Amazing Grace

Had he played cricket in the present age, Syed Mushtaq Ali would probably have been the toast of the one-day game. His brilliant, unorthodox, stroke-play was tailor-made for instant cricket.

Jitendra Muchhal profiles this fascinating sportsman and his encounters with Douglas Jardine, C. K. Nayudu and the quixotic cricket board.

Never before, and seldom later, has any Indian cricketer been decorated with as many sobriquets as Syed Mushtaq Ali. Robertson Glasgow found ‘a close resemblance between Mushtaq at the wicket and Helen of Troy’. The great Neville Cardus described him as, ‘another juggler from the land of Ranji and Duleep’. To Berry Sarbadhikary, he was the ‘gay cavalier’, to another, ‘unorthodoxy personified’.

But what does Mushtaq Ali, the individual think about Mushtaq Ali, the cricketer? ” I played cricket merely for the fun of it. I found joy in the game and while I played it, I was intent on transporting that delight to those around me. Brilliant cricket to me is life’s elixir. And I still believe that cricket played with joie de vivre to delight millions is real cricket”.

Syed Mushtaq Ali, the elder of the two sons of Khan Sahed Yaqub Ali was born on December 17, 1914, in Indore, the then capital of Holkar state. ”As I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, it could be said that I was born with a cricket bat in my hand.”

Though he was good at both Hockey and Football, Mushtaq loved Cricket. His long association with the game began off the pitch. ”At the medical college grounds, I used to help the grounds man put up the matting, or man the scoreboard. It was only when the teams were short of fielders that I got an opportunity to play.”

In 1926, the late Colonel C.K. Nayudu and his family moved in as Mushtaq’s neighbors. ”Nayudusaheb’s brothers, C.S. and C.R. become my friends. We used to form our own team and play.”
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.’

His baptism came in 1929, by sheer chance. C.K. Nayudu was going to Hyderabad for the Behram-ud-Doulah Cup and was on the lookout for a young player to complete the team. Remembers Mushtaq Ali,. ”Nayudusaheb was passing my residence one day. He saw me, turned around and immediately asked my father if I would be allowed to go with him. That was the turning point in my life. My father gave his consent. Had he refused, I would never have made it.”

Mushtaq Ali’s performance in the tournament was outstanding. ”I got an hat- trick against Nizam’s State railway team, taking five wickets for five runs. And against Hyderabad XI, I scored 65 runs.”

Once the ball was set rolling, there was no stopping it. ”At the all-India Roshan Ara tournament in Delhi, I took three good catches as a substitute. The Maharaja of Vizianagram (Vizzy) was so impressed that he arranged for my training at Benares.”

This was where Mushtaq Ali came into his own as one of the most attacking batsmen to wear national colors. Interestingly, Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe were also members of the same team that Mushtaq played for, at Benares. Vizzy also organized a tour of various Indian cities and Ceylon. ”I had begun as a left-arm bowler, but later, batting was to be my forte.”

Mushtaq, the batsman, was known for his total disregard for the grammar and syntax of batting; to him, it mattered little whether a ball outside the off stump was played to cover or square leg, as long as it crashed past the ropes.

Though India made her Test debut in 1932 in England, Mushtaq was not included in that team. But when the side returned and was asked to play a match against the Rest of India at Delhi, he was selected.

Mushtaq was soon selected to play for India. The MCC were touring India in 1933-34 under Douglas Jardine and he was selected for the second Test played at Calcutta. He became the youngest Test player to play for India, at 19 years and 19 days. The record was to stand for 20 years until 1955-56.
Mushtaq was selected primarily as a bowler, but got only one wicket for 45 runs in the first innings. ”My first Test wicket was that of Jardine. I used to wear a sola topee while bowling and at the point of delivery, my hand touched that hat by accident. The ball pitched short, and Jardine spooned it to C.S. Nayudu as cover.”

A successful tour of England was then a must for a cricketer to establish himself as a player of reckoning. And the acid test for Mushtaq was round the corner. The Indian team went to a full tour of England in 1936.

Out of the 28 first class matches the team played, only four ended in India’s favour, the rest divided equally between draws and defeats. But Mushtaq emerged glorious. The young bowler faded into oblivion and made way for one of India’s main batsman. He scored over 1000 runs, which included four centuries at Lord’s, The Oval, Old Trafford and Scarborough.

