Mushtaq Ali

Mushtaq Ali Biography

Keith Miller called Syed Mushtaq Ali one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Ray Robinson called him “the most daringly original of international batsmen.” In an era when the Indian school of batting was divided between technical correctness of Vijay Merchant and flamboyant strokeplay from CK Nayudu, Mushtaq chose to emulate the latter.

While his idol and mentor CK’s runs came mostly from clean, lofted straight-batted sixes, Mushtaq cut and pulled with as much ferocity as he drove. He could play all around, hitting the ball very hard, and was one of the fastest runners between wickets.

His numbers, 612 runs at 32 from 11 Tests, do not make spectacular reading, but they included two outrageous hundreds. In First-Class cricket (he played for an absurd 46 teams) his 13,213 runs came at 36, but he made up for that by capturing 233 wickets at 29 with his left-arm spin.

Mushtaq’s biggest show came in the Old Trafford Test of 1936. Merchant and he walked out to bat on July 27, 1936 after India had conceded a 368-run lead. By stumps he had become the first Indian to score an overseas Test hundred, earning accolades from Jack Hobbs, CB Fry and Neville Cardus, and a gold watch from CK. Merchant scored a serene hundred as well, but he was overshadowed by exquisite strokeplay of Mushtaq.

His other hundred came over 12 years later, against West Indies at Calcutta, the ground where he had made his Test debut. Two years before his hundred, when Mushtaq was dropped from an unofficial ‘Test’ against the Australian services at the same ground, local youths protested with chants of “no Mushtaq, no Test.”

He played only one more Test after the West Indies series. Fittingly, it was also the first Test India won. He was later made an MCC Life Member and was awarded a Padma Shri.

Mushtaq Ali passed away at 91. Fittingly, India's domestic T20 tournament has been named after him.

Abhishek Mukherjee

Mushtaq Ali Batting & Fielding Averages

Career

Avg

100s

50s

Test

ODIs

T20s

World Cup

Mushtaq Ali Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--