Hyderabad cricketer and former India all-rounder Syed Abid Ali dies at 83
Hyderabad: Syed Abid Ali, one of Hyderabad’s most renowned cricketers and former India all-rounder, passed away on March 12, 2025, in the United States. He was 83 years old.
Abid Ali represented Hyderabad in first-class cricket, playing 212 matches and taking 397 wickets. He made his India debut in December 1967 in Adelaide and played his final Test match against the West Indies in Delhi in December 1974.
Born on September 9, 1941, Abid Ali was a lower-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler. He played a significant role in Indian cricket during the 1960s and 1970s.
Abid Ali attended St. George's Grammar School and All Saints High School in Hyderabad. In 1956, he was selected for the Hyderabad Schools team due to his impressive fielding, winning the best fielder's prize after scoring 82 against Kerala. A few years later, he joined the State Bank of Hyderabad's cricket team, initially starting as a wicketkeeper before transitioning to a bowler.
He made his debut for the Hyderabad junior team in 1958-59 and was selected for the state Ranji Trophy team in 1960. Though he did not bowl much in his early years, Abid scored his first Ranji hundred in 1967 and was unexpectedly picked for the Indian team that toured Australia and New Zealand that year.
Abid made his Test debut in the first Test against Australia, replacing the injured captain, M.A.K. Pataudi. He scored 33 runs in both innings and took 6 wickets for 55, which was the best debut performance by an Indian cricketer at the time. In the third Test, he opened the batting and scored 47 runs, followed by scores of 81 and 78 in the final Test.
Abid was on the field when Sunil Gavaskar scored the winning runs against the West Indies in the 1971 Port of Spain Test. He also took two key wickets in the final Test of the series, dismissing Rohan Kanhai and Garry Sobers in consecutive deliveries. Later that year, he hit the winning boundary when India defeated England at the Oval.
In the Manchester Test of the same series, Abid took the first four wickets for just 19 runs before lunch, reducing England to 4 for 41. Over the course of his career, he played in nine more Test matches, scoring 70 runs against New Zealand in the 1975 World Cup.
Abid continued to play first-class cricket for several more years, scoring over 2,000 runs and taking more than 100 wickets in the Ranji Trophy for Hyderabad. His highest score was an unbeaten 173 against Kerala in 1968-69, and his best bowling performance was 6 for 23 against Surrey at the Oval in 1974.
After retiring from playing, Abid served as a coach for Hyderabad's junior team and later moved to California in 1980. He also coached the Maldives in the late 1990s and the UAE between 2002 and 2005. Before his time with the UAE, he coached Andhra to a South Zone league title in the 2001–02 Ranji Trophy.
Abid is survived by his daughter and son. He had been living in the United States at the time of his passing.
