Mohammad Azharuddin is a former international cricketer who represented and captained the India national cricket team. Considered to be one of the greatest batsman to emerge from Indian cricket,[1] he was well known for his "wristy strokeplay".[2] A right-handed middle order batsman, Azharuddin scored 29 international centuries before the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) accused him of match-fixing in 2000, which marked the end of his cricket career.[3] In a career that spanned 15 years, he played 99 Tests and 334 One Day Internationals (ODI) accumulating 6,215 and 9,378 runs respectively.[4] Azharuddin was the first cricketer to score 9,000 runs in ODI cricket and remained the leading run-scorer until October 2000.[a] He was named the "Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year" before being included by Wisden as one of their five Cricketers of the Year in 1991.[7][8]
Azharuddin made his Test and ODI debuts during England's 1984–85 tour of India. In Tests, he made centuries against all nations except West Indies and Zimbabwe.[b] In his first Test appearance Azharuddin made 110, thus becoming the eighth Indian player to score a century on debut.[10] With scores of 105 and 122 in the subsequent matches of the series, he became the first player to score a century in each of his first three Tests.[1][4] Azharuddin equalled the record of Kapil Dev for the fastest century by an Indian in Test cricket, when he scored a century from 74 balls against South Africa in 1996.[11] His highest score of 199 came against Sri Lanka at Kanpur in 1986. Azharuddin's 22 Test centuries were made at fifteen cricket grounds, nine of which were outside India.[12] He scored a century in his last Test innings—against South Africa—in March 2000.[13] As of April 2024, he is joint thirty-first among all-time century makers in Test cricket,[c] and sixth in the equivalent list for India.[15]
Azharuddin's first ODI century came two years after his debut when he made 108 against Sri Lanka. In 1987, he scored a 62-ball century against New Zealand at the Moti Bagh Stadium, Vadodara;[d] the performance ensured India's victory and he was made the man of the match.[17] His highest score of 153 not out was achieved in the later part of his career, against Zimbabwe, during which he was involved in a record partnership of 275 with Ajay Jadeja.[e] Azharuddin made scores between 90 and 99 seven times during his ODI career.[19]
Key
Notation | Meaning |
---|---|
* | Remained not out |
† | Captained the Indian cricket team |
‡ | Man of the match |
Balls | Balls faced |
Pos. | Position in the batting order |
Inn. | The innings of the match |
Test | The number of the Test match played in that series |
S/R | Strike rate during the innings |
H/A/N | Venue was at home (India), away or neutral |
Date | Date the match was held, or the starting date of match for Test matches |
Lost | The match was lost by India. |
Won | The match was won by India. |
Drawn | The match was drawn. |
Test centuries
No. | Score | Against | Pos. | Inn. | Test | Venue | H/A/N | Date | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 110 | England | 5 | 1 | 3/5 | Eden Gardens, Calcutta[f] | Home | 31 December 1984 | Drawn[22] |
2 | 105 | England | 5 | 3 | 4/5 | M. A. Chidambaram, Madras[g] | Home | 13 January 1985 | Lost[24] |
3 | 122 | England | 3 | 1 | 5/5 | Green Park, Kanpur | Home | 31 January 1985 | Drawn[25] |
4 | 199 | Sri Lanka | 5 | 2 | 1/3 | Green Park, Kanpur | Home | 17 December 1986 | Drawn[26] |
5 | 141 | Pakistan | 5 | 1 | 2/5 | Eden Gardens, Calcutta[f] | Home | 11 February 1987 | Drawn[27] |
6 | 110 | Pakistan | 5 | 1 | 3/5 | Sawai Mansingh, Jaipur | Home | 21 February 1987 | Drawn[28] |
7 | 109 | Pakistan | 4 | 3 | 2/4 | Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad | Away | 23 November 1989 | Drawn[29] |
8 | 192 † | New Zealand | 5 | 2 | 3/3 | Eden Park, Auckland | Away | 22 February 1990 | Drawn[30] |
9 | 121 | England | 5 | 2 | 1/3 | Lord's Cricket Ground, London | Away | 26 July 1990 | Lost[31] |
10 | 179 † | England | 5 | 2 | 2/3 | Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester | Away | 9 August 1990 | Drawn[32] |
11 | 106 † | Australia | 6 | 4 | 4/5 | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide | Away | 25 January 1992 | Lost[33] |
12 | 182 ‡ † | England | 5 | 1 | 1/3 | Eden Gardens, Calcutta[f] | Home | 29 January 1993 | Won[34] |
13 | 108 ‡ † | Sri Lanka | 5 | 1 | 2/3 | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore | Home | 26 January 1994 | Won[35] |
14 | 152 ‡ † | Sri Lanka | 5 | 2 | 3/3 | Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad | Home | 8 February 1994 | Won[36] |
15 | 109 | South Africa | 5 | 2 | 2/3 | Eden Gardens, Calcutta[f] | Home | 27 November 1996 | Lost[37] |
16 | 163* ‡ | South Africa | 6 | 3 | 3/3 | Green Park Stadium, Kanpur | Home | 8 December 1996 | Won[38] |
17 | 115 | South Africa | 7 | 2 | 2/3 | Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town | Away | 2 January 1997 | Lost[39] |
18 | 126 | Sri Lanka | 5 | 1 | 1/2 | R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo | Away | 2 August 1997 | Drawn[40] |
19 | 108* | Sri Lanka | 5 | 4 | 2/2 | Singhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground, Colombo | Away | 9 August 1997 | Drawn[41] |
20 | 163* † | Australia | 5 | 2 | 2/3 | Eden Gardens, Calcutta[f] | Home | 18 March 1998 | Won[42] |
21 | 103* † | New Zealand | 6 | 1 | 2/2 | Basin Reserve, Wellington | Away | 26 December 1998 | Lost[43] |
22 | 102 | South Africa | 5 | 3 | 2/2 | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore | Home | 2 March 2000 | Lost[44] |
ODI centuries
No. | Score | Balls | Against | Pos. | Inn. | S/R | Venue | H/A/N | Date | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 108* | 94 | Sri Lanka | 3 | 1 | 114.89 | Wankhede Stadium, Bombay[h] | Home | 17 January 1987 | Won[47] |
2 | 108* ‡ | 65 | New Zealand | 6 | 2 | 166.15 | Moti Bagh Stadium, Vadodara | Home | 17 December 1988 | Won[17] |
3 | 108 † | 116 | Sri Lanka | 4 | 1 | 93.10 | Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah | Neutral | 25 April 1990 | Lost[48] |
4 | 111* | 117 | Sri Lanka | 5 | 2 | 94.87 | R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo | Away | 17 August 1997 | Lost[49] |
5 | 100 † | 111 | Pakistan | 3 | 1 | 90.09 | Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka | Neutral | 11 January 1998 | Won[50] |
6 | 153* ‡ † | 150 | Zimbabwe | 4 | 1 | 102.00 | Barabati Stadium, Cuttack | Home | 9 April 1998 | Won[51] |
7 | 101 † | 111 | Pakistan | 4 | 1 | 90.99 | Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, Toronto | Neutral | 20 September 1998 | Lost[52] |
Notes
References
External links
- Player Profile: Mohammad Azharuddin from CricketArchive