Abdul Aziz Durrani (15 August 1905 – 1 January 1979) was an Afghan-born Indian cricket coach and

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er. He played as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

and batsman for

Sind Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

and Nawanagar in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

. He was the father of India

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

cricketer

Salim Durani Salim Aziz Durani (born 11 December 1934) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 29 Test matches from 1960 to 1973. An all-rounder, Durani was a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and a left-handed batsman famous for his six-hitting prowess. He ...

Career

News of Aziz's skills as a cricketer spread as he travelled to India from Afghanistan to play. He was a part of the Indian team that played two unofficial

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

against the visiting Australian side in 1935–36. After the passing of

Jam Sahib Jam Sahib ( gu, જામ સાહેબ), is the title of the ruling prince of Nawanagar, now known as Jamnagar in Gujarat, an Indian princely state. Jam Sahibs of Nawanagar References External links Nawanagar History and Genealogyat '' ...

Ranjitsinhji Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 to 1933, as Mah ...

, his successor, in rebuilding the team, included Aziz in the Nawanagar team that played in the Ranji Trophy alongside bowlers such as Amar Singh,

Mubarak Ali Mubarak Ali ( ur, ), (born 21 April 1941) is a Pakistani historian, activist and scholar. His main theme, in most of his books, has been that some history books written in Pakistan had been 'dictated' by the ruling class (the so-called 'Establ ...

and

Shute Banerjee Sarobindu Nath "Shute" Banerjee (3 October 1911 – 14 October 1980) was a cricketer who represented India in one official and five unofficial Test matches. He was right-arm medium pace bowler and a lower order batsman. Cricketing career Ban ...

. Impressed by his wicket-keeping and batting performances for Nawanagar in their tour of Karachi in 1935, he was offered a job as a

sub-inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police, is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which is primarily based on the British model. It was formerly used in most British col ...

by the then Jam Sahib

Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Sir Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja (18 September 1895 – 3 February 1966) was the Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar from 1933 to 1966, succeeding his uncle, the famed cricketer Ranjitsinhji. Early life and military career Ranjitsinhji, ...

, which was when the former's family settled in Jamnagar. With Nawanagar, Aziz won the third season of the Ranji Trophy, in 1936–37. After India's partition in 1947, Aziz moved to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, while his family stayed in Jamnagar. Once there, he began his career as a coach, working in the Sindh Madrassah School in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. Future Pakistan national cricketer

Hanif Mohammad Hanif Mohammad PP ( ur, , 21 December 1934 – 11 August 2016) was a Pakistani cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He averaged 43.98 scoring twelve ...

was his student there.

References

External links

* * https://www.theroar.com.au/2020/08/08/a-test-team-of-players-who-never-played-any-tests/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdul, Aziz 1905 births 1979 deaths Cricketers from Kabul Afghan emigrants to India Indian cricketers Indian people of Afghan descent Indian people of Pashtun descent Indian emigrants to Pakistan Pakistani people of Afghan descent Muhajir people Pakistani cricket coaches Sindh cricketers Nawanagar cricketers