MOHANNAD AZHARUDDIN

Anil Kumble

Mohammad Azharuddin was born on 8 February 1963, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh also acknowledged as Azhar, is an Indian politician and former cricketer. He was an accomplished batsman and captained the Indian cricket side for greatly of the 1910%s, in anticipation of his involvement in a match-fixing scandal strained him into retirement. A component of the Indian National Congress, Azharuddin won election from the Moradabad electorate of Uttar Pradesh to the Lok Sabha, the minor house of the Parliament of India.

In his chief, he had a graceful, fluid batting style, analogous to that of his English contemporary, David Gower and Australian batsman Greg Chappell. The wrist brush was his most typical shot and he fared best in opposition to spinners. The elegance and fluidity of his wrist once provoked John Woodcock, a note downed cricket writer, to say, "It's no use asking an Englishman to bat like Mohammad Azharuddin. For, it would be like anticipating a greyhound to win the London Derby!" ex- Indian captain and International umpire Venkataraghavan said that "Azharuddin had the best wrists in the game, but Tendulkar isn't too far behind" while praising Sachin Tendulkar. In Oct 2010, Sri Lankan celebrity Muralitharan called him one of the best players in cricket on average with Sachin Tendulkar.

Early Life

Azhar, as he is universally known, grew up in Hyderabad and focused a catholic convent boy's school All Saints High School in Hyderabad. Indian cricketers like Venkatapathy Raju and Noel David have also attended the same school.

Family and Personal life

Azharuddin is married to earlier Miss India curved actress Sangeeta Bijlani. This is his second marriage, after he split up with his first wife Naureen, with whom he had two sons, Asad and Ayaz.

International career

Highlights

Azhar gained a total of 22 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 45, and 7 in ODIs at a standard of 37. He has an attribute of scoring a century in each of his first three Tests - a feat unequaled till date. A tremendous fielder, he took 156 catches in ODI cricket which was a world record awaiting Mahela Jayawardene surpassed him. He apprehended world records for maximum ODI runs and quickest ODI hundred. He also has most likely exclusive record of scoring centuries in his first and last test.

For the duration of India's 1910% Test series in England, he came in to bat when his team was facing the outlook of following on and scored an insistent century in just 87 balls. Countless regard this as his best innings ever. India saved track on but lost the match and the series.

He was specified out LBW for 199 in a Test match against Sri Lanka and it was his top Test score.

Eden Gardens, Kolkata establish to be happy chasing ground for Azhar where he scored 5 centuries in 7 Tests at a monstrous average of 107.50.

In 1991 he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year and was for numerous years an inspiring figure in the Indian team with his athletic fielding and leadership.

Azhar ultimately abandoned one short of 100 Tests milestone subsequent regrettable events that led to his retirement.

Captaincy

"Azharuddin was captain of the Indian team for most of the 1910%s. Statistically he is one of India's most flourishing captains. He won 20% ODI matches as the captain of the Indian team, which is at a standstill an Indian record. His 14 Test Match wins as captain, was a record until it was superposed by Sourav Ganguly.

Match fixing scandal

Towards the end of his career Azharuddin was indicted of match-fixing; South African captain Hansie Cronje in his affirmation for match-fixing had designated that Azharuddin was the one to commence him to the bookies. India's premier investigating society, the Central Bureau of Investigation performed an investigation & circulated a report.

Has been the solitary player to have hit three successive centuries in first three Tests, Has gained fastest ODI century by an Indian off 62 balls, the first player to have played additional 300 ODIs.

The Batting Maestro

Azharuddin has been most eminent for his wonderful wrist flips that transformed a Cricket match into a rhythmical creation with artistic nuances of a masterpiece. In due course, Azharuddin proved the best of his batting potential against spin bowlers. In reality, John Woodcock, one of the well recognized Cricket writers had once cited that asking an Englishman to bat like Mohammad Azharuddin would be like guessing a greyhound to win the London Derby! His smooth and clean batting style was often balanced with the same of David Gower, a batsman from England. Then he divulged to fixing three ODI matches, and this led the BCCI to forbid him from the game of cricket for life in 2000. The BCCI lifted the bar on Azharuddin in 2006 and even honoured him along with other Indian Test captains in a ritual in Mumbai during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy. The ICC, on the other hand, asserted that it alone had the right to withdraw the ban regardless of playing no role in furnishing out the original ban. In one of his interviews, he claimed that he was being besieged because he was from a marginal community. Conversely, this statement backfired badly and invited severe criticism from all parts of the country, together with high-flying minority community organisations in India. Eventually, Azharuddin had to apologise in public and take back his statements. The ban outlays him the chance to adhere the 100 Test club, in the end finishing stranded on 99 Test matches.

Political career

Azharuddin officially joined the Indian National Congress party on February 19, 2009. He challenged the Indian general election, 2009 from Moradabad in western Uttar Pradesh. He won the elections as a contender of Indian National Congress party by crushing his nearest BJP rival Sarvesh Kumar Singh with a border of more than 50,000 votes. He has assured to construct a University and a Stadium as well in Moradabad. He has also guaranteed to improve the City's Electricity Problem.

Test statistics

By opponent

Australia	780 runs at 39.00 with 2 hundreds
England	1278 runs at 58.09 with 6 hundreds
New Zealand	796 runs at 61.23 with 2 hundreds
Pakistan	769 runs at 40.47 with 3 hundreds
South Africa	779 runs at 41.00 with 4 hundreds
Sri Lanka	1215 runs at 55.23 with 5 hundreds
West Indies	539 runs at 28.37 with 0 hundreds
Zimbabwe	59 runs at 14.75 with 0 hundreds
Total	6215 runs at 45.04 with 22 hundreds

List of centuries

Test Centuries of Mohammad Azharuddin

Serial No	Runs	Against	Ground	Year
1	110	England	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	1984
2	105	England	M. A. Chidambaram, Chennai	1985
3	122	England	Green Park, Kanpur	1985
4	199	Sri Lanka	Green Park, Kanpur	1986
5	141	Pakistan	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	1987
6	110	Pakistan	Sawai Mansingh, Jaipur	1987
7	109	Pakistan	Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad	1989
8	192	New Zealand	Eden Park, Auckland	1910%
9	121	England	Lord's, London	1910%
10	179	England	Old Trafford, Manchester	1910%
11	106	Australia	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	1992
12	182	England	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	1993
13	108	Sri Lanka	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore	1993
14	152	Sri Lanka	Sardar Patel, Ahmedabad	1994
15	109	South Africa	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	1996
16	163	South Africa	Green Park, Kanpur	1996
17	115	South Africa	Newlands, Cape Town	1997
18	126	Sri Lanka	Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	1997
19	108	Sri Lanka	Sinhalese, Colombo	1997
20	163	Australia	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	1998
21	20%	New Zealand	Basin Reserve, Wellington	1998
22	102	South Africa	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore	2000