them, except for Engineer, were really comfortable at the top of the order. Sardesai was all at sea against the Aussie fast bowlers during the series in 1967-68, during which Abid Ali was moved up in order to replace him.

Abid Ali moved down the order when Sardesai was brought back for the opening Test of the series against Australia in 1969-70. But, both of them failed with the bat and were dropped from the side for the rest of the series.

Abid Ali was back in the squad for the tour to West Indies in 1971, which boasted of having two new opening batsmen- Sunil Gavaskar and Kenia Jayantilal, besides Ashok Mankad. As Gavaskar and Mankad were ruled out for the first Test due to injury, Abid Ali was forced to open the innings again.

The emergence of Gavaskar at the top of the order from the next Test ensured that India could discard the policy of pitchforking middle order batsmen to this spot. In the second innings of this match, when India lost 3 quick wickets chasing a total of 124, Abid Ali was promoted in the batting order and stayed with Gavaskar until the winning runs were scored.

Incidentally, Abid Ali had given India a flying start in this match, clean bowling West Indies opening batsman Roy Fredricks with the very first ball of the Test. In the final Test of the series, when West Indies went all out to reach the target of 261 runs on the final day, it was Abid Ali who applied the brakes on the home team, clean bowling Rohan Kanhai and Gary Sobers off successive balls.

During the tour to England that followed, Abid Ali showed his skills with the ball by reducing England to 41 for 4 wickets in the first innings of the second Test, with a controlled spell of seam bowling in helpful conditions.

He did not have any tall scores or big returns with the ball other than this, but he proved his worth to the side whenever the need arose. It was his good fortune that Gundappa Viswanath, who had taken India to the brink of a historic win at the Oval in the final Test, had a rush of blood and threw away his wicket when confronted with the innocuous bowling of Brian Luckhurst. This brought Abid Ali to the crease and he brilliantly square cut the second ball he received for a boundary to seal the victory.

Abid Ali made no big contributions during the home series against England in 1972-73. But when India visited England in 1974, he provided one of the few bright spots that the side had in this series. He gave India a good start in the first Test by cheaply removing Geoff Boycott and John Edrich on the opening day of the match.

When India’s turn to bat came, he helped Gavaskar give some respectability with an 85-run stand for the eighth wicket. Abid Ali’s knock of 71 was recognised as a brilliant effort, given the conditions under which it was scored. However, he could not do much with the bat or the ball in the remaining two Tests, where India went down by huge margins.

When the West Indies toured India in 1974-75, Abid Ali lost his place in the squad after the first two tests. The arrival in the scene of Karsan Ghavri and Madan Lal, as well as the ease with which West Indian batsmen played him, would have been factors that influenced the decision of selectors not to give him another opportunity.

However, he played for India in the first World Cup in 1975, where his all-round skills were an asset to the side. This was seen during the crucial match against New Zealand, where he made 70 with the bat and bowled his full quota of 12 overs, conceding only 35 runs while taking 2 wickets. Despite this, India lost the match and went out of the championship, and Abid Ali did not play for the country again.

Abid Ali continued to play domestic first-class cricket for some more years. He made a spirited attempt to come back to the national side when England toured India in 1977-78 but could not find favour with the selectors. After retirement, he took up some coaching assignments before moving to the USA and settling down there. He was plagued by indifferent health during his later years. He once even had the mortification of reading his obituary when the Engineer mistakenly announced his demise from the commentator’s box, even as he was recovering from a heart surgery.

Wadekar, Sardesai, Bishen Bedi, and Solkar were among the six cricketers who played for India in all eight Tests in West Indies and England in 1971. They had left the world earlier, and now Abid Ali too joins them, leaving only Venkat behind. He will always be remembered as a doughty fighter who dedicated himself to the cause of Indian cricket during a critical phase in the game's history.

Well played Abid Ali! Rest in Peace.