Syed Abid Ali

Syed Abid Ali (9 September 1941 – 12 March 2025) was an all-rounder Indian cricketer who was a lower-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler. He played an important role in Indian cricket in the 1960s and '70s.

Early life Abid Ali attended St. George's Grammar School and All Saints High School in Hyderabad. In 1956, he was picked to play for Hyderabad Schools by the selectors, who were impressed by his fielding. He scored 82 against Kerala and won the best fielder's prize. A few years later, when the State Bank of Hyderabad formed a cricket team, he was given a job there. He started off as a wicket keeper before becoming a bowler.

Playing career Abid made it to the Hyderabad junior side in 1958–59 and the state Ranji Trophy team in the next year. He hardly bowled in the first few years and did not score his first Ranji hundred till 1967. He was unexpectedly picked for the Indian team that toured Australia and New Zealand that year.

He made it to the team for the first Test against Australia possibly in the place of the captain, M. A. K. Pataudi, who dropped out injured. Abid scored 33 runs in both innings and took 6 wickets for 55, the best by an Indian on debut at that point. Sent in to open the batting in the third Test, he hit 47. This was followed by innings of 81 and 78 in the final Test.

Abid was the non-striker when Sunil Gavaskar scored the winning runs against the West Indies in the Port of Spain Test of 1971. When West Indies tried to chase a difficult target in the final Test of the series, Abid bowled Rohan Kanhai and Garry Sobers off consecutive balls. A few months later, he hit the winning boundary when India defeated England by four wickets at the Oval.

Personal life and death Obituaries for Abid Ali appeared in the media in the early 1990s when he had in fact survived a heart bypass surgery.

Abid Ali had two children, a daughter and a son. Later in life, he resided in the United States, where he died on 12 March 2025, at the age of 83.