In April 1971, a young Mumbai XI led by Sudhir Naik, with five of their 1970-71 season squad members on India duty in the West Indies, stunned a seasoned Maharashtra team led by Chandu Borde, to claim a Ranji Trophy title at the Cricket Club of India.
The visitors were expected to walk away with the silverware. Their cricket association’s administrators arrived in Mumbai to witness a moment to cherish, and legend has it that a mighty celebration was organised at the Taj Mahal hotel. Maharashtra, in pursuit of 254, were bowled out for 205. There was no party.
Last week, the deceased count from that Mumbai XI swelled to seven with the passing of Abdul Ismail, who succumbed to a cardiac arrest in Mumbai.
Left-arm spinner Shivalkar was wrecker-in-chief with 6-56, but it was Ismail who sent back the first three Maharashtra batsmen — Madhu Gupte, Swaroop Kabadi and Chetan Chauhan — with only 31 on the board. The win was a triumph for belief, resilience and of course sheer cricketing nous.
Ismail was a fine opening bowler for the city, whose swinging deliveries fetched him a whopping 198 wickets in the Ranji Trophy itself. Making his first-class debut for Mumbai in the 1969-70 Irani Cup game at Pune, Ismail claimed the wickets of Surinder Amarnath, MAK Pataudi, and Ambar Roy to kick off the season that earned him 23 first-class wickets.
In 1971-72, his 56 wickets was his best tally across nine seasons of first-class cricket. Ten from the Mumbai team that beat Bengal in the 1971-72 final at the CCI have passed away – Ramnath Parkar, skipper Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Sardesai, Ashok Mankad, Eknath Solkar, Milind Rege, Ajit Naik, Sharad Hazare, Padmakar Shivalkar and Ismail. Gavaskar, who made 157 in the first innings, was at Ismail’s funeral last Saturday; the only Test player to witness his final journey.
Ismail was one of the stars in Mumbai’s capture of the Ranji Trophy in 1976-77, when Sunil Gavaskar’s team outplayed Bishan Singh Bedi’s Delhi at the Kotla. Earlier that season, Ismail got 10 wickets in the match against Saurashtra at Surendranagar while bowling in tandem with Karsan Ghavri.
“It was all swing with Abdul. He swung it both ways and kept the slip fielders alert. Even if I only concentrated on bowling quick in those days, I couldn’t help marvel at his skills. He swung the ball at will,” Ghavri told me on Tuesday, rueing the fact that food poisoning prevented him from attending his bowling partner’s funeral. “Abdul was a champion bloke too. You could spot his laugh even in a crowd and we enjoyed being part of the Mumbai team. We were not ones who packed up and left at the end of the day’s play. We hung around for a couple of hours, had fun and in the midst of all that masti, we discussed what went right or wrong on the field.”
Back to that Saurashtra game. A full Mumbai side were shot out for 79 in the first innings on a matting wicket, which 20-year-old pacer Rajendra Jadeja exploited to claim 6-27. Ghavri (6-40) and Ismail (4-44) then bowled out the hosts for 109 before Mumbai, armed with a chanceless century from Ashok Mankad and 83 by skipper Gavaskar, declared at 268-3. Ismail’s 6-23 proved devastating for Saurashtra, who lost by 163 runs.
Ismail could put his bat to good use too. In that tension-filled 1975-76 quarter-final against Hyderabad, he scored 21 not out in Mumbai’s meagre score of 222. In the second innings, as soon as his brother Rahul Mankad was sent back by Abid Ali, Ashok promoted Ismail to No.6. The skipper and Ismail (37) put on an unbroken stand of 82 for Mumbai to declare at 275-4, leaving Hyderabad, a team with five Test players (Abbas Ali Baig, K Jayantilal, MAK Pataudi, S Abid Ali, ML Jaisimha) to get 216 for victory. Jaisimha’s team fell short by 70 runs against a Mumbai team with three debutants (Sandeep Patil, Rahul and Vijay Mohanraj).
Off-spinner V Ramnarayan, who claimed seven Mumbai batsmen on Day One of the Wankhede game, remembered Ismail as a “wonderful bowler and a capable lower order batsman who made merry” in his first innings 21. After conquering Hyderabad and Bengal, Ashok’s team beat Bihar in the final at Jamshedpur, where Ismail claimed 10 in the match.
Ismail’s batting ability also came to the fore in the 1976-77 game against Baroda while scoring 18 in the company of centurion Rakesh Tandon. Their 53-run stand for the eighth wicket helped Mumbai surpass Baroda’s first innings score of 453. Skipper Gavaskar mentioned that effort in a piece for Sportsweek magazine: “When a bowler like Karsan Ghavri is spreading panic in the batsmen’s hearts, it needs a bowler of intelligence to keep the other end tight. This Abdulla Ismail did perfectly. Though not as destructive as in previous years, he was nevertheless an extremely difficult bowler to handle. At No. 10, he swung his bat merrily and got valuable runs. His partnership with Rakesh Tandon when Rakesh played that great innings of 142 pulled the match around for Bombay, chasing Baroda’s 453. Abdulla kept trying all the time,” Gavaskar wrote.
The 1976-77 Ranji Trophy final was the last time the Ghavri-Ismail firm operated. Between them, several big-named batsmen were sent back and the grip on the Ranji Trophy was only lost once — at Bangalore in the 1973-74 Ranji semi-final. Ismail believed that he had Gundappa Vishwanath plumb in front early in Karnataka’s first innings and who knows if the southern state would have gone on to win their maiden Ranji title had it not been for centurion Vishwanath’s luck.
Ismail may have been unfortunate not to wear India colours, but he played in an era when the Mumbai lion roared consistently and loud — just like Ismail’s laughter.
mid-day’s Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello
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