Abdul Aziz Durrani (15 August 1905 – 1 January 1979) was an Afghan-born Indian cricket coach and

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er. He played as a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

and batsman for

Sind Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind or Scinde) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest provin ...

and Nawanagar in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

. He was the father of India

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

cricketer

Salim Durani Salim Durani (; ; 11 December 1934 – 2 April 2023) was an Afghan-born Indian cricketer who played in 29 Test matches from 1960 to 1973. An all-rounder, Durani was a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and a left-handed batsman famous for his six-h ...

Career

News of Aziz's skills as a cricketer spread as he travelled to India from Afghanistan to play. He was a part of the Indian team that played two unofficial

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

against the visiting Australian side in 1935–36. After the passing of Jam Sahib

Ranjitsinhji Colonel Kumar Sri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was an Indian cricketer who later became ruler of his native Indian princely state of Nawanagar State, Nawan ...

, his successor, in rebuilding the team, included Aziz in the Nawanagar team that played in the Ranji Trophy alongside bowlers such as Amar Singh, Mubarak Ali and

Shute Banerjee Sarobindu Nath "Shute" Banerjee (3 October 1911 – 14 October 1980) was a cricketer who represented India in one official and five unofficial Test matches. He was right-arm medium pace bowler and a lower order batsman. Cricketing career Ban ...

. Impressed by his wicket-keeping and batting performances for Nawanagar in their tour of Karachi in 1935, he was offered a job as a

sub-inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police or police sub-inspector (PSI), is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which are primarily based on the British model. It was form ...

by the then Jam Sahib

Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Sir Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja (18 September 1895 – 3 February 1966), known widely in Poland as the Good Maharaja ( Polish: ''Dobry Maharadża'') was the Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar from 1933 to 1966, succeeding his uncle, the ...

, which was when the former's family settled in Jamnagar. With Nawanagar, Aziz won the third season of the Ranji Trophy, in 1936–37. After India's partition in 1947, Aziz moved to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, while his family stayed in Jamnagar. In Pakistan, Aziz began his career as a coach, working in the Sindh Madrassah School in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. Future Pakistan national cricketer

Hanif Mohammad Hanif Mohammad PP (21 December 1934 – 11 August 2016) was a Pakistani cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He averaged 43.98, scoring twelve centu ...

was his student there.

References

External links

* * https://www.theroar.com.au/2020/08/08/a-test-team-of-players-who-never-played-any-tests/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdul, Aziz 1905 births 1979 deaths Cricketers from Kabul Afghan emigrants to India Indian cricketers Indian people of Afghan descent Indian people of Pashtun descent Indian emigrants to Pakistan Pakistani people of Afghan descent Muhajir people Pakistani cricket coaches Sindh cricketers Nawanagar cricketers