He is a bit of a forgotten name these days (rightfully too, one would say) in comparison to his stupendous achievements, but at the peak of his powers few Indian cricketers enjoyed the sort of adulation and praise from both Indian and overseas names as
Mohammad Azharuddin did. His ODI strike-rate does him no justice given his role in the Indian lineup and that he hit the fastest ODI century of his time against a more than competent New Zealand side in just 62 deliveries. He has numerous other legendary knocks to his name such as the 121 of just 111 deliveries at Lord's in that test where Gooch hit 333 and Dev hit four 6s while Azhar hit zero of them, a performance many call one of the greatest the ground has ever seen. There was the followup century at Manchester where he struck 179, the 192 at Eden Park prior to all of it that was even better.
The second part of his career before his fall was when he presented a slightly different Azhar after the infamous 96 World Cup semi-final loss. Gone were the sinewy wrists and graceful strokes, replaced by a brutal aggression coupled with anger that led to a number of brilliant counter-attacking innings with a few other performances where the old, experienced and graceful Azhar resurfaced. People who watched him play compare him to the very best of graceful entertainers with him being capable of playing any line across the leg-side with his nimble footwork. As a fielder, Azhar was peerless in an Indian side that was yet to catch up to the modern standards and Azhar was also one of the pioneers of modern ODI batting with his aggressive running in the middle overs and his intention to finish his innings on a high note aggressively. Only three of his 90 and above scores in ODIs have a strike-rate of less than 90, an outstanding record given the era he played in and his century is one of the only three to rank in the top 25 fastest ODI centuries even today (limit that to the 80s, and he is the only one!).
How well would he have suited T20s? His biggest and most notable weakness was the short ball issue that plagued most of Indian batsmen in the 90s. I might add that this was overblown due to his poor record in West Indies and Australia and being star of the team with a place in the world class batsmen list of the day shining more spotlight on him than it normally would have for a domestic batsman today. Would he have fared better at tackling it with the better coaching and more professional setups available today? Quite possibly. However, T20s have only one bouncer per over which helps him. Azhar was also extremely good at tackling spinners, particularly leg spin due to his footwork and his style of play which makes him the ideal candidate to rotate strike constantly and get those boundaries effortlessly in the middle overs without conceding the initiative to even the best wrist spinners of this day.
In my team, I have him in at four at the moment in a sort of 'rich man's Badrinath' like role. Azhar normally would bat there and dominate the middle overs phase, either forcing a fast bowler to return to try and dismiss him (no guarantee!) or risk a spinner being expensive and him getting settled for the death overs unless the phase of the game is nearing the death overs already, in which case he could be demoted in place of any of the power hitters in my lineup. However, given how he tended to play in the death overs himself, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have him in at the other end if one of the top three batsmen fall as security. He will be one of the best outfielders in this team and will also add to the team's already strong leadership group given his glowing captaincy record despite his shenanigans throughout the later part of his career.
@Bevab's Blasters
- Don Bradman
- David Warner
- ?
- Mohammad Azharuddin
- MS Dhoni
- ?
- Amar Singh
- Harbhajan Singh
- ?
- ?
- Lasith Malinga
@CerealKiller with a double pick next.
