Horse had bolted by the time we figured Sri Lanka out in 1996 – Azhar

by Rex Clementine

Has there ever been a more memorable debut in cricket than that of Mohammad Azharuddin’s? Debuting against England in 1984 as a 21-year-old youngster Azhar completed three Test hundreds in his first three Test matches. They were not just hundreds but elegance all over. As Matthew Engel, the Editor of Wisden wondered, Azhar is the ‘Michelangelo in the midst of housepainters.’

Three hundreds in the first three Tests has been a feat that has never been matched before or after.

A couple of months after that memorable debut, India toured Sri Lanka. But Azhar failed to convert his early success during his first tour overseas – managing just 109 runs in six innings without a fifty. It was also the series where Sri Lanka recorded their maiden Test win.

“I don’t think we played well in that 1985 Test series. It was my fourth Test match and expectations were high for me, but I failed. It was a good learning experience. The wickets were different at that time. You had some very good fast bowlers – De Mel, Ahangama and the two Ratnayakes. They were very good exponents of swing bowling. For me it was a very new experience as I had not played on that kind of seaming wickets,” remembered Azhar.

Azhar remains immensely popular in Sri Lanka. You can safely say that more than Sachin, Kapil, Gavaskar or Dhoni, Azhar is Sri Lanka’s most loved cricketer. There are reasons for that.

Azhar’s career-best score was 199. He never made a double hundred. That 199 came against us. So how did he miss out on the double hundred? Well, he was given out leg before wicket to Ravi Ratnayake. Incidentally, the umpire was Azhar’s close friend from his hometown of Hyderabad – V.K. Ramaswamy.

There’s another reason to love Azhar. Mere days after the LTTE had bombed the Central Bank in 1996, Sri Lanka’s World Cup games were in jeopardy. Australia and West Indies pulled out. They either wanted the games played in India or points be given to them as Colombo was unsafe to host the matches, so they claimed.

Indian cricket supremo and master tactician Jagmohan Dalmiya was hard at work. He assembled a joint India – Pakistan team to play in Colombo to show their security concerns were a false alarm. Azhar had to lead the team. He did it without any hesitation and the nation of Sri Lanka embraced the Indian captain.

“We wanted to showcase that our Asian solidarity was strong. That sent a strong message across the cricketing world. I guess that made the nation of Sri Lanka to admire me more than my cricket. I had no problem doing it for Sri Lanka had been a place that I loved. The warmth of the people, the hospitality that everyone shows you and I just love being here. I must thank the players, especially the Pakistan captain at that time. Wasim Akram to play under the Indian captain must not have been easy,” Azhar recalled.

“Since that tour, I have realized how popular I am in Sri Lanka. There’s so much love and admiration by the Sri Lankans not only when I come here but when I visit other parts of the world as well.

For some reason, the Indian city of Hyderabad has produced some of that nation’s finest Test captains. There was M.L. Jaisimha in the 1960s followed by Tiger Pataudi in the 1970s. Then came Azhar in the 1990s.

“In Hyderabad what happens is when you are young and when you make an impact even at school level, they give you that responsibility of leading the side early in your career. So, you get opportunities early. Maybe that’s one reason why we have that trait. Personally, I was very shy of leading the side and more than happy to concentrate on my batting. As luck would have it, everything fell in a different way and I guess it was my destiny.”

As captain of India, could he have done things differently when his bowlers got a hiding during the 1996 World Cup. It was rare for Sri Lanka to beat India twice in their own backyard in the space of two weeks.

“They played differently to other teams. New Zealand had something similar in 1992, but they couldn’t go on. What happened in that 1996 World Cup was that by the time we drew up plans to stop Sri Lanka’s attacking style, most teams had been badly exposed,” Azhar explained.

“It was bold of them to adopt such an approach. But I guess when it didn’t work, they had the substance to do damage control and that proved to be the key to their success. Aravinda was unstoppable in that tournament. He put the bowling to the sword no matter how tricky the situation was. Mentally he was very strong and when he fiercely focused on something it was bad news for the opposition. Not to forget Sanath, who did so much damage and Sri Lanka were deserving winners.”

“Of course they were so well lead by Arjuna. It amazes me how even to date Arjuna has the love and affection of all his players. It’s similar to what Clive Lloyd gets from West Indies of the 1980s and what Ian Chappell receives from Australians of 1970s. You can’t be taught to inspire people. You have to be born a leader.’

Azhar was one player who was rarely troubled by Muttiah Muralitharan. His game plan was aggression. Blessed with supple wrists and superb footwork, he always dominated Murali.

“When you are playing bowlers of great repute and so much skill you have to be positive and creative. What Murali has done with 800 Test wickets and 500 ODI wickets is unbelievable. I admire him a lot. I had got out to him too but by and large I tried to attack him all the time. He was an attacking bowler. If you are playing  bowlers who are defensive, you have the time at your hand. But against an attacking bowler, if you try to be defensive you are playing into his hands.

These have been troubled times for the national cricket team, but Azhar urges fans to be patient. “It hurts me to see the status of Sri Lankan cricket. But they have a young side. These guys will develop over time. Just be patient and keep backing them. They won the Asia Cup last year and they can only move forward. I hope they become consistent. I have no doubt about the talent in Sri Lanka, it’s the consistency that I would like to see.”

Azhar’s batting was magical, his captaincy was inspirational while he was India’s best fielder by some distance. He was stranded on 99 Test matches, unable to complete the milestone of 100 Tests as the match-fixing controversy broke out in 2000.

However, it didn’t take him much time to find his way back into cricket. He was elected as the President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association and he could go on to lead the powerful BCCI one day. He was also a Member of Parliament. For a man who has a fan base all over India, he didn’t contest from his hometown but went to the far-off Uttar Pradesh. He won the elections hands down from a constituency which the Congress Party hadn’t won in 25 years.

“The cricket elections is coming again on the 15th of this month and I am running. As for politics, I am the working President of Congress in Telangana state. Politics is a field where you have to dedicate a lot of time and I look forward to serving the party and my country again.”