”It was at Lords that I got my first century of the tour against Minor Counties.” In the process, he also became the first Indian to score a century in England.

From 1944-45 onwards, the Holkar team reached the Ranji finals 10 times in 11 years, clinching the trophy on four occasions.

But the red letter day for him was July27, 1936. ”For me, it remains the golden day of my life. It was not because I scored my first Test century, but because I batted to my heart’s content, with complete command over the best of English bowling.”

India was trailing behind by 268 runs when the tall Mushtaq and the short Vijay Merchant walked in to open the second innings. Despite the mammoth deficit, runs started flowing at will.

Any young cricketer nearing his maiden hundred would have been a bundle of nerves. But not Mushtaq. As he moved into the nineties, the English skipper walked up to him in said, ‘My boy, cast off the impetuosity and get your hundred first.’ His hundred came a few minutes before draw of stumps. At the end of the day, Mushtaq remained unbeaten on 106. Merchant was 79.

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.”

But the team was still awaiting departure when ”His Highness Holkar” impressed upon me to reconsider my decision since the period of mourning was over. A wire to the effect was sent by His Highness to the board president.”

The man who was good enough to be appointed vice-captain a few weeks ago, was suddenly considered unfit for a place in the team. ”I was stunned reading the board president’s telegram,” he recalls. That setback signaled the end of Mushtaq’s sparkling Test career.

Later that year, the West Indies played a Test series in India. ”I was very surprised when I did not find my name in the team for the first Test in Delhi. I had a successful Ranji season, having made my career best of 233 against UP and averaging 81. Yet, I became a victim of jealousy and intrigue.”

Mushtaq was reinstated for the second Test at the Eden Gardens. To the delight of his fans and as a fitting reply to the board’s rudderless selection, Mushtaq scored 54 in the first inning and 106 in the second; his first Test century against the Windies. ”The ovation at the end of my innings was the biggest I ever had. To my mind, the scene of jubilation was unprecedented.”

In the third and fourth Tests at Madras and Bombay respectively, Mushtaq had scores of 32, 14, 28 and 6- reflecting that his career was nearing its end. As if to prove his critics wrong though, Mushtaq hit a century in each of the four successive Ranji trophy matches and aggregated 607 runs from seven innings, averaging 101.16.

In the process, Mushtaq reached two personal landmarks. He achieved the distinction of scoring three hundreds in successive innings and five hundreds in successive matches in the Ranji trophy. His talents were sought not only by Holkar, but by Gujarat, UP and Madhya Pradesh as well.

Having played glorious cricket for over three decades, Mushtaq announced his retirement from first class cricket in 1956. ” Many of my fans,” he says, ”from India and abroad were pressing me to publish my memoirs. I was a little apprehensive about it in the beginning, but then got down to it.”

It was aptly called “Cricket Delightful”. In the foreword, the great Aussie all-rounder Keith Miller wrote. ‘I have, in my life, seen more methodical and correct stroke makers, but have I seen such a dynamic character as Mushtaq? I doubt it. To me he was the Errol Flynn of cricket: dashing, flamboyant, swashbuckling and immensely popular.”

The government honored Mushtaq Ali with the PadmaShri in 1963. Mushtaq beams with pride, ”When I was being drilled on how to approach the Rashtrapati at the investiture ceremony, my footwork went awry and I turned in anything but the right direction. And why? Merely because I looked forward to that day as being the greatest day of my life.”

The last feather in his cap same earlier in 1987. Sheikh Bukhatir’s Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, Sharjah, felicitated him along with Mushtaq Mohammad as minor beneficiaries at the Sharjah Cup in April 87, presenting them with a cash award of 15,000 dollars each. ”I am deeply touched by the gratitude shown by the CBFS organizing committee and all my fans abroad. But I am sorry to say that such awards only come from abroad. Our cricket association announced long ago an award of Rupees 2000 per player per Test played before 1972. I should receive Rupees 54,000 for the official and unofficial Tests I have played. But the board has failed to follow up the announcement with implementation.”

Barely had he uttered these words than the doorbell rang. An official of the MP Cricket Asociation was ushered in. After exchanging pleasantries, he said, ”Sir, Congratulations! We have received a cheque of Rupees 54,000 from the BCCI, to be presented to you.” Mushtaq Ali turned towards me and he said, ”I knew that my bat had an instant effect on the bowler’s morale and the scoreboard, but did not know that the same was also true for my words.’