`I`ve seen several swing bowlers, but Abdul Ismail will always be on top`

What’s happening in Mumbai cricket? The trio of Milind Rege, Paddy Shivalkar and Abdul Ismail (1945-2025) gone in the space of a few months. More recently, Vijay ‘Papa’ Karkhanis departed too.

I was fortunate not to face Abdulla [I always called him Abdulla] in inter-office cricket. He would have been a handful I’m sure. Our seniors like Sunil Gavaskar and Ashok Mankad used to say that if Abdulla’s first ball was an outswinger, we would win. His tally of 244 wickets in first-class cricket bears testimony to his ability. With that deceptive action, he wreaked havoc in many a formidable batting line-up.

I have seen several good swing bowlers like Ian Botham, Bob Massie and our very own Balvinder Singh Sandhu, but Abdulla will always be on top of my list. I made my Ranji Trophy debut in 1975-76 when Abdulla was opening the bowling for Mumbai. The four Hyderabad wickets I claimed in their first innings fetched me a lot of satisfaction, but Abdulla guided me too, while he claimed three.

I remember bowling nearly 50 overs in that innings and 12 in the second innings while my departed partner sent down 40 in that quarter-final at Wankhede Stadium. At the end of my three-match debut season, I had bowled 147 overs! Considering the amount of overs I bowled, I could have been called a workhorse. But the real workhorse was Abdulla — 11,361 balls in 75 first-class games, I’m told; a majority of them for Mumbai.

In another era, a bowler like Abdulla would have played for his country. The loss is India’s, but our loss, through his passing, is even more.

As told to Clayton Murzello

This article first appeared on Mid Day