Away average was 36 (23 in SA, 28 in AUS, 20 in WI, 42 in ENG) Averaged 55 in matches won by India (22). 19 in matches won abroad (3).
Made centuries in each of his first 3 Tests, a world record. For symmetry, even scored a hundred in his last Test innings. All in India.
Made 22 centuries and 21 fifties, a remarkable conversion rate. But just 6 centuries and 6 fifties outside the sub-continent.
Strike rate of 58 runs per hundred balls. As captain, 60.
Shares the record for fastest century by an Indian with Kapil Dev (in 74 deliveries vs South Africa at Calcutta, 1996).
Captained India in 47 Tests with a success rate of 30%. Won India just one Test abroad, against Sri Lanka (total Tests as captain abroad: 27).
Averaged 44 with the bat as captain (38 abroad).
Ended his career in disgrace due to match-fixing allegations.
Everything about Azharuddin is a reminder about the human imperfections in sport. When he was at his best, there was no grander sight in cricket. Yet, in pitches where the ball moved around and particularly rose (usually abroad), he could look hopeless. He began his career as a career-focussed, God-fearing man from the lower middle class. He ended it as a luxury-loving dandy tainted by allegations of corruption. As a compromise choice for India captain fairly early on in his career, he went on to lead his country for the next ten years. Today, he is remembered as one of the most unimaginative and uninspiring captains India ever had. Style was always important to Azharuddin; in the early days, that upturned shirt collar (copied from ML Jaisimha and Dev Anand) and his walk were pointers to it. And then the batting - that utterly delectable leg-side play and that bat swing, that follow through. Later, the delicate off-side fluency. Always, the timing. The wristy cajoling of the ball to corners unexpected. The polite conviction when the ball sped off his bat, which was more a conductor's sleek baton that drew out music from all kinds of places. It is possible that the born stylist in him chose to not work hard on the substance. Because it is difficult to believe that such god-given talent could not overcome the exposed shortcomings of coping with the over-the-waist ball, for example. Did the artist not see the importance of working on his craft enough? Gradually, Azharuddin developed a style (what else?) of counter-attacking when under pressure, relying on his eye and instinct to get him out of a hole. When it did, it was something to behold (and savour for the rest of your life), as sheer natural talent gave everything around it a plebeian standing. And when it could not (which was sadly more often, especially abroad), it was thoughtless and wasteful, often plunging the team's morale even further. Those who saw Azharuddin at his best are blessed for what memories they will forever carry, but also somewhat cursed, for nothing will ever look quite as glorious again.
| Azharuddin was under pressure - as player and captain. He was short on runs; his team was yet to win a single series with him as captain. This was his first home series as captain and it was against England, by no means weak opposition. His future was at stake, and the knives had come out in the media. India won the toss in the first Test, batted, and was 93-3 when Azharuddin walked out to join Tendulkar. They | added 123 runs in even time, with Tendulkar watchful and supportive. Azharuddin, bizarrely, looked like he was in a personal celebration. His exuberance lacked logic, his strokeplay imbued with the kind of freedom that comes rarely in international cricket. He was 114* (off 124 balls) at close with India 263-4. Next morning, it was a solo concert. None of the other accompanists got more than 13, | as Azharuddin's hypnotic performance caused mass hysteria in the world's most thickly populated cricket stadium. When he was finally out with the score at 362 (182 off 197 balls), he had single-handedly shifted the momentum his team's way with such force that it would resonate right through the series, which India would go on to win 3-0. |
| On a crumbling pitch, Sri Lanka after being dismissed for 119 had reduced India to 123-4. But the balance shifted irrevocably as Azharuddin took charge and negotiated the turn and bounce so easily that for a while, it seemed as if the match had suddenly changed its | venue. He kept despatching the loose balls unfailingly for four and comfortably keeping the good ones out. India made 239 runs that day, and Azharuddin made 134 of those (unbeaten, with 15 fours and 1 six). India were finally dismissed for | 358 (Azharuddin 152 off 260 balls in 6 hours of batting) and the pitch went back to being vicious. Thereafter, an innings defeat for the Lankans was a foregone conclusion, really. |
