Abid's contribution to Indian cricket is tremendous

He was a great friend of mine, and we started cricket together almost, and our familes are close. We played together, represented the country together. And he has been instrumental in me picking up the victims I had. So many times the board would read: caught Ali, bowled Prasanna. Even happened with Sir Garfield Sobers. 

The one thing I can think of when I think of him is the winning stroke at the Oval in 1971. We created history that day. Abid was a very enthusiastic, energetic team man.

We have played, I think, ever since 67, 68 tour of Australia and New Zealand. He was an excellent human being and an excellent team man, but what can one say, when it’s your time to go, you have to go. 

It’s sad to hear about his demise. All I can say is my prayers are with the family to give them the strength and courage to bear the irreparable loss.

We played the Moin-Ud-Dowlah Trophy together as South Zone you know. It’s unfortunate that his time has come. 

The last time we met was a few years ago at the KGA. I have such fond memories of him. I met him with Kiri (Syed Kirmani), Vishy (GR Vishwanath) and some others. So, that’s the last I remember of him. 

It’s a great loss to Indian cricket, though. 

There’s very little known about him because in our country we only highlight the stars and the things that they are doing. But his contribution has been tremendous on the West Indies tour and English tour. On the Australian tour in Adelaide he picked up five wickets.

That’s the unfortunate side of a team sport, some very good role players get covered up because a lot of people don’t understand what it takes for the team to win. Unfortunately, he belongs to that group of people who went unnoticed. I genuinely think his contribution to Indian cricket is tremendous. 

On the field, his presence was an inspiring one because he was there all the time, he was a very busy man on the field. He was not one to casually stand around.

(As told to Roshan Thyagarajan)