Salim Durani

Salim Durani

Personal information
Full name	Salim Aziz Durani
Born	(1934-12-11) 11 December 1934 Kabul, Afghanistan
Batting style	Left-hand bat
Bowling style	Slow left-arm orthodox
Role	All-rounder
Relations	Abdul Aziz Durani (father)
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 95)	1 December 1960 v Australia
Last Test	6 February 1973 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1953	Saurashtra cricket team
1954–1956	Gujarat cricket team
1956–1978	Rajasthan cricket team
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 29 170 Runs scored 1202 8545 Batting average 25.04 33.37 100s/50s 1/7 14/45 Top score 104 137* Balls bowled 6446 28130 Wickets 75 484 Bowling average 35.42 26.09 5 wickets in innings 3 21 10 wickets in match 1 2 Best bowling 6/73 8/99 Catches/stumpings 14/- 144/4
Source: CricketArchive, 12 June 2013

Salim Aziz Durani (born 11 December 1934 in Kabul, Afghanistan) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 29 Tests from 1960 to 1973. An all-rounder, Durani was a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and a left-handed batsman famous for his six-hitting prowess. He is the only Test cricketer to have been born in Afghanistan.

Durani was the hero of India's series victory against England in 1961–62. He took 8 and 10 wickets in their wins at Kolkata and Chennai, respectively. Also, a decade later, he would be instrumental in India's victory against the West Indies at Port of Spain, taking the wickets of Clive Lloyd and Gary Sobers.

In his 50 Test innings, he made just the one century, 104 against the West Indies in 1962. He played for Gujarat, Rajasthan and Saurashtra in first-class cricket. He made 14 hundreds in first-class cricket in which he managed 8545 runs at 33.37. He has the distinction of being the only cricketer that would respond to a demand from the crowd to hit a six. The crowd would cheer, "We want a sixer!" and Durani would hit one. Durani had a special rapport with the spectators, who once agitated when he was inexplicably dropped from the team for the Kanpur Test in 1973, with placards and slogans such as, "No Durani, no test!".

He appeared in the film Charitra with Parveen Babi in 1973. He was the first cricketer to win an Arjuna Award. He was recently awarded the C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award by the BCCI in 2011.

See also

• List of Test cricketers born in non-Test playing nations

External links

• Cricinfo Profile