“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.”