As far as batsmanship goes, Azhar was definitely one of my favorites and still is I guess because I have still to see a player who can bat better on the onside. Azhar’s onside or legside batting was tremendous. Using a light bat, with a left hand firm and right hand lose grip which meant that the bat could rotate in his hands freely, he could work the bal at will anywhere from deep square leg to mid-on. His trademark shot was the flick to mid-wicket. Unlike present players who play it in the air, Azhar played it all along the ground which made it look spectacular.
He made a very smashing debut in test match cricket, hammering three hundreds in his first three innings. He was also the best Indian fielder in the eighties and early nineties until fielding became a cool thing courtesy Jonty Rhodes. His dives, under arm flicks and behind the back throws made him legendary with young fans. In imitating him, perhaps I have given away a lot of runs in overthrows. He also became the first player to play in 300 ODI’s and his career was cut short tragically him having played 99 test matches. From 85 to 99 he was an absolute pillar of Indian batting. With fine, graceful, elegant and effective strokeplay he kept the scoreboard ticking. As a captain he captained India in 3 world cups once taking India all the way to the semi-finals. As yet he is India’s most successful captain. As a captain his tactics and game plan was always spot on. He was accused of not speaking to the bowlers enough by his critics. His retort was that professional players should know what to do when. Needless to say he did not have much people’s skills. Bad at communication, he slowly made enemies in the Indian side.
Contrary to his dimwit image, he was a very shrewd person. Upon being appointed captain he systematically eliminated all other contenders from the job much before their due retirement. First he got rid of Vengsarkar, then Ravi Shastri and finally Kapil Dev. He was also a very flashy person who liked to show off a little bit. Not so much on the field but mostly off it.
Glimpses of greatness. That heroic partnership with Tendulkar in SA where he and Sachin stood tall and made Donald and company bleed. That partnership ended like they all do but it took a brilliant run out of Azhar and an unbelievable out of the world catch of Tendulkar to end it. In Lance Klusener’s debut match in India, Azhar smashed 5 boundaries off 5 good balls from him after being beaten of the first ball. There were many more but they come to me only in patches. He captained India in the last world cup and upon being asked why the team had failed and why could not perform better as a captain, he gave the now world famous retort “A captain is only as good as his team”.
In spite of allegedly fixing matches, no other Indian captain has a higher win percentage than him. (Probably he fixed matches where we won he he he). Ganguly probably, but he has captained much fewer matches. In 1997, India reached the finals of 8 ODI tournaments and India won 7 of them under Azhar. Everybody thinks he is guilty, so much so for the ‘Innocent until proven guilty in a court of Law’ thing. Every accused has his day in court, Azhar hasn’t. Remember not even a charge sheet has been filed against him. Apparently there is not enough evidence against him to prove him guilty in a court of law. The man who took his name MK or something along with Azhar took the names of Alec Stewart and I believe some others most of whom were declared innocent by their boards and were allowed to continue playing because it could not be proved.
Remember the CBI only made charges. They did not file a criminal case in court. Only charges, which were unsubstantiated. Kapil Dev was also accused of similar charges but for lack of evidence was let go and he picked up the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Millennium Award.
I hate to think but if tomorrow if I or maybe one of you is charged of a crime and then the case is dropped saying sorry no evidence against you. What are we to do? Sue I guess but in a country where judicial processes go on for decades, will there be justice and if yes then at what cost. Probably it would put a few lawyers’ kids through college.
Our reviewer friend spookay says forgive him. I say if he is guilty, punish him but only if he is and that is a big IF. Probably he is guilty, I don’t know. Put yourself in Azhar’s shoes, if you are guilty probably then you are enjoying your life. But for the off chance that you are not, but for the off chance that MK was lying to save his own a s s, you are feeling terrible, there’s nothing for you. You have to prove your innocence in this country rather than the investigative agencies proving you guilty as is enshrined in our Constitution. The whole world as turned against you. When you won, you were the toast of the nation, when your down there’s no one around to say we’re there for you. Sachin failed in the 1st test, some crazy kid emails Harsha and says Kaif should be played. So much for standing by your heroes. All we are is a bunch of fair-weather friends. We only want our team to win. They lose, we cannot stomach it. Why go far? Have you tasted success in everything you do? Have you never failed? We all have, we’ve learnt from it and done well maybe or maybe our best times are ahead of us. Let’s not be the kind of people that wait for our heroes to fall, then jeer at them. This does not mean do not criticize them. But keep it constructive and to the point. Like Azhar’s, communication skills, horrible. Captain for 9 years never improved. Also it hurt me on a personal level when he said that he was being victimized because of his faith. He was a Muslim when he was made the captain, he was a Muslim when he was chosen to lead our country into three world cups him being the only one after Clive Lloyd to do so. But later after the event had occurred I thought to myself that heroes do crack under pressure like us. They are not Gods, they do not assume to be. We treat them that way rightfully or wrongfully.
Kapil cried on TV because he cracked. Azhar probably innocent thought why I am being victimized? He grabbed onto the only explanation that made sense to him. Later he did apologize for it. Nobody though can deny that the majority community views the minorities with suspicion in this country. Only in this decade you will find many instances of victimizations, how about the pains of the last few months? But that happens everywhere around the world. So you cannot completely blame Azhar for lashing out when he was cornered and down and probably out.
As for me, I will continue to assume that Azhar is innocent because the track record of the CBI is horrible. Yesterday on the 7th of August 2002 they arrested another Tehelka guy on trumped up false charges in a blatant case of harassment and intimidation. His crime, he facilitated the Tehelka operation which exposed the dealings behind so many Defense deals. How many of you can truthfully say that 50% of the police officers in this country are honest? Can anybody say that as a fact?
I am giving Azhar the benefit of doubt as batsmen do get it. Your assumption, your belief is up to you. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.
P.S: In the off chance that Azhar is guilty, and is proved so in the future, this review may read silly, I may look silly, but my intent is correct and I will rest in the belief that I stood by my hero. Stand by Yours.