Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani (; born 29 December 1949) is an Indian cricketer who played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

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 ...

. In 2016, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for

Cricket in India Cricket has been the most popular sport in India in modern era since the British Raj, and is played almost everywhere in the country. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the governing body of Indian cricket and conduct all dom ...

International career

1971–1982

He started off as an understudy to

Farokh Engineer Farokh Maneksha Engineer (born 25 February 1938) is an Indian former cricketer. He played 46 Test matches for India, played first-class cricket for Bombay in India from 1959 to 1975 and for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England from 196 ...

in the tours of England in 1971 and 1974 and to the 1975 World Cup. Kirmani made his debut against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and in his second Test, equalled the world record of six victims in an innings. When New Zealand toured India the next year, he topped the batting averages with 65.33, and scored 305 runs in the tour of Australia. He did not have a very good time behind the stumps against Pakistan and

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

in 1978–79. He was dropped in favour of Bharath Reddy for the

1979 Cricket World Cup The 1979 Cricket World Cup (officially called the Prudential Cup '79) was the second edition of the Cricket World Cup. Organised by the International Cricket Conference, it was held in England from 9 to 23 June 1979. The tournament was once aga ...

and the subsequent series against England.

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...

was also sacked as the captain. Though Kirmani was dropped ostensibly for performance, there was a rumour that the real reason was that both he and Gavaskar had been approached by the organisers of the

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

World Series Cricket World Series Cricket (WSC) was a commercial professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 which was organised by Kerry Packer and his Australian television network, Nine Network. WSC ran in commercial competition to establishe ...

. Back in the team for the series against Australia in 1979–80, he scored a hundred as a nightwatchman in Bombay. His innings of 101* in five hours nearly lasted out the day. He had 17 catches and two stumpings against Pakistan in the same season and it equalled

Naren Tamhane Narendra Shankar Tamhane (4 August 1931 – 19 March 2002) was an Indian cricketer who played in 21 Test matches from 1955 to 1960. He was a wicket-keeper-batsman. His first-class career extended from 1951–52 to 1968–69. He played in th ...

's Indian record for a single series. Against England in 1981–82, he did not concede a single bye in three consecutive Tests while 1964 runs were scored.

1983 World Cup

Kirmani won the award for the best wicket keeper in the

1983 Cricket World Cup The 1983 Cricket World Cup (officially the Prudential Cup '83) was the 3rd edition of the Cricket World Cup tournament. It was held from 9 to 25 June 1983 in England and Wales and was won by India. Eight countries participated in the event. En ...

, his highlight of which was the catch of

Faoud Bacchus Sheik Faoud Ahamul Fasiel Bacchus (born 31 January 1954) is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies and the United States. Early career A right handed batsman, he made his Test match debut for the West Indies at 24 years old in the 1 ...

that he took in the final against the

. In the first round match against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, he equalled the then record by effecting three catches and two stumpings. Kirmani was a lower order reliable batsman and another example is the unbroken 126 for ninth wicket with

Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by ''Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Centu ...

against

in the 1983 World Cup with Kirmani contributing 26 and that partnership proved critical in India being able to continue their run in the tournament.

1984–1986

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

the next year, he scored his second hundred in Tests making 102 and adding 235 with

Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...

, still an Indian record for the seventh wicket. In the Madras Test in the same series, he missed some crucial catches which contributed to an Indian defeat. He was dropped at the end of that series in favour of

Sadanand Viswanath Sadanand Viswanath ( kn, ಸದಾನಂದ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ್‌) (born 28 November 1962, Bangalore, Karnataka) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 3 Tests and 22 ODIs, from 1985 to 1988. Currently, he is a first class umpire a ...

. Kirmani made a comeback in the Australian tour of 1985–86, where he fared reasonably well. He had just taken an outstanding catch to dismiss

Allan Border Allan Robert Border (born 27 July 1955) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test ma ...

in a World Series Cup match, when he hurt his leg badly. He was forced to sit out of the remaining matches of the tournament and that effectively ended his international career. India went for younger keepers like

Kiran More Kiran Shankar More (born 4 September 1962) is an Indian former cricketer and wicket-keeper for the Indian cricket team from 1984 to 1993. He also took up the position Chairman of the Selection Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in I ...

and

Chandrakant Pandit Chandrakant Sitaram Pandit (born 30 September 1961) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 5 Tests and 36 ODIs from 1986 to 1992. He was a Wicket Keeper Batsman for Indian national cricket team. He made his test debut against E ...

and despite trying hard, Kirmani was never able to regain his place. During his international career, his record included 160 catches and 38 stumpings during test matches, and 27 catches and 9 stumpings during one-day internationals. Always a central figure on the field, he could dive and somersault to catch the ball, and was responsible for many run-outs.

Domestic career

Later in his career he played for

Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in domestic cricket for a season, after which he returned to his former team,

Awards

* He was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 1982. * In 2016 he became the recipient of the 2015 Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.

Filmography

In popular culture

A Bollywood film titled '' 83'' released in December 2021 about the event of India's first world cup win at Lords. The film features Sahil Khattar as Kirmani and is produced by

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France a ...

References

Notes

* Christopher Martin-Jenkins, ''The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers''

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirmani, Syed 1949 births Living people India One Day International cricketers India Test cricketers Indian cricketers Indian cricket administrators Karnataka cricketers South Zone cricketers Railways cricketers State Bank of India cricketers Vazir Sultan Tobacco cricketers Central Zone cricketers Cricketers from Chennai Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Recipients of the Arjuna Award India national cricket team selectors Cricketers who have acted in films Wicket-keepers