When I was studying for Engineering, I distinctly remember my
brown folder in which I would keep papers for submissions. At its cover - on
the top I had neatly stuck a half A4 size close pic of Mohammad Azharuddin with
his Reebok bat. The picture was cut with great care as and I took time and pain
to cut the part where Azhar’s body and bat was extracted. Those were also the
days when I had 3 Sportstar posters of Azhar in my room.
In the 90s, Sachin had truly arrived. It was natural that
Sachin was the declared love of most who followed cricket. However most of
these romantics of the game had another “forbidden love”. Mohammed Azharuddin.
For me he was my first love. In fact people of a certain vintage will hate to confess
their love for Mohammed Azharuddin in cricket and Sonali Bendre in films.
My first memories of cricket are from 1986 World cup and
there abouts. I remember a small booklet of Indian players representing India
in the world cup in the Hindi “Cricket Samrat”. It was mentioned on Azhar’s page
that during that time he was the only cricketer in the world to have scored 3
hundreds in his first 3 tests. As a matter of fact that record still holds till
such date.
We can talk about his
statistics and records. There is a bit of tragedy in there. He played 99 tests
for India. Not 100. But 99!!!! When he had
to be done with his career, he had played more ODIs than anyone else in the
history of cricket at that time. For a while he had been the most loved
cricketer in the country. There was an innocence about him, a shyness that was
startling, even irritating in an international superstar. He burst into tears
when sledged in Australia. He was God-fearing, polite, soft-spoken, modest -
all the qualities Indian fans love in a player. And he used the cricket bat
like a magic wand, seeming to merely wave it over the ball to send it to the
boundary. There was a gentleness to it; even the fiercest drives never screamed
or imitated tracer bullets. His wrists brought back memories of Gundappa
Viswanath and even Ranjitsinhji, especially for those like me who hadn't seen
these greats play. How could you not love him? And man did I love him!
One cannot talk about Azharuddin
and now talk about “Wrists” of M Azharuddin. The joint between the hand
and the forearm – the wrist – gives humans a degree of dexterity and
flexibility. When an artist leverages the benefits of the wrist and makes use
of this “rare” art, magic is created. Take the wrist-play out of Mohammad
Azharuddin and you would take away the soul from his batting. His batting
was delectable to the eye when he was in full flow. The struggles made him look
ordinary. But Azharuddin, throughout his career, was the harbinger of the hope
that a miracle was around the corner. When on song, he would decimate the
opposition, not with brute force, but with silken touch.
Similarly, one cannot talk
about M Azharuddin and then not speak of his fielding. He can extraordinary in gully.
His slip catching could only be matched by Mark Waugh till such day. The speed
with which he would reach the ball, the release of the ball with wrists from
back of the body …. Man there was a swagger even on the field. He definitely had
a swagger with his walk, his collar half up. This was however not the Viv
Richards kind of swagger. It was confident and yet not flamboyant. It was an Indian
swag which was confident but respectful to others.
When it comes to his best
innings people will point out the 1st 3 hundreds in Calcutta, Chennai
and Kanpur followed by 93 Not out on his ODI debut against Pakistan in Benson
and Hedges world championship or or his Adelaide hundred in 92. What I remember is his defiant innings in
1996 in Eden Gardens when he hit Lance Klusener for 4 fours in an over. India
lost that test and the series was on the line. Azhar scored a quick 163 in
Kanpur to set up 2-1 series win. Immediately in a month India was playing tests
in South Africa. In the 2nd test at Cape Town, Azhar and Sachin’s
partnership of 230 is the story for the ages. Azhar was at his aggressive best scoring
a 110 ball 115. Yes it was a test match. Such stories were not new with Azhar’s
batting. In 1988, Azhar smashed the then fastest ODI
So here was the rockstar of
Indian cricket who captained for a long period of time and yet when he scored a
test 100 in South Africa in his 99th Test, the Match fixing scandal
broke out. Not that this was totally unexpected. 81 All out chasing 120 at Bridgetown
was a reminder. Many in Indian cricket knew, India was losing matches it should
have one. The Hansie Cronje revelations and CBI report came with Tehalka
revelations. BCCI banned Azhar from playing for life. While the life ban was
lifted later but Azhar’s career came to an end diametrically opposite the way it
started. The heart break for fans like me was enormous. I lost my cricketing innocence.
I was disillusioned and didn’t watch the game for almost 6 months to a year. He
did not betray the country but every fan of his.
To make it worse, he has never
publicly acknowledged the mistake. On the contrary he remarked that he was
being targeted as he was a minority. Truth cannot be far from this. Someone
even like a Balasaheb Thackrey had called the former captain “An Ideal Muslim”.
Millions like me have had
their hearts broken and unfortunately the closure never came. Azhar has never
acknowledged the mistake. In fact a butchered and low grade movie makes the
closure even more difficult. It was the 1st hear break and one has
still not be able to close it and move on. Even now like an old lover, when one
quietly snoops at his batting videos, one cannot but forget the truth and immerse
in his artistic batting. Like most love stories, this story ended with a tragedy
and no closure.
My hero had fallen !
