Sport Today

You beat me to it. I was just about to post the above.

Here's a link to his page on cricinfo.
http://content.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/31061.html .

RIP

        Amen.

        A. A. Khan

When England and India set a record for maximum runs
scored in a day (588 or 590) in Test cricket in 1936,
the flamboyant Mushtaq and the steadier Vijay Merchant
were responsible for the Indian contribution to the day's
total. India started her second innings heavily in arrears.
Nothing daunted, Indian openers, especially Mushtaq,
tore into Gubby Allen, Alf Gover, Hedley Verity, Robins,
and co. Both got hundreds but whereas Merchant played
for over 4 hours, Mushtaq's inning lasted all of 150 minutes.
I think Indian total was 188/0 or thereabouts at stumps.
Mushtaq's strokeplay broke all rules which the English
believed in abiding by. 'The geometry of his batsmanship
was all wrong when seen through the technique as we know
it, but it was classically correct according to the rules which
govern batting in some other celestial constellation', enthused
Cardus. (I am quoting from memory.) It happened so long
ago that even Shri Afzal Khan couldn't have been following
that encounter in Manchester in newspapers. Or did you,
Afzal Sahab? Frank Chester had a vantage view as he was
umpiring in the said match.

Mushtaq Ali was born on Dec 17, 1914, in Indore, the same
place where he breathed his last in his sleep early in the morning
on Saturday, June 18, 2005. He was 90. (Please ignore the
statement seen on some weblinks that he was 91.)

Mushtaq and Merchant must have offered a fascinating contrast
in styles when they batted together. In his retirement, Mushtaq
was always ready with a word of encouragement or appreciation
for the day's stars and upcoming players. He was a great batsman
and a lovely human being.

- dn

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 21:41:07 -0700, "naniwadekar"

Click  http://www.filmsdivision.org/home.htm   in that search option
click m-p field ( for movie title )and then look for Old Masters of
cricket under movie title , then press search button.  you can see
video of Mushtaq Ali's batting , + vinnoo mankad n co.

The list of Test cricketing nonagenarians was recently bolstered when Walter
Hadlee enlisted.  Following Mushtaq Ali's death:

94y 183d EWT Tindill (NZ)
94y 173d JL Kerr (NZ)
93y 317d N Gordon (SA)
92y 323d WA Brown (Aus)
90y 285d NS Mitchell-Innes (Eng)
90y 189d DW Begbie (SA)
90y 15d WA Hadlee (NZ)

26 June marks the 68th anniversary of the Lord's Test of 1937; four of NZ's
playing eleven in that match are alive today.

Andrew