I have been invited by the BCCI to every function: Mohammad Azharuddin

Mohammad Azharuddin is one of the most successful India’s Test captains ever. The man under whom India did not lose a single Test series on home soil will be at the Green Park Stadium, Kanpur when Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson walk out for the toss in India’s 500th test.

“It is a very big achievement,” he said of India joining the 500-Test club. “It shows how much we value Test cricket. We have been the No. 1 side in the world, our rise has been phenomenal since we won the 1983 World Cup. Yes, there were series victories overseas (the West Indies and England) in the early 1970s, but then Indian cricket went through a bit of a lean phase. But after the World Cup triumph in 1983, things started to change.”

Azhar career is one fascinating story. He began it with century and unknowingly ended it with a century. On March 6, 2000, Bangalore’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium witnessed his last innings – 102 in an innings loss at the hands of South Africa. Unfortunately, his career got stranded on 99 Tests, the life ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India bringing his cricketing journey to a rude standstill.

A lengthy legal battle then ensued that lasted more than 11 years finally resulted in the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifting the ban on him in November 2012.

“To me, that is like playing my 100th Test,” Azharuddin told Wisden India on Wednesday (September 21), a day before India play their 500th Test, at Green Park in Kanpur against New Zealand.

“I was only destined to play 99 Tests, I took that in a very positive manner,” Azhar went on. “I see winning the case as my 100th Test appearance. I have had a very successful career, and I have neither regrets nor a problem with anything. I am a very happy and contented person. A lot of people play no more than a handful of Tests, there are so many others who don’t get to represent their country at all. Against that backdrop, to play 99 Tests is not a small thing. Throughout my journey, people have been very nice to me. That is something I will cherish forever and be always grateful for.”

Azhar entry into the Indian cricket became possible only after a series of ups and down in the domestic arena. In 1984, the year in which he made his debut, will remain a memorable year for him.

“I was about to be dropped from the Ranji Trophy team towards the end of 1983 when I came up with a century (against Andhra),” the Hyderabadi recalled. “Soon, I made 66 against Karnataka and from then on, everything went very smoothly. I was picked for the Duleep Trophy, went with Young India to Zimbabwe, came back and played the Irani Cup, and two first-class games against England before the Test call-up came.”

Azhar slammed hundreds in each of his first three Tests — the first at the Eden, the third at the Modi Stadium (as Green Park was then called) in Kanpur – to justify the immense hype that accompanied his international breakthrough. “I felt like all the hard work and the effort I had put in was paying dividends, but everything also just happened so fast,” recalled the only man to date to score hundreds in his first three Test appearances. “By the time I realised what was happening, it was all behind me – three Test hundreds, victory in the World Championship of Cricket (in Australia in early 1985). I have been a great believer in destiny all the way through; it was as if I was destined to do all this because when the Great Almighty Allah so wills, no one can alter the course of events.”

The captaincy of the Indian team came dramatically, unexpectedly. Azhar was leading South Zone in the Duleep Trophy final against Central Zone at the Gymkhana Grounds in Secunderabad when Raj Singh Dungarpur dangled the captaincy carrot in front of him in January 1990.

“I never expected to become the captain, not with just five years of international cricket behind me,” Azhar conceded. “You play for the country for 8-10 years and, if you are lucky, you might become the captain. I didn’t have a great tour of the West Indies and was probably fighting for my place but then I went to Pakistan in 1989 and made a fair few runs including a century.

“When Raj bhai asked me if I would like to become the captain, I told him, ‘But I am already the captain’. He told me, ‘Not South Zone captain, India captain’. It came as a huge surprise,” Azhar chuckled, recalling that interaction with the then chairman of selectors. “I was taken aback, but after giving it great thought, I told him that I would be honoured to be the captain. It wasn’t an easy ride to start with, and we had a lot of away matches. At one stage during the South Africa tour in 1992, I did harbour thoughts of giving up the captaincy. My batting was suffering, and the team wasn’t doing well either. I felt that I should give it up.

“But then I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t quit, that I wasn’t a quitter. To have resigned at that time would have meant I wasn’t willing to take up responsibility and criticism, and I didn’t want to be like that,” Azhar went on. “If I was to be dropped, so be it. But I was not going to give it up. The selectors made me captain for one Test and two ODIs at home, against England. If I had faltered, I would have lost the captaincy certainly, maybe even my place in the XI. But I made 182 in the Eden Test, we won by eight wickets.”

Kolkata and Kanpur have been great venues for Azhar the Test batsman. At the Eden, he made five hundreds in seven Tests and averaged 107.50; each of his three Tests at Green Park produced a hundred including a Test-best 199 and an average of 181. “Happy that 500 and 501 are in Kanpur and Kolkata,” he laughed.

Mohammad Azharuddin also chose to reflect on the mini-drama leading up to India’s 500th Test. “People wrote that I wasn’t invited to the Kanpur Test by the BCCI,” he said. “That is, of course, untrue, but before they wrote it, they didn’t bother to find out the truth. I have been invited by the BCCI to every function. Sometimes I may not be able to make it because of prior commitments, but I have always tried to respect the invitations and be present. Whoever wrote I wasn’t invited this time was trying to play mischief, but I don’t get affected by these things. I am above all this. I am going to go and attend the Test at the BCCI’s invitation, people who have written otherwise have made a fool of themselves.”