Indian Test Cricketers born in non-Test playing nations

What do Colin Cowdrey, Robin Jackman, Nasser Hussain, Bob Woolmer and Douglas Jardine have in common? Did you know that these five gentlemen were born in India. Infact, there are still 10 more Indian born cricketers who went on to play for England. Did you also know India has three Test cricketers who were born in non-Test playing nations? Let us have a look at them.

Salim Durani:

My friend asked me if I knew about the only Test cricketer to be born in Kabul, Afghanistan. I did not know the answer. In fact, Afghanistan has only recently started playing cricket and they do not really have a cricketing history. My guess was that since Afghanistan is in the North West Frontier, the cricketer in question might have played for Pakistan. The Afghans are well built, strong and have a lot of power. The Pathans are known for their aggressive instincts. So my bet was a Pakistani cricketer.

But to my surprise, the person we are talking about was an Indian who used to hit sixes on public demand. He was Salim Durani. Durani’s father, Aziz, was an ardent cricket fan who represented India in two unofficial Tests against Jack Ryder’s Australian side in 1935. Aziz came down to Khyber to play cricket. He couldn’t play an official Test for India. Aziz moved to Pakistan after partition and became a cricket coach. One of his star pupils was Pakistan batting legend Hanif Mohammad.

Aziz’s son Salim was a stylish left-hander who played 29 Tests for India. He was an aggressive batsman. He often played brisk knocks. But Durani failed to get more than one century in 50 Test innings. Durani had a great series against England in 1961-62 when he picked up eight and 10 wickets at Calcutta and Madras respectively. In 1971, against West Indies at the Port-of-Spain Test match, Durani picked up the wickets of Gary Sobers and Clive Lloyd. Ajit Wadekar, the captain of the victorious Indian Test team against West Indies, said that there were rough patches around the left hander’s off-stump and he felt Durani could cause a bit of damage. Durani, a good-looking man, was quite popular man in the dressing room.

He was the first Indian to get the prestigious Arjuna Award. Durani acted in a Hindi movie ‘Charitra’ starring opposite Parveen Babi.

Lall Singh:

“Who is the only Test cricketer to be born in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia?” Well, it is very difficult to guess the person if you try to apply any logic to this question. The answer to this question is Lall Singh. Singh is arguably the best cricketer Malaysia has ever produced. He got a break in the Indian cricket team after scoring a century against McCartney’s Australian team. Singh got an invitation to attend trials for the Indian team. Singh impressed and was part of the England tour in 1932. Singh, 22 back then, played his first Test at Lords. Although he failed to score well in the only Test match of his career, Singh showed his class as a fielder.

A strange residential rule made Singh ineligible to play for India when England toured India a year later (1933). In 1936, Singh cited personal reasons and did not go to the England tour.

In 1980, Lall Singh attended the Golden Jubilee Test in Bombay. He was 71 then. He passed away five years later.

Ashok Gandotra:

Ashok Gandotra was the only Test cricketer to be born in Brazil. He was a sound left handed batsman who played a couple of Tests matches against New Zealand and Australia in 1969-70. Gandotra’s first class career spanned over ten years. But he scored only a couple of hundreds in 54 matches, scoring 2121 runs at an average of 28.66.