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Salim Durani (1934–2006) was an Indian Test cricketer. He died on 2 April 2023 after battling cancer.
Wiki/Biography
Salim Aziz Durani was born on Tuesday, 11 December 1934 (age 88 at the time of death) in Afghanistan. When Salim started playing cricket, he used to bowl with both hands; He used to be a left-arm medium pace bowler and a right-arm off-spinner. His father, who was also his first cricket coach, was not a fan of Salim bowling with both hands and approached Vinoo Mankad for advice; Vinoo suggested that Saleem should be allowed to bowl only with his left arm and that his right arm should be tied behind his back to improve his left-arm spin bowling. Later, he was named in the school team for the inter-school Hill Shield tournament.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx): 6′ 2″
Weight (Approx): 55 kg
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye colour: blue
family and caste
He belonged to a Pathan family in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
parents and siblings
His parents and grandfather were from Kabul, Afghanistan, and they moved to Jamnagar, Gujarat in the early 1930s; His elder sister and her husband migrated to Bangladesh. His father’s name was Abdul Aziz Durani. He was a cricket player and coach. His mother’s name is not known. Salim Durani had two sisters, Meenu and Nigar, and a brother, Jahangir Durani. Nigar was a former teacher at St. Ann’s High School in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Abdul Aziz played some unofficial Test matches for India as a wicketkeeper between 1935 and 1936; He also played as a wicketkeeper and batsman for Sindh and Nawanagar in the Ranji Trophy between 1932 and 1938. The then Jam Saheb, Sir Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, was impressed by the wicketkeeping and batting performance of Aziz Durani for the Nawanagar team. visited Karachi in 1935 and offered him a job as a sub-inspector. In 1947, after the partition of India, his father left him and his family and moved to Karachi and lived there for the rest of his life; Aziz Durani later became a cricket coach and trained many cricketers including Pakistani player Hanif Mohammad.
Wife
Some reports suggested that he was not married; However, in an interview, he revealed that he was married. His wife’s name is not known.
Religion
Salim Durani followed the religion of Islam.
Signature
Salim Durani’s autograph
livelihood
film
In 1969, he was cast in the Bollywood film Ek Masoom. Later, he was cast as the lead actor in the Hindi film ‘Charitra’ (1973) opposite Parveen Babi.
A picture of Salim Durani from the Hindi film Charitra
Cricket
domestic
Salim Durani represented Saurashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Central Zone at domestic level. In 1949, given his impressive form with the school team, he was selected for the All-Saurashtra Inter-School Tournament. Later, he was named in the state schools team for the All India Inter-School Tournament in Calcutta (1949); This was Salim’s first match at the Eden Gardens and he took six wickets in each innings of the tournament. Later, he led his team to victory in an invitational match held in Rajkot, Gujarat; He took 6 wickets and scored 41 runs in the match. Yusuf Farid, the then Bombay team coach and cricket coach of the Anjuman-e-Islam High School team, was among the spectators and saw Durani’s talent. Yusuf suggested that Salim should go with him to Bombay and play for the Anjuman-e-Islam High School team in the Harris Shield tournament; The cricketer accepted the offer and played for the Anjuman-e-Islam High School team in the Harris Shield tournament.
A picture of Salim Durani hitting a six
In his first match after moving to Bombay, Durani scored 23 runs and took three wickets against CCI in the Kanga League; This was the first time he played on a turf wicket. In December 1953, he made his debut for the Saurashtra team against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy and scored 108 at the Commerce College ground in Ahmedabad; The following season he left the Saurashtra team and joined the Gujarat team and played for them between 1954 and 1956. In 1956, he joined the Rajasthan team and played for them between 1956 and 1978. Salim was part of the Central Zone team that won the Duleep Trophy for the first time in the 1971–1972 season. In 1978, he announced his retirement from domestic cricket; In his 25-year long first-class cricket career, he scored 8545 runs including 14 centuries and took 484 wickets.
international
Examination
Salim Durani made his international Test debut on 1 January 1960 against Australia at Mumbai; He was 24 years old when he made his Test cricket debut. In 1961, Salim was named in the Indian team for the Test series against England (1961–1962); He took eight wickets in the first match held in Kolkata and ten wickets in the next match held at the Corporation Stadium, Chennai. The Indian team registered a historic 2–0 win against the visitors and Durani was praised in the media for his stellar performance. He scored his first century against the West Indies team at Port of Spain in 1962; He scored 104 runs against them and took three wickets. Durani was dropped from the Indian team in January 1967 and was not named in the Test team until January 1971; Some reports suggested that there were some issues between him and the selectors and he gave preference to others over him.
