Like the Dronacharya awardee Ramakant Achrekar, who shaped the career of the legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and also his son Arjun, Assam’s Nabab Ali has coached the former Assam Ranji captain Parag Das and his son Riyan Parag. The latter is the first-ever cricketer from Assam in the Indian team.

Fondly called Nababda (Brother Nabab) in cricket circles, Nabab Ali may not have hit many centuries or half-centuries during his brief cricketing career, but he has shaped the careers of several top cricketers for Assam and the national team.

Often referred to as the ‘Nawab of Cricket’, Nabab Ali has produced most of the first-class cricketers in Assam since 1985. He has produced over 50 first-class (Ranji Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Duleep Trophy, etc.) players and 100 national (in different age groups) players.

Nabab Ali in the field giving tips to a player

The high point of Nabab Ali's career was when his protege Riyan Parag donned the blues of Team India and became the first one from the State to be in the Indian Team.

Nabab Ali has also been grooming a second generation of sons of players like Syed Jakaria Zuffri, Nishanta Bordoloi, Biswajit Choudhury, Gautam Sarma, Zaved Zaman, and others.

Always fit and calm, the sexagenarian Nababda is someone who has never faced any health issues during his career in cricket coaching a cricketer from Assam to figure in the national team. He has shown determination and dedication consistently and never missed a single session of his Guwahati Cricket Coaching Centre’s training at Nehru Stadium here since its inception in 1985.

Ali began his cricketing career at the age of 15 withbeing coached by the then BCCI East Zone coach Edul B Aibara in 1978. He represented Assam in the CK Nayudu Trophy School Cricket Tournament in 1981-82 and 1983-84. He also represented the Guwahati district team in the Nuruddin Trophy senior inter-districts from 1984 to 86 in his rather short playing career.

With an innate zeal for organizing and coaching, Ali switched to coaching after being trained under Sports Authority of India coach Virendra Kumar Sharma during a camp organized by the State Sports Council of Assam in 1984. “After Sharma was transferred out of Guwahati, a coaching center came into existence by 1985 at a corner of the Nehru Stadium, and being the seniormost among those trainees, I used to coach the younger ones,” Ali told Awaz–The Voice during an exclusive interview.

He is also an accomplished sports organiser, having led the Guwahati Sports Association from 1992 to 2018.

He credits his peers late Abdul Robb, Ratul Das, Ashrafur Rahim (Raju), etc., for his Guwahati Cricket Coaching Centre, which is today one of the premier institutions for grooming talented cricketers.

Beginning with today's famous players like the former Assam captain Rajinder Singh, Zahir Ahmed, and present Assam Cricket Association (ACA) secretary Devajit Saikia who were among about 25-30 trainees, the center today boasts of 350 players on rolls.

Nababda has shaped careers of some of the most famous cricketers like Syed Jakaria Zuffri, Abu Naschim Ahmed, Parag Das, Nishant Bordoloi, Khanin Saikia, Riyan Parag, Mrigen Takukdar, Polash Jyoti Das, Sadek Imran Choudhury, etc.

Jakaria played India B in the Challenger Trophy in 2002, and Abu faced a BCCI suspension (as he turned out for the 'rebel' Indian Cricket League) when he was supposed to get selected for Team India. His fellow new-ball bowler in India's under-19 team, Ishant Sharma, cut in lieu.

“I was quite disappointed when Jakaria, Gautam Dutta, and Hemanga Baruah were overlooked for Team India, and Abu was a shock for all of us. He was quite unlucky,” Ali said.

However, Nababda is today optimistic that Assam will not face similar situation in the future as another of his proteges, Devajit Saikia, assumed the office of the BCCI secretary. “Many of our talents were overlooked in the past because the cricket administrators from our state could not push for them at the BCCI level. But today I am convinced that Assam will never face such a fate in the future. Devajit Saikia is an able administrator whose ascent to the BCCI and ICC is a boon for Assam’s cricket. His presence in the BCCI is helping Assam a lot. I wish he heads the ICC shortly,” Sibanda said.

Nabab Ali on the field

Abu, Mrigen, Polash, and Khanin have donned the India under-19 colours, while Sadek turned out for India under-17s in 2001.

About his coaching center at Nehru Stadium, Ali said: “ Since Nehru Stadium has always been a multi-purpose stadium and was the only available infrastructure in the city, we had to make a lot of adjustments because there used to be cricket, football, hockey, athletics, etc. We have received a lot of cooperation from everybody, including the Board of Sports of Assam and the Assam Cricket Association, and we want other sports to grow as well.”

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Players not only from Guwahati train under Nababda but also from far-flung Sivasagar, Charaideo, Nazira, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Dhubri, etc., flock in to train under him during short-term camps.