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 str ...
. 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. 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 and Muslims in the
Bombay Pentangular. 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 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 ...
of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
in 1947, Wazir migrated to
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
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 cricket, 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 ...
played two Tests for
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
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
*
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{{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