Salim Durani is playing for India
In March 1971, following his success on the domestic cricket circuit, he was named in the Test squad for the series against the West Indies; He dismissed Clive Lloyd and Gary Sobers and played a key role in India’s first win against the West Indies. Although he performed well on the West Indies tour, Saleem was dropped from the team after the third Test against the West Indies and was not selected for the 1971 tour of England. In 1972, he was named in the Test team for the series against England (1972–1973) and scored a half-century in the second innings; India won that match and drew level (1-1) with the visiting team. In the third match of the series, he scored 38 runs in each innings; However, he suffered a knee injury and was ruled out of the fourth Test. In February 1973, he played his final match for the Indian national Test team against the England team in Mumbai; He scored 73 runs in the first innings and 37 runs in the second innings as India won the five-match series 2–1. During his 13-year long international Test career, Salim played 29 matches for India. He scored 1,202 runs, including seven fifties and one century; He also took 75 wickets, including three five-wicket hauls.
award
- 2011: CK Nayudu Award for Lifetime Achievement
Death
He died on 2 April 2023 after battling cancer.
,@Sunrisers , @RajasthanRoyals And the match officials observed silence to pay respect to the late Salim Durani. pic.twitter.com/alTAAhauoK
– IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) 2 April 2023
Favorite
- Cricketer: Sir Frank Worrell
- Cricket Ground: Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai
Facts/General Knowledge
- He was the first cricketer to win the Arjuna Award; He made his international debut in 1960 and won the award the following year.
Salim Durani played only 29 Tests, but his impact goes far beyond that! He was one of the best entertainers of Indian cricket who was known for hitting sixes on demand.
Thanks for all the memories sir! #Homage #IndianCricketer #Tear out pic.twitter.com/xOC1LI4rpJ
– The Better India (@thebetterindia) 3 April 2023
- Salim was fondly called Prince Salim and Shehzada Salim by fans and teammates.
- He is the only Indian Test cricketer born in Afghanistan and the first Afghan-born cricketer to play Test cricket.
- Some reports suggest that Durani was born in Kabul, Afghanistan; However, he denied the claims in several interviews and revealed that his mother had given birth to him in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (now in Pakistan), on the way from Kabul to Karachi.
- During the 1971 West Indies tour, he made a revelation that he would take the wickets of Clive Lloyd and Gary Sobers and this came true in the next match when he dismissed Sobers for a duck and Clive Lloyd was caught by Wadekar for 15. Gave.
- Sunil Gavaskar made his debut in 1971 on the West Indies tour. When he was asked about Gavaskar in an interview, he said,
I think Gavaskar, who is like a son to me, was one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He was technically very perfect. And he was a wise captain too.”
- Saleem was not named in the final eleven for the fourth Test match against the England team in Kanpur; The spectators criticized the selectors’ decision to exclude Saleem and booed the home team and the stadium was filled with ‘No Saleem, No Test’ posters and placards. Saleem was named in the final eleven for the next match and this was his final appearance for the national team.
- All eight of Durani’s overseas Test matches were in the West Indies.
Salim Durani was a talented batsman who could send the ball across the boundary line in an era when few batsmen tried to hit fours and sixes.
For example, during the tour against West Indies, there were master batsmen in the team but no one could take the ball to the boundary.
The ball was hit eight times… pic.twitter.com/O0BSaBMdAO
– Shams ur Rehman Alvi شمس (@indscribe) 2 April 2023
- Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) offered him a coaching staff role at a salary of Rs. 50,000 in 1983; However, he declined the offer.
- Former Indian captain, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi labeled him as a player who was not easy to control and often criticized Saleem for his lack of focus.
- In 2018, BCCI invited Salim Durani for the opening day of the Test match between India and Afghanistan in Bengaluru; This was Afghanistan’s first test match.
Salim Durani presents a memento to Asghar Stanikzai before Afghanistan’s first Test match
- He consumed alcohol and smoked frequently; He quit smoking in 2020.
- In January 2023, he fell at his home and underwent surgery on the proximal femoral nail.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn