Tag Archives: S.M. Hadi

Syed Mohammad ‘Rainbow’ Hadi: First man to score a Ranji Trophy hundred

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

Syed Mohammad Hadi was nicknamed Rainbow for his prowess in cricket, tennis, field hockey, football, table-tennis, chess, and polo.

Syed Mohammad Hadi scored 132 not out in his team’s score of 227, becoming the first ever centurion in Ranji Trophy cricket. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.
Syed Mohammad Hadi scored 132 not out in his team’s score of 227, becoming the first ever centurion in Ranji Trophy cricket. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.

One of the main issues under discussion during the July 1934 meeting of BCCI, held in Bombay, was a detailed discussion regarding the introduction of a nation-wide First-Class cricket competition, where teams representing the different local cricket associations of the nation would participate to ultimately determine the national champion. It was founded as “The Cricket Championship of India”. The tournament kicked off in 1934-35. The handsome trophy was donated by His Highness Sir Bhupinder Singh, Maharaja of Patiala, in memory of Ranji to cricket lovers all over the world.

As all students of Indian First-Class cricket history are aware, the very first Ranji Trophy match of all, between Madras and Mysore at Madras on November 4, 1934 turned out to be a bit of a letdown, the whole match being completed in one day. It remains the first of only 2 First-Class matches played in India to be completed in a day till date (the second being Saurashtra vs Baroda at Rajkot on December 5, 1959).

This match will forever be remembered for the wonderful bowling performance that resulted in a match of such short duration, 6 for 19 (out of total of 48) and 5 for 16 (out of 59) by the doyen of Madras cricket at the time, the great left-handed all-rounder, AG Ram Singh, patriarch of the first family of contemporary Madras cricket.

Perhaps a little overshadowed by AG Ram Singh was a right arm medium-pace and off-break bowler from the Mysore team, appropriately named Mysore Vijayasarathi, who picked up 6 for 23 in the only Madras innings of 130. Vijayasarathi would later cause a flutter among lovers of cricket trivia by umpiring a Ranji Trophy match between Mysore and Andhra in Dec/1960 at Bangalore along with his son, MV Nagendra.

The sad but undeniable fact was that there were no outstanding batting performances in the first two Ranji Trophy matches played.

The third Ranji Trophy match of the inaugural season began on the Friday, November 23, at Secunderabad. Hosts Hyderabad, led by Syed Mohamad Hussain, were taking on the Madras team, led by M Venkataramanjulu.

The hosts won the toss and decided to take strike. They reached a competitive score of 256 in their 1st innings, captain SM Hussain top-scoring with 80 and F Toorkey, opening the innings, making 72 runs. As if it were pre-ordained, Ram Singh captured 5 for 88. The Madras 1st innings finished at 301, with only Ram Singh (74) and Cotar Ramaswami (61) reaching double figures.

The Hyderabad 2nd innings was in disarray when the 3rd wicket fell at the team score of 12. Syed Mohammad Hadi then arrived at the crease to take strike. He scored 132 not out in his team’s score of 227, becoming the first ever centurion in Ranji Trophy cricket. This match was his Ranji Trophy debut match as well, and this century his maiden First-Class century.

In a surprising turn of events, the visitors were dismissed for 169 in their 2nd innings. That man Ram Singh (70) scored another half-century and MJ Gopalan made 58. The man who wrecked the Madras 2nd innings was one Tata Rao (8 for 73), and Hyderabad won by 13 runs.

Born August 12, 1899 in India, Hadi was a right-hand batsman who has no record of ever bowling in this format of cricket. In a span of 1930-31 to 1940-41, SM Hadi played 24 First-Class matches aggregating 1,043 runs with a highest of 132 not out (as mentioned above) and an average of 32.59. He was to later score another century and 3 fifties, and to take 9 catches.

Hadi’s profile informs us that his father Captain Syed Mohammed, erstwhile officer in army of Hyderabad state, had passed away when Hadi was just about two years of age. Hadi’s subsequent upbringing was through the support and supervision of the family of Sir Asman Jah, former Prime Minister in the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

He was brought up alongside the son of Sir Jah, Nawab Moin-ud-Dowlah, after whom the famous cricket tournament was to be named and who would become a famous patron of the sports of the region. Hadi had the opportunity of learning horse riding as a youngster and was sufficiently good at soccer to play for Nizam College. In view of the boy’s obvious aptitude for a number of sports, the family of Sir Jah decided to send him over to England to continue his studies.

