Abid Ali and the Adelaide Oval

All-rounder's feat of being India's most successful Test debutant bowler in an innings (6-55) overseas is unheralded if not unknown.

The Adelaide Oval evokes a flood of individualistic memories for cricket lovers in this country. It all started with Vijay Hazare, who carved two centuries in the fourth Test of the 1947-48 series. Hazare's fellow centurion in 1947-48 was Dattu Phadkar, helping India to a respectable 381-run response to Australia's 674. Hazare's name is synonymous with India v Australia Test battles at Adelaide as is the name of Rahul Dravid, whose 233 in the 2003-04 battle was followed by an as-good-as-gold 72 not out which took India to victory.

The Adelaide Oval witnessed other Indian performances over the years from the likes of Sandeep Patil (174 in 1980-81), Sunil Gavaskar carrying his bat for 166 in the 1985-86 Test, Mohammed Azharuddin's 106 in 1991-92, VVS Laxman's 148 and Ajit Agarkar's 6-41 in 2003-04.

Attractive 150-plus scores from Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in the first and second innings respectively in the final Test of the controversial 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy prevented Australia from expanding their 2-1 lead over Anil Kumble's men.

After becoming India's only century-maker of the series in the 2011-12 Adelaide Test, Virat Kohli did a Hazare in 2014-15 and his 141 must go down as one of the most exhilarating knocks in the final innings of a match, although India fell short by 48 runs.

In 2018-19, Cheteshwar Pujara's 123 and 71 guided India to a series-defining win. Amidst all the above stellar shows, the one performance that doesn't get the publicity it deserves is Syed Abid Ali's grand Test debut in 1967-68.

India were led by Chandu Borde since MAK Pataudi pulled a hamstring and Mumbai's Umesh Kulkarni made his debut along with Abid Ali. Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry ensured the Indians had no success until the post lunch session. With the scoreboard reading 99-0, Abid Ali had Bill Lawry caught behind and captain Simpson miscued one for Abid Ali to hold on to a caught and bowled chance. "I was over the moon to get both openers. After all, they were the best pair in the world then," Abid Ali told me from California earlier this week.

Australia recovered through a 118-run stand for the third wicket between debutant Paul Sheahan and Bob Cowper, an alliance broken by Erapalli Prasanna. Sheahan was trapped leg before trying to play the sweep shot. Ian Redpath was dismissed for a duck followed by Ian Chappell - all three in the space of 22 magical deliveries.

Abid Ali struck again by getting Barry Jarman, Cowper, Graham McKenzie and debutant Johnny Gleeson, as Australia totalled 335. "Getting 6 for 55 in my first innings was a magnificent feeling although I don't remember being nervous at the start. I went in feeling confident of myself. I had a ball in my hand and I had a job to do," Abid Ali remarked. No Indian bowler has claimed more wickets in an innings on debut in an overseas Test.

Kulkarni observed his teammate's approach closely and felt Abid Ali made full use of his fantastic wrist, release and got the ball to shoot through. "He was quicker off the wicket and it was an inspired spell," the Worli-based former left-arm bowler told me.

India replied with 307 thanks to Engineer's entertaining 89, Borde's dogged 69 and Rusi Surti's breezy 70. Abid Ali was caught and bowled by Alan Connolly for 33. He scored the same number of runs in the second innings as India collapsed for 251 chasing 398 for victory. The Australians belted the Indian bowlers in their second innings and Abid Ali had only one wicket to show - of centurion Cowper – as Rusi Surti claimed a fifer.

Abid Ali continued to be useful as a batsman throughout the series. His scores in his last three innings of the rubber were 47 (Brisbane), 78 and 81 in Sydney. In One More Over, Prasanna called him the find of the tour, the 0-4 whitewash notwithstanding. "I enjoyed the competitive nature of the series," recalled Abid Ali, 79.

The all-rounder came into focus again in Brisbane, where his Hyderabad teammate ML Jaisimha scored a hundred on arrival as BS Chandrasekhar's replacement. Sent to open the innings, Abid Ali got cracking quite literally in the second innings when India were set 395 to win. Abid Ali's first 10 scoring strokes were 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4 and 4. He departed three short of a half century before Surti (64), Pataudi (48), Jaisimha (101) and Borde (63) nearly pulled off a victory.

Abid Ali couldn't witness glory then, but he did on the 1971 tours of West Indies and England. Those wins were special but there is no reason to believe he felt a lot less proud at Adelaide in 1967.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper

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