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Tag: Salim Durani death

Sports

Salim Durani and the vulnerabilities of genius: A tribute by Suresh Menon

Salim Durani. File photo | Photo Credit: N. Sridharan My enduring memory of Salim Durani is not the sixes he hit (although I saw some of them) or the wickets he claimed (I saw many of those too), but the manner of his arrival at a press conference in New Delhi. We were just a handful of journalists and we had had to wait for a bit. Durani walked into the room, waving smiling, looking around as if acknowledging the cheers of a crowd in a stadium. It was dramatic, and it suggested he knew love and respect were his due. He knew of the impact he made on any group from six to sixty thousand. This was beyond mere self-confidence or entitlement. This was a sharing of charisma, a doubling of joy. I have never seen a sportsman burst into a room with such goodwill. So it was with a heavy heart t...
Sports

Salim Durani: Big-hearted Afghan who played for love of game

Sunil Gavaskar had once written that if ever Salim Durani wrote his autobiography, the apt title would be, 'Ask for a Six'. Those who are still alive to recollect Indian cricket's nascent days in the 1960s and early 70s, one thing that remains etched in almost everyone's memory is that if spectators wanted a big hit, Durani duly obliged. By shouting "Sixerrrrr, Sixerrrr', the 90,000 spectators at the then raucous Eden Gardens would make optimal use of their lungs. And legend has it that the very next ball would either soar into long on or deep midwicket stands. Durani was the 'people's man', whose impact can never be quantified by the 29 Test matches that he played over 13 years between 1960 to 1973, or the 1200 plus runs he scored and 75 wickets that he took with his mean left-arm spin...