In the newsletter VARSITY, dated June 12, 2016 from Cambridge is an article by Matt Worth, in which he comments, “The wardrobe in his room at Peterhouse must have been bursting with light blue jackets, as he shone at polo, tennis, soccer, field hockey, cricket and table tennis. A particularly fine tennis player, it is at the racket game that his sporting career perhaps hit its greatest heights, as he played at Wimbledon five times, reaching the doubles quarter final in 1926. He also represented India at the 1924 summer Olympics and in the Davis Cups of 1925 and 1926. The run of representative appearances for his country must have more than made up for his frustration at being denied the Light Blues’ tennis captaincy on account of his nationality.” He had an MA from Cambridge and a Masters from the University of Pennsylvania.

Hadi made his First-Class debut for Hyderabad against Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram’s XI in the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup semi-final of 1930-31, played at Secunderabad in 1930-31, under the leadership of wicketkeeper SM Hussain, who was also keeping wickets.

He was well past the age of 30 at that time, and scored 17 and 42 not out against a team captained by Jack Hobbs, and for whom Herbert Sutcliffe scored 165 in the side’s only innings of 329. Hyderabad managed totals of 265 and 194 in a drawn match that was awarded to the visiting team on the basis of their 1st-innings lead.

It may be mentioned here that Hyderabad batted against the bowling of the brothers CK and Cs Nayudu and Ghulam Mohammad, among others. An interesting sidelight of this match was the fact that while Naoomal Jaoomal kept wickets in the home team’s first innings, he not only bowled but took 2 for 7 from his 3 overs while one P Shankerdas, who was not in the playing eleven for the visiting team, was allowed to keep wickets as a substitute.

In the Ranji Trophy clash with Madras at Chepauk in December 1935, Hadi, captaining the Hyderabad team, scored 85 and 0 in a match that Madras won by 6 wickets, Ram Singh being the undisputed hero of the match, scoring 121 and 57, both not out, and taking 2 for 77 and 6 for 32.

It was at Chepauk in February 1936 that India took on an Australian team in an “unofficial Test”. The home team was led by Wazir Ali and included luminaries like Kartick Bose, Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, Amar Singh, Ram Singh, Hadi and Mohammad Nissar. The Australian team was led by the ageing Jack Ryder and included, among others, ‘Stork’ Hendry, ‘Hammy’ Love (though he did not keep wickets in this match), and the one and only ‘Governor-General’ — Charlie Macartney.

India batted first and put up 189, thanks to 45 by Amar Singh and 43 by Mushtaq Ali. Macartney took 3 for 52. The Australian 1st innings ended at 162, with a good 48 from Fred Mair. Nissar (5 for 61) and Amar Singh (5 for 54) shared the wickets.

India managed only 113 in their 2nd knock, the top-scorer being Hadi with 19 not out (he had also made 19 not out in the 1st innings). Once again, it was Macartney among the wickets with 6 for 41.

The Australian 2nd innings was an even feebler effort — 107, with the only worthwhile score being 41 by captain Jack Ryder. Nissar (6 for 36) and Amar Singh (2 for 54) ensured an Indian victory by 33 runs. It must be said, however, that for the visitors, Hendry, Ryder, Love, wicketkeeper John Ellis, Macartney, Joe Davis, and Harry Alexander were past their prime and playing their last First-Class match. For the home team, Wazir Ali completed 1,000 First-Class runs for the season, and Hadi completed 500 career First-Class runs.

It was against the old foes, Madras again, that Hadi scored his other First-Class century, in the Ranji Trophy match at Secunderabad in December 1939, with a score of 106 (his 100 coming in 120 minutes) in a total of 443. Hyderabad batted only once in a match and won by an innings and 2 runs. Ram Singh, however, had still not finished with them, capturing 5 for 136 and scoring a solid 44 in the Madras 1st innings of 262. When he had scored 81, in this match, Hadi completed 1,000 First-Class runs.

His final First-Class match, again against Madras, was at Chepauk in December 1940. As captain of Hyderabad, his contributions were 2 (out of 98) and 16 (out of 132). Ram Singh, perennial nemesis of the team, turned in another stellar performance with 27 and 53, and picked up 6 for 30 and 4 for 26, as Madras won by 254 runs.

Retirement from his active playing days did not diminish his interest in sports. Along with his step-brother, Col. Ali Raza and with Nawab Mahmood Yar Jung, SA Rahim and Ahmed Mohiuddin, Hadi founded the Hyderabad Cricket Association and Hyderabad Football Association in 1934, with himself as the first Secretary.

He became the Director of Physical Education in Hyderabad and later, Joint Secretary of Education of the Indian Government. He was National Commissioner of Boy Scouts of India and, when the All-India National Council of Sports was founded in 1959, he was the first Secretary. The runners-up trophy of the Mon-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup tournament is now called the SM Hadi Memorial Trophy.

