The toiling pacer who didn't get his due

Nearly Men

The stirring story of Kapil Dev’s rise from a humble background to a world-beating pace bowling all-rounder inspired a generation of cricketers to try and emulate him. Ashish Winston Zaidi -- fondly called Amar Akbar Anthony by his team-mates for his Hindu first name, Chrtstian middle name and Muslim surname -- was one of them. And when he was barely 20, the Uttar Pradesh pacer was playing against his idol.

“We were up against Haryana in the 1991-92 Ranji Trophy season in Faridabad. I was thrilled to bowl because Kapil paaji was in the opposition team, so much so that I ended up taking 14 wickets for the match. He (Kapil) spoke to me after the game and it was a dream-come-true moment for me,” Zaidi says.

Zaidi, who made his debut in 1988, was a true servant of UP cricket in his 18-year career. When he called it quits in 2006, he was a proud owner of 378 first-class wickets from 110 games.

The boy who got picked from the Guru Govind Singh Sports College trials in Lucknow soon moved to the highly-regarded MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, a place which Zaidi credits for his transformation into a complete bowler. “In-swing came naturally to me. But I learnt to bowl good out-swingers at the Pace Foundation,” he says.

From a promising start, life turned better for Zaidi. After a 10-wicket haul for the match in an U-15 State game, the right-arm pacer made his first-class debut at 17. Very soon, he was to realise everything isn't easy at the topmost level of the game. His exploits in the domestic circuit put him in the reckoning for the Indian team but he never received a call-up.

“Whom shall I blame?” he asks. “I was in the probables camp for the 1992 World Cup. My name was doing the rounds for the Singer Cup. I was in great form during that phase. Selectors demanded five-wicket hauls from me but I took more than five wickets in many matches. I realised there is no point in blaming people,” he says.

From days filled with great hopes to periods of anxiety, Zaidi saw it all. There was no question of a meek surrender, however. He persisted with the game he loved. For the times that he played in, Zaidi sees his journey as a satisfactory one.

“Those days, there were turning tracks or flat surfaces. I don’t remember seeing pitches with grass on them. Now I feel if we had pitches of today during our time, I would have taken close to 500 wickets,” says Zaidi, who signed off with a Ranji title.

He operated with great energy even on bowlers’ graveyards through his sheer hunger for wickets. “I set myself many personal targets and on days I failed to get wickets, I couldn’t gather the confidence to talk to my team-mates.

“My wife has a special role in this. In my conversations with her after the matches, she would ask me about my performance. If I told her that I only managed two or three wickets, she would tell me ‘what’s the use’. She was very critical of my performances. This kept me going. I tried to do well thinking they (selectors) will pick me for the Indian team. In the end, I was left with pure love for the game,” says the 48-year-old who has coached UP and Uttarakhand.