Abid Ali: A lion-hearted all-rounder, glorious and grossly underrated

With the passing away of Abid Ali — the gutsy Indian all-rounder of the 1960s and 1970s — in faraway California, yet another OG of Indian cricket’s ‘Class of 1971’ bids adieu to us.

These were the heroes who under the captaincy of the late Ajit Wadekar scripted history with the country’s first overseas Test series wins in the West Indies and England within a gap of just a few months.

It hurts someone like Farokh Engineer, the dashing wicketkeeper–batter, no end to see his friends and teammates going away “one by one”.

Speaking to National Herald from Manchester, where 87-year-old Engineer had been based ever since his retirement, says: “I am failing to come to terms with this. Abid was a dear friend and my contemporary — and if I may add, he was a grossly under-estimated cricketer.”

Possibly India’s first seaming all-rounder in the pre-Kapil Dev era, Abid’s reputation preceded him as a fearless cricketer.

Engineer adds another insight: “People often don’t realise how good a close-in fielder he was. We had the incomparable (Eknath) Solkar on one side and Abid on another, and of course the wicketkeeper behind (referring to himself). This made our spin quartet all the more dangerous.”

My own memory of Abid Ali goes back to a period between 2002 and 2005, when he was serving as the coach of the UAE national team.

An associate member nation, the UAE team was comprised of amateur expats — mostly Indians and Pakistanis — and his primary mantra for them was to improve their physical fitness and fielding, along with the basics.

After his retirement, Abid was more of a journeyman coach who shared his expertise for a living — be it in the Maldives of the late 1990s, the Andhra Pradesh state team between 2001 and 2002 or an UAE stint before shifting to the US to be with his family in California.

“Never give up in the middle. Keep fighting till the last ball’’ was his parting shot when Abid visited the Millennium School in Dubai just before the Covid days to speak on leadership and motivation.  

The Northern California Cricket Association, where Abid played A-division and also coached the team, announced the sad news of his death in Tracy (California, US). “World cricket has lost a true cricketing gem and he will forever be missed by everyone who knew him,” the NCCA said in a statement.

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who hit the winning runs against the West Indies at the Port of Spain in 1971, had Abid as his non-striker. The two were again in the thick of things when Abid square cut Brian Lukhurst for the winning runs in the Oval Test against England. “Despite being an allrounder who batted in the middle order, he opened the batting when needed. Took some incredible catches in the leg cordon adding an even sharper edge to our wonderful spin quartet,” said Gavaskar, who was Abid’s new ball partner on several occasions.

“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,” Gavaskar said.

“He was a thorough gentleman and a professional with impeccable manners. Heartfelt condolences to his family,” he added.

The record books will show Abid aggregating 1,018 runs from 29 Tests between 1967 and 1974 with an average of 20.36 with six half-centuries. His highest score was 81 while he claimed 47 wickets with a career-best haul of 6 for 55.

He also represented India in five ODIs, scoring 93 runs with a top score of 70 and claimed 7 wickets.

A stalwart in the star-studded Hyderabad team that also included the likes of M.A.K. Pataudi, M.L. Jaisimha and Abbas Ali Baig, he was a complete package — someone who was ahead of his time and could have done great things in white ball cricket.

Go well, Abid Ali-sir!