Syed Abid Ali passed away in the US on March 12 at the age of 83. The all-rounder was a member of the team which won the historic test match at The Oval in 1971. He took 47 wickets with his medium pace in 29 tests he played for India.
Making his debut in December 1967 in Adelaide, he started his career with an impressive six for 55 against Australia.
Syed Abil Ali scored an impressive 78 and 81 in the Sydney Test in the same series. The former all-rounder had coaching stints with Maldives, UAE, and Andhra Ranji teams.
His son got his Faqeer Ali married to former India stumper Syed Krimani’s daugter. Abid owed his cricketing career to late M L Jaisimha whom he always considered his ‘guru’.
“Very sad news, he was a lion-hearted cricketer who did anything the team needed. Despite being an all-rounder who batted in the middle order, he opened the batting when needed.”
Syed Abid Ali has played only five ODIs, but three of those came in the first-ever men’s ODI World Cup. In his last ODI appearance, he socred a 98-ball 70 against New Zealand. Abid had a first-class tally of 397 wickets and 8732 runs in 212 games with a career best score of 173*.
“Took some incredible catches in the leg side cordon adding an even sharper edge to our wonderful spin quartet,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
“As a new ball bowler he has the unique record of getting a wicket with the first ball of a Test match twice if memory serves me right.”
“He loved the tip and run and when promoted up the order in my debut Test match, this tactic resulted in some overthrows which reduced the pressure considerably.”
“He was a thorough gentleman with impeccable manners who spoke professorially. Heartfelt condolences to his family,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
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