Cricketing genius who should’ve played for India
LUCKNOW Former captain of the Indian Railways team and a junior national selector, Syed Hyder Ali, on Saturday breathed his last after battling a prolonged illness, at a private hospital in Prayagraj. He was 79 and is survived by two sons. One of them— Raza Ali—has played for the railways as well.
A slow left-arm bowler, Ali took 366 wickets in 113 first-class matches. He has three 10-wicket and 25 five-wicket hauls to his name at an economy of 2.13 in his 25-year-long domestic career, which started in 1963-64. Ali did a decent job with the bat as well scoring 3,125 runs that included three centuries and 10 half-centuries in 158 innings of first-class cricket.
One of the top-class spinners of his time, Hyder Ali was always considered a formidable cricketer who should have played for India, which already had big names such as Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkatraghavan as spinners in the team.
“Hyder Ali was, undoubtedly, a great spinner and he should have played for India, but he remained unlucky as there was a long list of spinners in the side then. Even Rajinder Goel, who had 750 first-class wickets, couldn’t play for India,” recalled Ali’s Ranji colleague and UP former selector Neeru Kapoor on Saturday.
“Hyder Ali was a great human being who always kept entertaining his colleagues. He had a great cricketing sense, too,” said Kapoor, who played many a Ranji Trophy match alongside Ali.
Originally a left-arm medium pacer, Ali made his domestic appearance against Vidarbha as a spinner and his selection in the team wasn’t that easy as well. At the Allahabad University ground during the trials, Ali was named among the “extras” after picking the 15-member side. Then skipper and one of the best spinners of the state at the time, Anand Shukla picked him in the team as the third opener.
When it came to bowling, Shukla asked Ali to bowl spin for the first time. The young Ali didn’t disappoint as he bagged four wickets helping his side win the game. “That was the turning point of Ali’s cricketing career as there was no looking back then. The bowler always admired the contribution of Shukla in his career,” said RP Bhatnagar, director of Allahabad Cricket Association and a former selector of the UP team, on Saturday.
“The games teacher of the Majidia Islamia Inter College, Master Mustafa, got Ali selected in the UP Ranji Trophy team as he wanted the cricketer to get a job in the Railways in 1964. He (Ali) was talented as he used the opportunities to make his career and soon Lala Amarnath picked him for the Railways side,” said Bhatnagar.
Bhatnagar remembered Ali as one of the “unsung heroes” of Indian cricket who couldn’t sport the Team India jersey despite abundant talent and skills.
“But he never regretted and always termed it as his destiny in the game,” said Bhatnagar, adding that the cricketer’s death was unfortunate for Allahabad cricket too.”
Ali’s final rites took place at Dariyabad in Prayagraj on Saturday evening.