Sunny Sure Got The Rule

- Qaiser Mohammad Ali

FEBRUARY, 1981; the third Test between India and Australia. Sunil Gavaskar, batting on 70 and amidst a rare bad patch, faces up to Dennis Lillee. A delivery crashes into his pad, fervent appeals ring around, umpire Rex Whitehead raises his finger. Gavaskar indicates petulantly that he had got an inside edge, then walks away. But, overcome by a towering rage, the skipper gets back and asks partner Chetan Chauhan to accompany him out. At the boundary line, Chauhan is stopped by Group Captain Shahid Ali Khan Durrani.

Though he had a distinguished career, Durrani is most famous for saving India from the huge embarrassment of for­ feiting the Melbourne Test. As the team manager, he moved deftly to defuse the explosive situation, convincing Gava­ skar to let the match to continue. But he has many other feathers in his cap. He was part of the organising commit­ tee of the 1952 India­Pakistan Test in Lucknow and his role as a key official of the 1982 Delhi Asian Games won him a top government award.

Durrani, who turned 83 on September 12, now lives a contented and quiet ret­ ired life. “My 25­year service with the Air Force was most satisfying. I owe a debt of gratitude to all my Air Force chiefs and my bosses for whatever I achieved in sports administration and outside of it,” the articulate Durrani, a Vishisht Seva Medal winner, tells Out­ look at his residence in Lucknow.