“Those who saw this supreme batting artist at his peak will never
forget him - sinewy wrists transforming a slender piece of willow into a
magician's wand,” is how
cricinfo.com begins its profile on
him. One couldn’t have asked for a better introduction. That’s Mohammed
Azharuddin for you. When the term class in Indian batting was confined
to Sunil Gavaskar in the mid-80s, arrived the lanky Hyderabadi who
combined elegance and aggression to stamp his authority on bowlers.
While watching the trailers of Azharuddin’s biopic
Azhar
that releases this Friday, one is pleasantly hit by a bout of nostalgia.
An illustrious career that was brought to an abrupt end after the
match-fixing allegations surfaced, the former Indian captain’s legacy
though can never be forgotten. Somebody who has grown up watching
Azhar’s skills with the bat would admit he was in a different league.
If David Gower’s England faced Azhar’s brilliance in 1984, it was
Javed Miandad’s Pakistan which witnessed his craftsmanship at Melbourne
in the Benson & Hedges World Championship in February 1985. Thanks
to Azhar’s match-winning partnership with his captain Gavaskar, India
weathered the initial storm unleashed on it by Imran Khan to romp home.
India maintained an unbeaten streak to eventually win the trophy --- a
much-needed impetus the team needed after losing the Test series to
Gower’s England.
Azhar in his early days was compared to GR Vishwanath, the legendary
former Indian cricketer whose prowess over his wrists is still talked
about. But Azhar carved a niche of his own despite the comparisons.
His
love affair with the Eden Gardens where he played his first Test is part
of history. With three tons in his first three Test matches, Azhar had
announced his arrival. Recall some of his memorable knocks in the
five-day format---- 179 against England at Manchester (1990), 106
against Australia at Adelaide (1992), 109 against South Africa at Eden
Gardens (1996) and 115 against South Africa at Cape Town (1997) remain
special. Many wouldn’t know that he also scored a hundred in his last
Test match (99th) at Bengaluru in 2000 against the Proteas. Sad, he was
denied the chance of playing his 100th Test match.
In One-day internationals (ODIs) the stylish right-hander’s average
of 36.92 may not justify his talent, but his attacking batting has been
an asset for his team on several occasions. He had the distinction of
making the fastest ODI ton when he hammered a 62-ball hundred against
New Zealand in 1988. Who can forget his 93 against Australia in the 1992
World Cup at Brisbane though for a lost cause? With 22 tons in 99
Tests and 7 in 334 ODIs, Azhar’s achievements cannot be put on the
backburner.
As a captain, his statistics are ordinary as compared to Sourav
Ganguly’s or MS Dhoni’s, especially in Tests. Nevertheless as a leader
he has served Indian cricket in his unique way. An Indian whitewash
against Graham Gooch’s England in 1993 after the disastrous tour to
South Africa brought Indian cricket back on track. Azhar also led India
to the Hero Cup win in 1993. He spotted a match-winner in Anil Kumble
who has won innumerable matches for India. It was under Azhar’s
captaincy that Sachin Tendulkar took the first step towards greatness
and Ganguly and Rahul Dravid made their Test debuts. Javagal Srinath
became the leader of the Indian pace battery under the watchful eyes of
Azhar.
We talk of Ganguly’s Team India’s historic Test series win over Steve
Waugh’s Australia in 2001, but we are almost oblivious to Azhar’s boys
beating Mark Taylor’s Aussies in 1998. True, Azhar may not have tasted
much of a success as a captain abroad, but he still remains the only
Indian to lead India in three consecutive World Cups (1992, 1996 and
1999). His record of 14 Test victories at the helm was broken by
Ganguly.
Beyond bating and captaincy, Azhar changed the face of Indian
fielding. What former Indian captain MAK Pataudi conceived, Azhar,
himself being an outstanding fielder, transformed it to practice.
And yes, he also brought attitude to Indian cricket. The collars up, a
style Azhar had emulated from his idol and another cricketing great,
the late ML Jaisimha, also from Hyderabad. Azhar’s fashion statement has
been the talk-of-the-town.
True the match-fixing scar on the maestro will be difficult to erase.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court may have removed the ban imposed on Azhar
by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), but he has lost
the trust of many of his fans and former teammates. Tendulkar’s two
tenures as a skipper were reportedly spoiled frequently by Azhar’s lack
of commitment and the distance between the two has only grown over the
years. But even Tendulkar wouldn’t turn a blind eye to Azhar’s class as a
cricketer. Ask VVS Laxman (also from Hyderabad) and he would have the
answer. The impeccable wrist work is a legacy that Laxman inherited from
his fellow Hyderabadi.
As senior sports journalist Rohit Brijnath had once written, “Much of
what is said about Mohammad Azharuddin is true and a lot is not. But
where myth met reality was hard to say, for he was hardly willing, or
able it seemed, to bare his soul. For a so-called “simple” fellow, a
defining term in his young days, he would become the most complex of
cricketing creatures.”
A captain who never hesitated to gift the costliest of watches to his
teammates, it’s shocking that he allegedly shunned ethics for money.
Azhar has never ever given his side of the story. Perhaps his biopic
will divulge many secrets. Even if he is at a fault, he has faced
hardships as well--- dropped from the team after 99 Test matches, two
divorces and sad demise of his son. But he stands tall. From our side,
we can only say, “
Shukriya miyan for the memories. You are an inspiration despite the controversies.”
