A tryst that inspired a novel, TV ad: 60 years of the ‘Abbas Ali Baig kiss’
Abbas Ali Baig was one of the glamour boys of Indian cricket in the 1960s and 70s, a tag he shared with Tiger Pataudi, ML Jaisimha, Farokh Engineer, Salim Durrani and a bunch of others who stood out with their dashing looks and classy strokeplay.
What cemented Baig’s place as a great cricket romantic was an incident that took place at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium 60 years to this day (Jan 6, 1960). It sent a frisson of excitement through the cricket world, and which many years later would form the plotline of a famous Salman Rusdhie novel (The Moor’s Last Sigh). It even inspired a TV ad in the 1980s for a well-known chocolate brand.
Baig hit the headlines in his very first Test at Old Trafford in 1959. Brought in as the injured Vijay Manjrekar’s replacement, the Oxford undergraduate struck a delightful century on debut— the youngest Indian until Prithvi Shaw’s 134 versus West Indies in 2018.
When Australia under Riche Benaud’s captaincy toured India in 1959-60, Baig was flown in after taking permission from Oxford, landing the morning before the start of the first Test in New Delhi which the hosts lost. India won the second in Kanpur and went into the third, which began on New Year’s Day, 1960.
Baig scored 50 in the first innings with Australia taking a 98-run lead. On the final day (Jan 6), India were struggling at 112/4, just 14 runs ahead, before Baig and Ramnath Kenny added 109 runs to take the team to safety. At tea, the pair was heading to the pavilion with Baig having completed his second fifty of the match when a young lady jumped over the fencing and ran out, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
The world was just entering the ‘Swinging Sixties’ and it was a sensational event in conservative India. Baig, now 80 and living in Gurgaon with wife and daughter (his banker son is based in Singapore), chuckled when reminded of the anniversary.
“We were surrounded by a crowd of fans and photographers as we walked off. Suddenly this young lady rushed up to me. It all happened in flash,” he told me. Baig though was concerned as his parents were in the stands. While it was all very innocent, there was a touch of scandal about it happening before thousands.
“A senior Board official met me outside my room at the CCI after the day’s play with a request that three or four young ladies accompanying him might be allowed to kiss me out there and logically I should have no objection, having permitted it in front of thousands of spectators. How could I say no?” Baig recounted with a laugh. “After the incident, I started receiving a number of letters, mainly from young ladies, which I replied to religiously.”
Batting legend Vijay Merchant was on radio commentary at the time and joked: “I wonder where all these enterprising ladies were when I was scoring 100s and 200s at the Brabourne Stadium.”
Pat came the response from a fellow commentator: “Your batting must have put them to sleep, Vijay.”
Baig missed the last two Tests as he had to return to England for his exams, but the incident became the talk of the cricket world. In Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh, Aurora, the mother of Moraes Zogaiby (the Moor), inspired after witnessing the incident, rushed back home and “in a single sustained burst” completed a painting she named The Kissing of Abbas Ali Baig.
So, who was the young lady? Legend has it that she was a 20-year-old who emerged from the posh North Stand after a bet with her friends. All efforts to trace her went in vain. Baig says he has no idea who she was. Even the source of the picture is unknown since many photographers were at the spot.
PS: Fifteen years later, history repeated itself, this time at the Wankhede Stadium hosting its maiden Test against West Indies. A female fan in black sari dashed onto the field among a bunch of fans who greeted Brijesh Patel on his half-century. She gave a quick peck while dodging the cops with the crowd gasping at her audacity. The video is on youtube!
Gulu Ezekiel is a freelance sports journalist and author based
in New Delhi