| 0-1 down in the series, South Africa began this Test with a steely resolve. But after an opening stand of 236, they were dismissed for 428, a comeback of sorts for India. But they were back in trouble when Azharuddin walked out to bat, at 77-3. Donald, Klusener (making his Test debut) and McMillan were making the batsmen hop around; Azharuddin was back in the pavilion 10 runs later, retired hurt. India lost wickets regularly and it would be 161-7 before he walked back to the middle the next day. There had been allegations overnight in the media that he had retired hurt to avoid facing the South | African fast bowlers, and it wouldn't have amused him. 68 runs were required to avoid the follow-on when Azharuddin took fresh guard. Not one of those 65,000-odd spectators will ever forget what followed. His bat, usually wielded with delicacy and elegance, was bristling with a different energy that day. He unleashed an array of strokes which seemed to have nothing to do with the match situation, furiously belting the ball to all ends of the ground he could no wrong in. When Donald and Klusener bounced him, Azharuddin hooked, an unusual sight from him, repeatedly, to great effect. | In one time-stopping over, he hit Klusener for five consecutive leg-side boundaries. His brilliance had a galvanising effect on his non-striker Kumble who produced an 88 off 124 balls himself. Azharuddin was inevitably dismissed at 322 for 109 off 77 balls with 18 fours and a six. Unfortunately for India, the South Africans shrugged off this unbelievable display as a freak occurrence and did not allow their focus to waver. They put on 367 in the second innings and dismissed India for 137 to level the series 1-1. |
| In the very next match, the series decider, India seemed to be the side that lacked belief. From 160-2, they were all out for 237. But they fought back to dismiss the South Africans for 177. In the second innings, once again the advantage seemed to have been squandered with India 121-4 and the match very much in the balance. | Azharuddin and Tendulkar eased the pressure and added 71 before the latter nicked one to the keeper. But along with Dravid, Azharuddin put the match past the South Africans, this time with the calm of someone who had nothing to prove to anyone (quite a contrast from the match before). His immaculate shot selection suggested an uncluttered | mind, the ease with which he penetrated the gaps on the field suggested someone on top of his game with chance playing a minimal part (eventually unbeaten with 163 off 229 balls with 25 fours and a six). This time, his team-mates, responded with the bat and the ball. South Africa lost the match by 280 runs and the series 1-2. |
| In the first of now a 2-match series (the first Test had been abandoned), India won the toss and batted. In the 11th over, at 16-4, the man who had decided to bat first, the Indian captain, walked out to justify his decision. Azharuddin and Tendulkar put on 83 in 20 overs, | till the latter was out to Simon Doull (he would get 7-65). Thereafter, Azharuddin took charge and played a rare captain's innings abroad. It was a solo show - scintillating strokeplay punctuating prudent shot selection, that gave the innings some substance at | 208 all out (Azharuddin 103* off 156 balls with 14 fours). It at least led to a tight, intensely-fought match which New Zealand won eventually by 4 wickets. |
HONOURABLE MENTION:
| This is considered by many to be the most memorable Azharuddin innings but it didn't make our top-5 cut because of the match situation and overall value to the team. After a Gooch triple century and an England total of 653-4 declared, India was 191-3, light-years away from survival, when Azharuddin | walked out. A spectacular assault followed, that converted the famed stiff upper lips to dropped jaws. Azharuddin was out at 393 for 121 off 111 balls with 22 fours. Poor Gooch went on to make 123 off 115 balls in the second innings and England went on to win comfortably, but the English media | seemed to gloss over his remarkable performance and only rave about Azharuddin's innings (and still do). It was more about the spectacle than the substance something that Azharuddin might have noted for the future. This was just the first innings in that sequence that decade. |
