I was fortunate to learn from Azeem: VVS

Hyderabad: Glowing tributes were paid to Abdul Azeem at the Gymkhana grounds here on Friday. The former Hyderabad opener passed away on April 18 and his former teammates gathered in number to celebrate his life and times. The speakers were eloquent in praise of the gentleman cricketer that Azeem was and his bravado with the willow. And his fielding. Azeem’s daughters, brothers and nephews were in the gathering. NCA director VVS Laxman and Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Mohammed Siraj, who greatly benefited from Azeem’s guidance, flew down from Bangalore.“I met him as a 16-year'old cricketer while playing for Ensconse, which was in two-day division. But those days, one or two 3-day players could play in two-day division matches. I was fortunate to be there and learn a lot from Azeem. He passed on the knowledge to the young cricketers,” said Laxman. RA Swaroop recalled that Azeem was ahead of his time. “Once playing against Goa, they had only three overs for the day. While everyone will be content to play the 3 overs, Azeem said pagal ho gaya miyan. We will get 30 runs.’’In a message, former Test off-spinner Arshad Ayub said Azeem always made batting look easy even on bad wickets while Vijay Mohan Raj, who had opened with Azeem in many Ranji matches, said his partner made it easy for other batters. Azeem’s brother Abdul Jabbar, also a first-class cricketer, said he left for Chennai when his brother was nine-years-old. “I heard from Hyderabad players that he played hook shots very well. He was a natural opener. He batted with feet together and that is why he could play the hook shots confidently.’’City police commissioner CV Anand added that he was thrashed for fours by Azeem while playing for Nizam College. “He was a plainspeaking person and always wanted to improve the game.”Also present were a host of former Ranji cricketers including Jyothi Prasad, Faiyaz Baig, Noel David, Arvind Shetty, NP Singh, Youraj Singh, Parth Satwalekar and P Ramesh among others.TNN
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