End of a legendary chapter from Indian cricket

He says how for the last three years KC Ibrahim was virtually bed-ridden because of age and illness, but the passion that saw him play four Tests against the West Indies in 1948-49 never quite waned.

“He avidly watched the recent India-Pakistan series. He had problems moving around, but mentally he was very agile,” says Mustafa, as he adds that stock trading was another activity that kept his grandfather busy even during his last days. It wasn’t just cricket that KC Ibrahim was good at, his academic record too is equally impressive. A first-class student all t hrough, he had a Masters degree in mathematics from Bombay University.

Post-retirement, Ibrahim had become a successful businessman. In his early days in Pakistan, Ibrahim once went for a game of cricket and was spotted in the stands by Pakistan cricket legend Abdul Hafeez Kardar.

“Mr Kadar never knew my grandfather was in Pakistan, he even invited him to join Pakistan Cricket Board in an influential position. But he refused,” says Mustafa.

The X standard student’s connection with his late grandfather’s cricketing days happens to be a priceless frame that he has so often looked at during the past 48 hours. The black-white picture shows KC Ibrahim mounted on the shoulders of fans after a 1944 Hindu-Muslim Pentangular game in Mumbai. “He told me about that game several times and I used to imagine the scene that day,” he says.

Ask Mantri about the game and there is an instant recollection that proves KC Ibrahim’s star status and the Mumbai-based octogenarian’s elephantine memory of an event that took place 63 years ago.

Mantri says he was the 12th man that day and he came on the field with Muslims needing 4 runs for a win. “He sent the ball to fine leg and I ran from mid-wicket. He ran three runs and the scores were tied. After that we missed a run out chance and Ibrahim managed to score the winning runs,” he says as goes on to describe the mood at the packed stands at Brabourne Stadium that day and the euphoria of the Muslim team supporters.

“It was a beautiful hundred and he almost single-handedly won the game. During those days the teams were divided by religion in the Pentangular the competition but hardly ever there was any ill-will between supporters,” he says about the knock that Kader later called the best innings he had ever seen.

Mantri last met his former captain — who he calls “a perfect gentleman and a great human being” — when he went to Karachi as match-referee during the 1987 World Cup.

But in Mantri’s mind his interaction with Ibrahim on the lawns of CCI after games during the 40s and early 50s is more vivid. “He, along with Vijay Merchant, used to sit and talk about cricket to us. Whatever I am today is because of the education they imparted. He and Merchant had a special bond,” he says.

Mustafa substantiates this as he says that the name ‘Merchant’ often cropped up when his grandfather talked about his playing days. “He was especially fond of Vijay Merchant and often said that he was the only batsman who could successfully late cut a fast bowler. The other was CK Nayudu, who he called the ultimate in Indian batting,” says Mustafa.

Mantri says Ibrahim was no less. “In his debut Test against West Indies, he scored 85 before lunch. He just missed a 100 or else it would have been a world record,” he said.

With KC Ibrahim passing away it is an end of generation. All Indian players who played in that Test in 1944 are gone. But it is because of the likes of Mantri and Mustafa that their tales will be remembered till eternity.