The date on which he made his debut, he played his last test on the same date 10 years later, the opposition team and ground were same, he was also the captain of India

New Delhi. Indian cricketer Ghulam Ahmed’s career is full of strange coincidences. This cricketer played his last test match on the same date on which he started his test career, 10 years later. Not only this, the opponent team and stadium were also the same during the debut and last test. Both times he played this match against West Indies at Eden Gardens in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

Right-handed off-break bowler and batsman Ghulam Ahmed played 22 Test matches for India between 1948 and 1959. He captained three Tests, including the last Test of his career against the West Indies team at Eden Gardens. After retiring from cricket, he joined the Board of Control for Cricket in India as an administrator. The Indian team captained by Kapil Dev that became champion in the World Cup 1983 was selected by a committee headed by Ghulam Ahmed. He also served as BCCI Vice President and Sachin.

When Pakistan team was embarrassed, only one batsman of the opposition team scored more runs than the total runs scored by the team in both innings of the test match

Took 6 wickets in debut test but last test…
Born on 4 July 1922 in Hyderabad, then Andhra Pradesh, Ghulam made it to the Indian team due to his excellent performance in domestic cricket and played his first Test on 31 December 1948 at the age of 26. In this Test against West Indies, he proved his selection worthwhile by taking 4 wickets in the first innings and 2 wickets in the second innings. This Test was a draw. Exactly 10 years later, on 31 December 1958, Ghulam played his last Test against West Indies at Eden Gardens. This ‘farewell’ Test of Ghulam is remembered for the brilliant double century (258 runs) of West Indies batsman Rohan Kanhai. Ghulam Ahmed’s performance in this match was disappointing and apart from taking one wicket, he was able to score only 4 runs. West Indies won this Test by an innings margin.

Cricketers whose bats became a topic of controversy and discussion, some were even banned from being used

There was amazing control over line-length
Tall Ghulam Ahmed was known for his smooth action and control over the line-length of the balls. His spin trio with Vinoo Mankad and Subhash Gupta led the Indian spin attack for a decade. Ghulam took 68 wickets (best 7/49) in Tests at an average of 30.17. He took five or more wickets in an innings four times and 10 wickets in a Test once (10/130). He also scored 192 runs (one half-century) as a lower-order batsman. Ghulam gave his best bowling performance on the same Eden Gardens ground where he played the first and last Test of his career. In the Calcutta Test against Australia in November 1956, he took 7 wickets in the first innings and 3 wickets in the second innings. His performance played an important role in helping the Indian team win by 94 runs. Ghulam Ahmed has 407 wickets and 1379 runs in 98 first class cricket matches at an average of 22.57. During this period, he took 10 or more wickets in a match 9 times.

0 in one innings of a Test and a century in the other, this coincidence has happened 3 times with two batsmen

There was a partnership of 109 runs for the 10th wicket
Although Ghulam was originally a bowler, till 2004 the record of the highest partnership for the 10th wicket from India was in the name of the pair of Hemu Adhikari-Ghulam Ahmed. Both of them had added 109 runs for the last wicket in the Delhi Test against Pakistan in October 1952. During this, Adhikari contributed 81 not out and Ghulam contributed 50 runs. On 10 December 2004, the pair of Sachin Tendulkar-Zaheer Khan broke this record by adding 133 runs for the last wicket in the Dhaka Test against Bangladesh. After Sachin-Zaheer, the pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami also added 111 runs in the Nottingham Test in July 2014.

Took 6 wickets in Test career, including a hat-trick, broke a special record at the age of 19

Relationship with tennis star Sania Mirza
Former Pakistani cricketer and captain Asif Iqbal and Indian tennis star Sania Mirza are closely related to Ghulam Ahmed. Asif Iqbal, who played international cricket for Pakistan, was born in Hyderabad, India and Ghulam was his maternal uncle. Asif Iqbal learned the nuances of cricket from Ghulam. Similarly, Sania’s father Imran Mirza was Ghulam Ahmed’s nephew. Sania’s father once posted a photo of his uncle (Ghulam Ahmed) with Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sir Don Bradman on X and informed about this relationship.

Tags: Indian Cricket Team, Indian Cricketer, Sania mirza, Team india, Test cricket