Syed Haider Ali, 'Godfather' of Railways cricket, passes away
New Delhi (PTI): Syed Haider Ali, a domestic cricket stalwart, and one of the finest left-arm spinners who never played for India, has passed away after battling prolonged illness.
Haider died in Prayagraj on Saturday. He was 79. Haider is survived by two sons Syed Sher Ali and Raza Ali.
"He was suffering from chest congestion for some time now. After a routine check-up with his doctor, we were returning home, when he suddenly collapsed. He passed away around 1.30 pm on Saturday," Raza, a former first-class cricketer, told PTI.
Haider made his first-class debut for the Railways in the 1963-64 season and went on to play for his side with distinction for close to 25 years.
A classical left-arm orthodox spinner, who honed his skills on docile tracks around the country in the 1960s and 1970s, Haider bamboozled batters through guile and deception.
By the time he hung his boots in 1988, Haider was by far the most celebrated cricketer for the Railways.
He finished with 366 wickets in 113 first-class games, scalping three 10-wicket hauls and 25 five-wicket hauls, at an impressive average of 19.71.
Not only he accomplished much as a spinner, Haider was equally skilful with the bat, making invaluable contributions batting at No.7.
"He scored 120 against Vidarbha in Nagpur in a Ranji Trophy match in 1984-85 season. I remember we had lost seven wickets and were staring at an innings defeat. We would have lost that game without him," former Railways coach Vinod Sharma told PTI.
Notching up 3,125 runs, including three centuries and 10 half-centuries from 158 innings, is a testimony to his achievements as a batter.
Not many know that Haider began his first-class career as a tearaway left-arm pacer. It was on the insistence of former Railways captain William Ghosh that he switched to left-arm spin.
After retirement, he took on the mantle of the chief selector for the Railways.
"He was our selector, when Railways won the Ranji Trophy titles during 2001-02 and 2004-05 seasons respectively," Sharma recollected.
As news of Haider's demise began to trickle in, the Railways' cricketing fraternity was in a state of shock.
Sanjay Bangar, the former Indian all-rounder, who played for the Railways in the 90s, remembered Haider as a stalwart and a well-respected individual.
"Very unfortunate to hear the tragic news. I never got a chance to play alongside him, but I played when he was the chief selector of the Railways team. He was a stalwart. A soft-spoken and a well-respected individual, Bangar told PTI.
"It's a huge loss for us. I cannot even begin to describe how I'm feeling right now. He made Railways cricket a force to be reckoned with. He was our Godfather," Sharma explained.
Despite being such an irresistible force on the domestic circuit, Haider never made the transition to international cricket.
In a sense, he was very much an unsung hero, having plied his trade at a time when India boasted of the famous quartet of spinners, namely Bishen Singh Bedi, Erappali Prasanna, Shrinivas Venkatraghavan and Bhagwath Chandrashekar.
Haider, however, never harboured resentment for not having made it to the Indian national team.
"He would always say that Bedi was India's No.1 spinner, followed by Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel," Sharma noted.
"Take my name only after these three cricketers," he added.
The Railways and the Jammu & Kashmir team, who are playing a warm-up fixture at the Karnail Singh Stadium here in the national capital on Sunday, observed a two-minute silence before the game, in Haider's honour.
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Fake call centre duping foreigners busted in Thane; five detained
Thane (PTI): The Thane police have unearthed a bogus call centre that allegedly cheated foreign nationals, particularly US citizens, under the pretext of selling software, an official said on Wednesday.
Five persons, including the call centre owner, were detained after a raid at the premises in the Ambernath area of Maharashtra's Thane district late Tuesday night, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ambernath division) Shailesh Kale told PTI.
The bogus facility was operating from a business centre and functioned under the garb of providing software services, the official said.
"The call centre staff targeted foreign nationals, especially Americans. They contacted them on the phone, lured them with offers of software services and extracted money from them in different forms," Kale said.
The police received a tip-off about the illegal operations and raided the premises. The search operation continued till Wednesday morning, he said.
The employees used to make hundreds of calls to foreign nationals daily and would eventually succeed in duping a few of them, Senior Police Inspector Shabbir Sayyed said.
"They collected advance payments from the victims and blocked them after receiving the money," he said, explaining the modus operandi.
The employees were provided with a specific script for conversations to gain the victims' confidence and persuade them to transfer funds, he added.
The police have seized electronic gadgets and other accessories used in the alleged racket from the premises.
A case has been registered against five persons under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Information Technology Act and the Indian Telegraph Act, Kale said.
The police were verifying the victims' credentials and nationality.
