Salim Durani

Salim Aziz Durani  pronunciation  (born 11 December 1934 in Kabul, Afghanistan) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 29 Tests from 1960 to 1973. An all-rounder, Durani was a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and a left-handed batsman famous for his six-hitting prowess. He is the only Test cricketer to have been born in Afghanistan.^[1]

Durani was the hero of India's series victory against England in 1961–62. He took 8 and 10 wickets in their wins at Kolkata and Chennai, respectively. Also, a decade later, he would be instrumental in India's victory against the West Indies at Port of Spain, taking the wickets of Clive Lloyd and Gary Sobers.^[2]

In his 50 Test innings, he made just the one century, 104 against the West Indies in 1962. He played for Gujarat, Rajasthan and Saurashtra in first-class cricket. He made 14 hundreds in first-class cricket in which he managed 8545 runs at 33.37. He has the distinction of being the only cricketer that would respond to a demand from the crowd to hit a six. The crowd would cheer, "We want a sixer!" and Durani would hit one. Durani had a special rapport with the spectators, who once agitated when he was inexplicably dropped from the team for the Kanpur Test in 1973, with placards and slogans such as, "No Durani, no test!".

He appeared in the film Charitra with Parveen Babi in 1973.^[3] He was the first cricketer to win an Arjuna Award. He was recently awarded the C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award by the BCCI in 2011.^[4]

See also

• List of Test cricketers born in non-Test playing nations

References

External links

• Cricinfo Profile