Name:

Azharuddin, Mohammad

Nickname:

Azhar

Date of Birth:

08 Feb 1963

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Career:

Test: 1984 - 2000
ODI: 1985 - 2000
First Class: 1981 - 2000

Teams:

India (Country)

Super Indian Centurians: Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin

Mohammad Azharuddin: Flawed batting genius was caught match fixing

Mohammad Azharuddin was born on February 8, 1963 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

He came into the Indian team after Kapil Dev and Sandeep Patil were controversially rested in 1984 against England. Azhar took the cricketing world by storm after scoring three consecutive centuries in his first three Tests.

In 1988, Azhar smashed the then fastest ODI century bringing up his hundred off 62 balls against New Zealand. His unbeaten innings of 108 off 65 balls led to a successful run chase of 279.

Azhar took over the Indian captaincy in 1990, steadying a revolving door following Vengsarkar, Shastri and Srikkant losing the captaincy in rapid succession.

With the added responsibility of captaincy, Azhar took his batting to another level. His 192 against New Zealand in the third Test at Eden Park, Auckland in 1990 was a gem.

Graham Gooch scored 333 and 123 in the two innings at Lord's in 1990. Azhar responded with 121 and 111. Azhar followed it up with a magnificent 179 in the second Test at Manchester in 1990. Wisden selected him as a Player of the Year in 1991.

When Gooch later brought his side to India for the 1992/93 tour, the Indian captain was at his imperial best hammering a regal 182 in the first Test at the Eden Gardens.

The match fixing scandal was first breached when Manoj Prabhakar was dropped from the 1996 World Cup. He hinted that Azhar had asked him to throw his wicket in a match against Pakistan.

When Hansie Cronje got implicated in the match-fixing scandal, Azhar's name got dragged in. Testifying before the King Commission of Inquiry in 2000, Cronje said, “On the evening of the third day of the third Test against India in Kanpur, I received a call from Azharuddin". He called me to a room in a hotel and introduced me to Mukesh Gupta, otherwise known as MK. Azharuddin then departed and left us alone in the room.”

Azhar was found guilty of match-fixing by the CBI and subsequently banned for life by the BCCI and the ICC

In 99 Tests, Azhar scored 6215 runs with 22 Test centuries at an average of 45. He played 334 ODIs and scored 9378 runs with 7 centuries.

Azhar's record will forever be tarnished with the greed he exhibited as he shocked the cricketing world when convicted as a match fixer.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter