Syed Abid Ali, who represented India in 29 Tests from 1967 to 1974, has died in California aged 83. A medium pacer who was renowned for his high standards of fielding and lightning-fast running between the wickets, one of his greatest moments on the cricket field came with the bat: he hit the winning runs for India from No. 8
at The Oval in 1971 that would give India their first series triumph in England.
These runs came via a “square cut that never reached the boundary as it was engulfed by jubilant supporters charging onto the ground”, as
has been reported on ESPNcricinfo.
He finished with 47 wickets from his 29 Tests, including career-best figures of 6 for 55 in his debut innings
against Australia in Adelaide. His medium pace came with enough variations to test batters. He also recorded six Test-match fifties, including twin fifties
in Sydney later in that debut series.
Arguably, he could be classified as an allrounder, given those twin fifties came as an opener – two out of 21 Test innings he had at the top of the order. Those fifties in Sydney included “cavalier treatment of the new ball”, according to the
match report. Overall, he batted across the order for India, everywhere barring Nos. 4, 10 and 11. The majority of his Test innings, however – 20 out of 53 – came at No. 8.
Then, there were his impressive fitness levels and fielding. His ESPNcricinfo profile sums it up thus: “Abid Ali had the feet of a sprinter, the energy of a marathon runner and the will of a decathlete, but his misfortune was that he was born 20 years too early. His game was made to order for one-day cricket: he bowled brisk medium-pace, fielded outstandingly, and was a busy lower-order batsman who ran between the wickets as if on invisible skates.”
His pursuit of high levels of fitness came at a time when, of course, that was not the norm in cricket and helped him gain a reputation both as a close-in fielder and for his spot-on flat throws from the outfield. Former ESPNcricinfo columnist
V Ramnarayan, who was a young cricketer in Hyderabadi domestic circles when Abid Ali was in his prime,
wrote of him: “The punishing regimen of training he followed was often the subject of anecdotes, wildly exaggerated and embellished, but perfect entertainment in the evening after a long day at the ground.”
He was also quite a colourful character. Ramnarayan also wrote of him: “He was demonstrative in an age when most bowlers tended to hide their emotions. His appeals to God when he beat the edge, and his sardonic grins at batsmen blessed by the Lord – unfairly in Abid’s opinion – were sights to see and remember.”
Abid Ali never went on to establish himself as a premier name in Indian cricket, in part because he had the misfortune of being a bowler in the era of India’s famous spin quartet. He was a mainstay for Hyderabad, though, playing 212 first-class games across 20 seasons, taking 397 wickets at 28.55 and scoring 8732 runs with 13 hundreds and 41 fifties. He played his last Test match in December 1974, his last ODI in June 1975, and his last first-class game in 1978-79.
After his playing days, Abid Ali went on to coach Andhra at the Ranji Trophy, and also had stints with UAE and Maldives. At the time of his death, he was living in Tracy, California, with family.
