Amazing Grace
Wrote Neville Cardus: ‘His cricket at times was touched with genius and imagination.’ Recalling the partnership 25 years later, Merchant wrote, ‘What Mushtaq displayed that day was not merely superlative batting, it was poetry.’
Resuming the next day, Merchant cautioned Mushtaq to play steadily. But could a tempest curb its thunder? Mushtaq was out to a brilliant airborne catch by Robbins when his score was 112.
Between 1936 and 1946, his peak years, Mushtaq Ali did not play a single Test because of the war.
The Ranji Trophy by then had taken full shape. From 1944-45 onwards, the Holkar team reached the Ranji finals 10 times in 11 years, clinching the trophy on four occasions.
Mushtaq Ali, needless to say, was amongst the chief architects of this spectacular performance. In fact, in the very first year, when Holkar met Bombay in the finals, Mushtaq Ali earned the distinction of becoming the second player in the tournament’s history to score a century in both innings of a match.
In 108 innings in the Ranji trophy, Mushtaq scored 5,013 runs at an impressive average of 49.15, with 17 hundreds.
But the whims of the selection committee did not spare Mushtaq. He did not play the first test at Bombay against the Australian team, on the grounds of ill health. ”The selectors took my absence in Bombay as an affront and I was dropped for the second Test at Calcutta.”
Calcutta reacted adversely to the exclusion. Banners reading, ” We want Mushtaq, ‘No Mushtaq, No Test’ were raised at the Eden Gardens. The selectors had to bow to public outcry and Mushtaq was reinstated.
Soon after the war, India toured England. ”I did not feel very assured of a place, going by the queer ways of the selectors, until I hit a century in the trial match at Bombay.” The performance this time was far better- the touring side won 13, drew 16 and lost only 4 of the 33 matches it played.
There was glorious cricket from Vinoo Mankad, Lala Amarnath and Vijay Merchants. Mushtaq, through, was having a very lean trot. ”I found the chilly weather unbearable and suffered the most, having been afflicted with sinus trouble.”
The selection of the team to tour Australia in 1947-48 was marred by the scars of Partition. ”Many cricketers suddenly found themselves ineligible to represent India,” he recalls.
Merchant had been appointed captain, but doctors advised him against making the tour. Lala Amarnath was then promoted as captain; Mushtaq was appointed vice-captain. ”Delighted at being appointed vice-captain, an honor which was due to me, I began to pack my luggage and give my kit bag for a new look.” Destiny did not appear to have similar designs.
“To me, Mushtaq was the Errol Flynn of cricket: dashing, flamboyant, swashbuckling and immensely popular,” wrote Keith Miller.
Mushtaq’s brother passed away after a prolonged illness. ”Apart from my deep grief, I suddenly found myself saddled with the entire burden of the family. In such a predicament, I had no other alternative but to wire the board expressing my inability to make the tour.”