25 years since Azharuudin's classic century at Lords

[Harsh Thakor]

Today on July 21st we commemorate 25 years since Mohammad Azharuddin gave one of the most artistic exhibitions of batting artistry ever exhibited in test cricket,let alone at Lords,scoring 121 of the finest runs.It was fitting that he gave this majestic display at the mecca of cricket ,Lords.On the day Azharuddin joined the Gods of Olympus.He took batting to it's deepest zenith in terms of artistry exhibiting the grace of the divine.His strokes reminded you of the touches of a painters brush and created the effect of a lotus blooming.Azhar blended the imagination of a poet with the grace of a pianist.Even the good balls would be sent scuttling to the boundary with the most delicate of touches.Few batsmen have dominated bowling ever with such contemptuous ease as Azhar did that day.He carried the willow like a magic wand.Azhar looked like a military commander in full control of his troops and made the bowling look absolutely innocuous.I can never forget his majestic straight drive and cover drive which even Sunil Gavaskar or Walter Hammond could not surpass.Devon Malcolm was made to look like a club-level pace bowler.Arguably it may rank amongst the 25 best test innings of all time, the 10 best innings ever at Lords ,the best century by any Indian batsmen at Lords,the most stylish innings ever compiled by any Indian batsmen ever and amongst the 10 most artistic test innings of all time.To me,it overshadowed Graham Gooch's mammoth 333 in the same test match.Though India lost Azhar scored this knock of 121 runs in a most testing time after England registered a mammoth score of 653 in the 1st innings.maybe even Greg Chappell ,Sachin Tendulkar or Viv Richards at their best would not surpass Azhar's effort in terms of creativity and artistry. With Zaheer Abbas ,Azhar was the ultimate batting stylist to have emerged from the sub-continent.Vishwanath may have been more talented and creative but for sheer elegance Azhar was supreme .I am putting the youtuble link here.

[Khalpat]

Azhar was brilliant in this whole tour. If I can recall correctly , he was the Man of The Series. He made I guess 170 in first innning of second test at Manchester and 80 odd runs in the Third Test. His 170 was over shadowed by Sachin Tendulkar's second inning match saving century. His Lords century was overshadowed by Graham Gooch inning of 333. His Oval inning was overshadowed by Kapil Dev's brilliant century. Definitely Top 10 Indian Century.