Dubai: The Mohammad Azharuddin story remains one of the biggest enigmas of Indian cricket. The man who used to wield the cricket bat like a magic wand to produce breathtaking strokes off his wrists and had the longest stint as Indian captain throughout the Nineties, saw his world crashing down when allegations of match-fixing put paid to a glorious career.
An outstanding fielder — whether in the covers or slips — he took 100 catches in Tests and 156 catches in One-dayers. His ability to adapt to any form of the game was brilliant and he scored 9378 runs in One Day Internationals and 6215 runs in Test matches. Though he made his foray into politics in 2009, his love for cricket and willingness to pass on the finer points of the game to youngsters still lives with him.
Azharuddin, who was here to conduct a three-day coaching camp for Kricket’s Spero cricket academy, spoke his heart out to Gulf News on various aspects of the game, his own distinctive style and the current state of Indian cricket. Excerpts:
You were known for your wristy strokes which made batting look such a treat to watch. Did wristy strokes come naturally to you? The artistry you exhibited is not seen too often in present day batsmen — do you think such style of batting has been dwindling over the years?
To be very honest, till I played my first three Test matches I did not know I was a wristy player. Whatever we were taught and what learnt in the course of our coaching I did while batting. In fact, during my formative years we were told to play straight. Maybe, I must have had a natural gift to play in such a way.
Nowadays, things have changed because the game have undergone changes with emergence of Twenty20. There are still some players who are very wristy. Mostly players now look to hit the ball straight because of T20 cricket. It is because I played for India and I scored runs that it got highlighted. Maybe, if did not play for India and reached only till the Ranji Trophy or South Zone level, it won’t have got highlighted. Since I was playing for India in a bigger platform and playing against England with too much media, they picked it up and highlighted it.
You recently spotted a mistake in Younis Khan’s batting and your advice helped him score runs in England. Is it that over the years now you can spot a mistake even in a class batsman?
When you are playing in England, you have to play in a different way. Even though he had played over 100 Test matches, Younis Khan would not have scored much runs had he played the way he was batting. He was running towards the ball and stepping out. On wickets like that you should not be playing like that and when I watched him bat, I felt very sorry to see him do it. When a player of his magnitude, after having got 30 centuries and close to 10,000 runs play in such a manner, I felt very sad.
It did not look pretty at all for me on the television. I found it very awkward and so I called him and told him that it is not the way to play and it will be very hard for him to score runs. I told him to stay back in the crease and play like how normally batsmen play because when playing swing bowling you have to play very patiently and should not be going after it.
Isn’t it that the Pakistan legend Zaheer Abbas too once helped you with your batting?
Zaheer Abbas helped me with my grip. It was very nice of him to come and tell me to make the adjustment. When people advise, you must always be open to advice so at least you could try it. If it works, you take it and if it does not work you don’t have to really take it but you can thank them. For me, it really worked.
Since Pakistan and India players are almost the same in many ways, won’t it be of great help if they got a chance to discuss and strengthen each other’s game?
Yes, they are more of less the same. Whenever we played Pakistan, there is no animosity or anything. When playing on the ground we want to win all the time, we all want our country to win but apart from that, we always had a cordial relationship.
You must be having fond memories of Sharjah. Do you feel like wanting to see India, Pakistan play there again?
I have lots of memories about Sharjah ... nearly 16 to 17 years when I played there. India-Pakistan matches have gone into a diplomatic stage and so it is very hard now. I feel either one should open everything (between the two countries) or don’t do anything at all. Umpires come and do umpiring in India, their cricketers come to give commentary but strangely players are not allowed to play in the IPL.
Actors are allowed to come to India but players are not allowed. It should be uniform, either you allow everybody or close it for everybody till things improve.
So how was your foray into politics?
I am still in politics, it’s nice. I did a lot of work for my constituency.
Coming back to cricket, you were a great fielder and hence must be delighted to see the standard of fielding improve over the years?
It is very pleasing as most of the players are good fielders too. Now 90 per cent of the players are good fielders but before it was the other way round. By watching cricket on television, the players have learnt the techniques of being good fielders. During my playing days exposure was not that much. It was restricted to watching matches in Hyderabad’s Moin-Ud- Dowlah tournament where the star players used to come and that was the only exposure we had. Now kids have computers and everything and even when you are practicing — everything is recorded and shown to him later, on what mistakes they are doing in different aspects of the game. So fielding standards too have really gone up.
What about day-night Test cricket? Is it the answer to bring people onto the ground?
I don’t think day-night Test matches will last the test of time because there is too much difference while playing in the day and playing under the lights. It is too much of a disadvantage to a team because for example, like here, if you start the match at 3.30 it will be very hot and when you go into the night, it will be different. The weather will be totally different. There is too much of a disadvantage and with a pink ball and I don’t think it will last though authorities will try their best to implement to bring in the crowds on. It is still at a very beginning stage.
What do you feel of the present Indian team, especially the appointment of Anil Kumble as coach?
Kumble is a very committed individual and it is a very nice move by the board to appoint him. He will stay on for long because he has played cricket in the 90s and has also played with most of the players in the present team like Virat Kohli and a few others. So he understands them very well.
Do you think Virat Kohli has the ability to carry on the captaincy and his batting together?
Kohli is a good player though I do see that if the ball is moving a bit, he might have some problem. Otherwise, he is a very good player and an outstanding talent.
Being one of India’s successful captains, what is the trait in Mahendra Singh Dhoni that made him a good captain?
Whatever Dhoni has done for the country is very good. He has won all the major tournaments and lifted the team to No. 1 stage in Test and One dayers. If you look at it statistically, Dhoni has done everything. His biggest quality is that he does not get ruffled and is very calm. A captain has to be calm and cool and that is why he known as ‘Captain Cool.’
What’s your plans? Do you enjoying coaching youngsters?
Coming here to coach the young boys was special because I enjoy coaching the boys at their beginning stage. I had lot of things to tell them, making sure whatever comes naturally to them it is retained. Only some finer points should be shown and not totally change them.
Box
Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin feels that like Pakistan who had allowed Mohammad Amir to return to mainstream cricket after being punished for the spot-fixing scandal, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth too should be given a second chance.
When Gulf News asked whether Sreesanth deserves another chance, Azharuddin said: “Everybody deserves a second chance. With regard to Amir he went through the process and punishment so Sreesanth should also be given a chance. Why not, if at all he made a mistake or whatever. At the end of the day he has gone through the process and grind. It’s not that he was playing after four or five matches after the incident. He has not played for nearly four years. More than anything, he is a good bowler and is good for the game. He should be given another chance.”
Azharuddin expressed huge regard for Sreesanth’s talent. “I really don’t know at which stage is his case but he is a great talent, totally wasted, I am sorry to say that. If he had little bit discipline, leave apart whatever happened and I don’t know how far it is true or not. Talent wise I feel he would have ended up taking minimum 300 to 350 wickets as he had so much talent. He had pace, swing, bounce and everything needed for a pacer. Some people are very unlucky when it comes to temperament,” he said.
