- Monday, March 03, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
India lost one of its famous cricketing sons Salim Durani on Sunday (2), just two days after the Indian Premier League (IPL) kicked off. It is important to mention the late cricketer along with the T20 cricket showpiece as Durani was one of the most swashbuckling cricketers who had arrived much ahead of the advent of white-ball cricket, a format in which he would have excelled at will.
Durani, who was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in December 1934, was a resident of Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat with his younger brother Jahangir. He had undergone proximal femoral nail surgery recently after suffering a thigh bone fracture from a fall.
The left-arm all-rounder, who bowled spin, had represented India between 1960 and 1973 but could play only 29 Tests in his career, scoring just over 1,200 runs at an average of 25.04 and took 75 wickets at an average of 35.42.
His topmost moment in international cricket had come in April 1962 when he belted a fiery West Indies bowling line-up to score 104, his only international hundred, at No.3. Although India still lost the match, Durani’s fame stayed back forever.
The man, who was known for his regal demeanor both on and off the field, was particularly known for one special ability, which was to hit sixes on demand.
Once, Ayan Rashid Khan, a former top police officer from the Indian city of Kolkata (then Calcutta), had asked Durani how he could hit the maximum whenever the fans wanted them from him. To that, he said, “I feel every delivery can be hit for a six. I only obliged the fans by hitting a few of them whenever they wanted.”
India’s former first-class cricketer Probal Ghosh revealed this story in a Facebook post in which he paid tribute to Durani.
