Syed Wazir Ali (; 15 September 1903 – 17 June 1950) was a prominent figure in early Indian

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 ...

. He was a right-handed batsman and a medium pace bowler.

Early life

Wazir played in all the Tests that India played before the second world war. In the tour of England in 1932, he scored 1229 runs in first class matches and 1725 overall. In the next tour in 1936 he was hampered by a hand injury but recorded his highest score of 42 in the Test at

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

First class cricket

Wazir was educated at

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

. He made his first-class debut, aged 19, for Muslims against Sikhs at Lawrence Gardens (now Bagh-e-Jinnah), Lahore in the 1922-23 Lahore Tournament. For most of his first class career he played for Southern Punjab 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 ...

and Muslims in the

Bombay Pentangular The Bombay Quadrangular was an influential cricket tournament held in Bombay, British India between 1892–93 and 1945–46. At other times it was known variously as the Presidency Match, Bombay Triangular, and the Bombay Pentangular. Presidency ...

. His unbeaten 222 in the 1938/39 Ranji final against

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

was then the highest in the tournament. Bengal had earlier been all out for 222, but Southern Punjab still ended up in the losing side. His career best score of 268 not out for Indian University Occasionals in 1935 was the highest score in Indian first class cricket. Both records were beaten by

Vijay Hazare Vijay Samuel Hazare (11 March 1915 – 18 December 2004) was an Indian cricketer. He captained India in 14 matches between 1951 and 1953. In India's 25th Test match, nearly 20 years after India achieved Test status, he led India to its first ...

's undefeated 316 in 1939/40. As a cricketing figure, Wazir Ali was second only to

C.K. Nayudu Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu (31 October 1895 – 14 November 1967), also known as CK, was the first captain of the Indian cricket team in Test matches. He played first-class cricket regularly until 1958, and returned for one last time in ...

among his contemporary Indian cricketers but he apparently resented it having to play second fiddle to Nayudu. Nayudu had many rivals and Wazir was often a stalking-horse for them.

Mihir Bose Mihir Bose (born 12 January 1947) is a British Indian journalist and author. He writes a weekly "Big Sports Interview" for the ''London Evening Standard'', and also writes and broadcasts on sport and social and historical issues for several ou ...

contrasted the two: "To an extent Nayudu and Wazir Ali were natural rivals. Wazir, like Nayudu, was a powerful right-hand bat who could play some very elegant strokes including a charming cover drive, and he was also a more than useful medium-pace change bowler. Like Nayudu he played in only seven Tests, all against England, and did not have the opportunity to demonstrate his class or his ability to its full extent. What set the two men apart was that Wazir, eight years younger than Nayudu, did not possess the older man's determination and his obsession with the game. Nayudu was, undoubtedly the greater cricketer, and he left a deeper impression on the game … Wazir in contrast, died at the age of forty-six after an operation for appendicitis just three years after Pakistan was created, and he had little chance to impose his personality of the post-war game in that country. Wazir captained India in two unofficial Tests against an Australian XI in 1935/36. Nayudu had captained the side in the first two matches of the series and dropped out of the matches in which Wazir captained the side. "Wazir went to his grave nursing a deep grievance against Nayudu", though it seems that Nayudu was genuinely unable to play.

Later life

After the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

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 ...

in 1947, Wazir migrated to

and ended his life in poverty. Cashman quotes a Pakistani official that "during his last days, Wazir lived precariously on his own meagre savings in a small quarters in Soldiers Bazar where he struggled against poverty and disease". His son

Khalid Wazir Syed Khalid Wazir (27 April 1936 – 27 June 2020) was a Pakistani cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1954. He was selected for the 1954 tour of England after just two first-class matches in which he had made 18 runs and taken 5 w ...

played two Tests for

in 1954. Wazir was the elder brother of Nazir Ali.

References

Cited sources

*Mihir Bose (1990) ''A History of Indian Cricket'', Andre Deutsch,

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Wazir India Test cricketers 1903 births 1950 deaths Cricketers from Jalandhar Indian cricketers Muslims cricketers Southern Punjab cricketers Sindh cricketers Central India cricketers Patiala cricketers Northern India cricketers Indian emigrants to Pakistan