This multidisciplinary sportsman died in his native Hyderabad on July 14, 1971 of lung cancer. For his extraordinary skill at the seven sports of cricket, tennis, field hockey, football, table-tennis, chess, and polo, SM Hadi is fondly remembered by all Indian lovers of sport as ‘Rainbow’ Hadi.

(Pradip  Dhole  is a retired medical doctor with a life-long interest in cricket history and statistics)

source: http://www.cricketcountry.com / Cricket Country / Home> English> Features> Moments in History / by Pradip Dhole / June 16th, 2016

A hero of the golden age

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

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NOOR MOHAMMED who passed away in Hyderabad recently belonged to the golden era of Indian football. Those were the days when the Indian teams had a place of their own even at the international level. And when it came to talent, Hyderabad was among the top producers of this precious commodity.

In fact the widespread popularity of football in Hyderabad (the game was introduced here by British armymen) began as early as 1915 when the All India Majeed tournament was revived with great success. Over the next fifteen years the sport flourished in Hyderabad and players such as Riasath, Abdul Majeed Kazimi, Jawad, Qutub Ali, S. M. Hadi, Papaiah, Sharifuddin, Agha Mahmood and Quddus became household names.

The colourful personalities of some players attracted the attention of sports lovers. S. M. Hadi was a genuine sportsman and excelled in cricket, hockey and tennis besides football. He later became the founder secretary of the Hyderabad Football Association. Kazimi who was a teacher by profession was one of the best centre half’s that Hyderabad produced while Qader Khan whose parents hoped that he would become a religious teacher had other ideas and took up football to become a top class goalkeeper by the time he was sixteen. His services were so much in demand that the Nawab of Tadbund had him kept under close watch (sometimes even under physical restrictions) to prevent him from defecting to other teams.

Later the football traditions were continued by other well known players such as S. K. Moinuddin, N. A. Fruvall, S. K. Azizuddin, Shaik Jamal, G. Eeriah, Ghulam Laiq, Noor Mohammed, Anthony Patrick, Yousuf Khan, Susai and Doraiswamy to name a few. Such was their skill and dexterity that players from Hyderabad were in great demand throughout the country and the clubs from Calcutta and Bombay were keen to grab the available talent. The contribution of City College Old Boys Club (CCOB) towards development of Hyderabad football was also considerable and many a great player made his beginning from CCOB.

Fruvall was one of the leading figures in the Hyderabad City Police team first as a player (he was rated to be one of the finest right backs in the country) then as a successful coach helping the police team to win thirteen All India titles including Rovers and Durand. Jamal along with his brother Noor Mohammed and Anthony Patrick were a formidable trio in midfield. Patrick was an outstanding right half and represented India in the Asian Games.

Among the frontliners Moinuddin popularly known as Moin was one of the best forwards seen on the football fields in Hyderabad. His speed and sharpshooting made him one of the most dangerous players in the Police team. He also represented India on numerous occasions including Helsinki Olympics and Manila Asian Games. Another dangerous forward was Doraiswamy, a tall and strong player who often caught rivals napping with a sudden burst of speed.Among defenders none could come up to the standards of Azizuddin a strongly built man with a powerful kick from either foot and a difficult man to get past. Besides leading Hyderabad to National title triumphs in 1956 and 1957, Aziz represented India from 1949 to 1958 and led the National squad in a quadrangular tournament in Dacca in 1955.

S. A. Lateef was one of the notable products of the CCOB Club and he made a name for himself playing in Bombay and for India. Other notable Hyderabad players who represented the country in the Olympics at various stages include S. A. Salaam, Yusuf Khan, Md. Zulfiqar, T. Balaram, Ahmed Husain, S. S. Hakeem, Peter Thangaraj and D. Kannan. These players from Hyderabad played with distinction for their country and were a source of inspiration for those who followed such as S. Kaleemuddin, Habeeb, Akbar, Shabbir Ali, Victor Amalraj, Fareed and others like Naimuddin, Rahamatullah and Samad.

However despite having produced several notable international level players, Hyderabad’s greatest contribution to Indian football was probably S. A. Rahim rated by experts of those days to be as knowledgeable and effective as any European coach. For several years he was the country’s chief coach and it was under his guidance that India chalked up that memorable fourth place at the Melbourne Olympics. Rahim during his travels in Eupore watched the coaches there, picked up points and implemented them after adapting them to Indian players and conditions. He was adept at his job and left a lasting impression on Indian football.

