Abid Ali and the Adelaide Oval

The Adelaide Oval evokes a flood of individualistic memories for cricket lovers in this country It all started with Vijay Hazare who carved two centuries in the fourth Test of the 194748 series Hazares fellow centurion in 194748 was Dattu Phadkar helping India to a respectable 381run response to Australias 674 Hazares name is synonymous with India v Australia Test battles at Adelaide as is the name of Rahul Dravid whose 233 in the 200304 battle was followed by an asgoodasgold 72 not out which took India to victoryThe Adelaide Oval witnessed other Indian performances over the years from the likes of Sandeep Patil 174 in 198081 Sunil Gavaskar carrying his bat for 166 in the 198586 Test Mohammed Azharuddins 106 in 199192 VVS Laxmans 148 and Ajit Agarkars 641 in 200304Attractive 150plus scores from Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in the first and second innings respectively in the final Test of the controversial 200708 BorderGavaskar Trophy prevented Australia from expanding their 21 lead over Anil Kumbles menAfter becoming Indias only centurymaker of the series in the 201112 Adelaide Test Virat Kohli did a Hazare in 201415 and his 141 must go down as one of the most exhilarating knocks in the final innings of a match although India fell short by 48 runsIn 201819 Cheteshwar Pujaras 123 and 71 guided India to a seriesdefining win Amidst all the above stellar shows the one performance that doesnt get the publicity it deserves is Syed Abid Alis grand Test debut in 196768India were led by Chandu Borde since MAK Pataudi pulled a hamstring and Mumbais Umesh Kulkarni made his debut along with Abid Ali Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry ensured the Indians had no success until the post lunch session With the scoreboard reading 990 Abid Ali had Bill Lawry caught behind and captain Simpson miscued one for Abid Ali to hold on to a caught and bowled chance I was over the moon to get both openers After all they were the best pair in the world then Abid Ali told me from California earlier this weekAustralia recovered through a 118run stand for the third wicket between debutant Paul Sheahan and Bob Cowper an alliance broken by Erapalli Prasanna Sheahan was trapped leg before trying to play the sweep shot Ian Redpath was dismissed for a duck followed by Ian Chappell all three in the space of 22 magical deliveriesAbid Ali struck again by getting Barry Jarman Cowper Graham McKenzie and debutant Johnny Gleeson as Australia totalled 335 Getting 6 for 55 in my first innings was a magnificent feeling although I dont remember being nervous at the start I went in feeling confident of myself I had a ball in my hand and I had a job to do Abid Ali remarked No Indian bowler has claimed more wickets in an innings on debut in an overseas TestKulkarni observed his teammates approach closely and felt Abid Ali made full use of his fantastic wrist release and got the ball to shoot through He was quicker off the wicket and it was an inspired spell the Worlibased former leftarm bowler told meIndia replied with 307 thanks to Engineers entertaining 89 Bordes dogged 69 and Rusi Surtis breezy 70 Abid Ali was caught and bowled by Alan Connolly for 33 He scored the same number of runs in the second innings as India collapsed for 251 chasing 398 for victory The Australians belted the Indian bowlers in their second innings and Abid Ali had only one wicket to show of centurion Cowper ndash as Rusi Surti claimed a fiferAbid Ali continued to be useful as a batsman throughout the series His scores in his last three innings of the rubber were 47 Brisbane 78 and 81 in Sydney In One More Over Prasanna called him the find of the tour the 04 whitewash notwithstanding I enjoyed the competitive nature of the series recalled Abid Ali 79The allrounder came into focus again in Brisbane where his Hyderabad teammate ML Jaisimha scored a hundred on arrival as BS Chandrasekhars replacement Sent to open the innings Abid Ali got cracking quite literally in the second innings when India were set 395 to win Abid Alis first 10 scoring strokes were 4 3 2 4 4 3 3 4 4 and 4 He departed three short of a half century before Surti 64 Pataudi 48 Jaisimha 101 and Borde 63 nearly pulled off a victoryAbid Ali couldnt witness glory then but he did on the 1971 tours of West Indies and England Those wins were special but there is no reason to believe he felt a lot less proud at Adelaide in 1967middays group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news