Many of these great players of Hyderabad came from humble backgrounds but had one thing in common – their love for the game and their burning ambition to excel at it. Noor was a typical example. Son of a bangle shop owner, Noor had himself confessed that he was not very good at studies and academic prowess never interested him. Instead he was drawn to several sports at a young age. A frequent visitor to the Victory Playground (which is still a cradle for sport in the city) Noor used to watch volleyball, basketball and football matches with avid interest. The skills that sportsmen posseseed and their display of strength and stamina impressed him and he quickly became drawn to sports particularly football.

Experts never rated Noor as a gifted player but his determination and hard work made him a fine performer. Moreover he never had a very robust physique. Old photographs of Noor Mohammed during his prime show a slim young man of average height with straight jet black hair and a bony face. Not the kind of appearance one would associate with a sports superstar. But then as they say appearances can be deceptive. Noor made up for everything with his uncanny knack of being at the right spot at the right time and a superb football brain.

While his father was busy at the bangle shop, Noor was busy playing football. He gave up studies at an early age much to the disapproval of his elder brother Sheik Jamal who was himself a state player. Later Jamal was to recognise the immense potential that Noor had and encouraged the latter to achieve greater heights.

Noor’s abilities saw him rise rapidly in the sport and he went on to represent the Hyderabad City Police team which was then a formidable outfit. Noor became one of the key players in the side and it went on to many victories in national tournaments including a five-in-a-row triumph in the Rovers Cup in the early fifties.Noor married at an early age and sceptics felt that family responsibilities may affect his game. But Noor was made of sterner stuff. He continued to work on his game and even rose to greater heights as the years passed. Noor represented India in the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 and also the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.

Before the Melbourne Olympics Noor was not too confident of being selected in the team. By then he was 35 years old and the talk prevailing in football circles then was that there should be young blood in the team and players in their twenties should be given preference.

But Noor’s consistent performances could not be ignored and he found himself in the team which went on to record one of the best ever performances by an Indian team in the Olympic Games when it came fourth.

Noor recalled later that the team was determined to put up a better show than the one at Helsinki and its dedication and hard work paid off. Noor’s other accomplishments included playing for the country in three Asian Games including New Delhi, Manila and Tokyo besides playing in the squad on its foreign tours to Phillipines in 1954 and Russia in 1954- 55.

But even great players have to quit the field sooner or later and in Noor’s case it was a little sooner than expected when during a match against Mohammedan Club of Pakistan he was brutally tackled and felled and his leg badly injured. He was never the same player again. Noor said later that the injury virtually crippled him otherwise he may have continued to play for another couple of years.

Noor went on to become a selector for AIFF and then took up coaching children. He always felt that young children held the key to the future development of the sport. The only way to promote football and raise standards was to enthuse the children and inculcate in them a burning desire to excel. If the players did not have hunger for success then they could never improve he always used to say. Perhaps he remembered his young days of watching players and gaining inspiration.

Unfortunately this fine player and gentleman fell on bad days after his playing career was over. Nowadays in the era of multi- millionaire sportsmen it seems grossly unfair that a player who did so much for the country should have to live in the way he did in his last years. But it remains a fact that Noor (as indeed is the fate of many other former sportspersons of this country) was soon in dire straits financially. Noor’s pride and principles prevented him from asking for favours from the establishment and there was none to fight his case.

After retiring from the police service, he spent his days in a small house in a nondescript lane in Osmanpura. Not many even knew that he was a double Olympian and that his feats had helped to maintain national pride and prestige on football fields throughout the world.

To make things worse he developed tuberculosis but despite his frail health he always made it a point to be present at the Lal Bahadur stadium in Hyderabad whenever a major tournament was in progress there. Always a simple and modest man Noor was always happy to have visitors especially from the media at his house for then his favourite topic football could be discussed.

But a couple of months ago, it was clear that his fragile health was deteriorating. When the end came a pall of gloom descended on football circles in Hyderabad. Condolence messages flowed in from far and near. A host of football luminaries including officials, coaches, players of the past and present all attended the funeral to bid goodbye to this great player and fine gentleman.

Another famous name in Hyderabad football – Yousuf Khan – ex Olympian and Arjuna awardee, made a relevant observation in his tribute when he said that Noor was an inspiration for him (Yousuf) and generations of players who followed.

“Noor’s tactical brilliance, flawless technique and steely determination were an inspiration to all of us. We learnt a lot from watching him,” said Yousuf Khan who is himself unfortunately not in sound health.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport / Online Edition / by Abhijit Sen Gupta, Hyderabad / Saturday – June 17th, 2000