Ahsan-ul-Haq smashes fastest First-Class hundred by an Indian

Playing for Muslims against Sikhs in the Lahore Tournament of 1923-24, Ahsan-ul-Haq smashed a 40-minute hundred on March 16, 1924. If one removes hundreds under contrived circumstances, it still remains the fastest First-Class hundred by an Indian, and the joint-second-fastest overall. Pradip Dhole looks back at a forgotten record.

It was at the fag end of the 19th century that a young man from an Afridi Pathan family of Punjab had gone to England with the avowed intention of studying Law. The charms of the English summer game, however, soon cast a spell on him.

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This is the fascinating story of Ahsan-ul-Haq, born Jul 16, 1878 in what is now known as Jullundur, and who was described as being a right-hand batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler.

Along with the pursuit of his legal studies, the “hard-hitting Indian cricketer Ahsan-ul-Haq” to quote Jim Pipe in Cricket, A Very Peculiar History, was soon turning out for the prestigious Hampstead Club (rubbing shoulders, as it were, with such luminaries as Fred “The Demon” Spofforth of Australia and the one and only Andrew “Stoddy” Stoddart, the Cricket and Rugby Union international for England of later years) among other teams.

Records show him playing for Hampstead against MCC side Lord’s in June 1900 in a 2-day match, scoring 8 and 18. There is no evidence that he bowled in this match. The MCC side had featured Albert Trott of the six-over-the-Lord’s-pavilion fame. Albert Trott’s contribution had been quite substantial in this encounter, which MCC won by 158 runs: 57 and 171 with bat, and 9 for 77 and 7 for 96 with ball. Fred Spofforth had picked up 5 for 118 in the MCC 2nd innings.

We learn of Ahsan opening the innings for Middlesex 2nd XI against Essex 2nd XI, also at Lord’s in a 2-day game in August 1901, scoring 4 and 11. He did bowl in this match, taking a wicket in the Essex first innings. Essex 2nd XI featured Johnny Douglas (later to captain the England Test team), who scored 54 not out and 21 and picked up 3 for 27 in the Middlesex second innings.

Ahsan made his First-Class debut for MCC, against London County at Crystal Palace in 1901, opening in the only innings played by his team in a drawn match, scoring 10. According to Peter Oborne’s Wounded Tiger: A History of Cricket in Pakistan, Ahsan was the first Muslim to play First-Class cricket on English soil.

In their only innings played, London County totalled 633, Ahsan sending down 11 expensive, wicketless overs. One of the interesting sidelights of this match was the fact that WG Grace, captain of London County, opened their only innings with his son WG Grace Jr, the latter scoring 32 in a first wicket stand of 51. WG Grace pere went exactly 100 runs better. The father-and-son duo also combined to take 7 of the 10 wickets of the MCC innings, with the Champion picking up 5/159 and his son 2/74. One of Ahsan’s MCC teammates in this match was George Hearne, of the famous cricketing family of that name, and later to play Test cricket for England in South Africa along with his brother Alec and cousin JT, while another brother, Frank, having previously played Tests for England, represented South Africa in the same match.

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In the following year, 1902, Ahsan represented Middlesex in three County Championship matches in July, against Surrey, Lancashire and Sussex. During this period, Middlesex boasted of players of the calibre of Plum Warner, Bernard Bosanquet, Albert Trott, Reggie Schwarz and JT Hearne — an illustrious combination. His performances in these three matches were, however, not very encouraging, neither with the bat, nor with the ball.

Back home now, Ahsan played two Second-Class matches against the visiting Oxford University Authentics team in January 1903, turning out for Punjab in one and for the Aligarh Muslim University Past & Present team. Again, his performances in these two matches were rather below par.

Almost 25 years of age now, he gradually devoted his time and energy in cultivating a career for himself. He married and raised two sons, Inam-ul-Haq, who was to play 4 First-Class matches, and Munawar-ul-Haq, who was to play 3. As often happens, his cricketing ambitions slowly began to recede from his list of priorities in his domesticated state.

Quite out of the blue, he was called out of his cricketing oblivion, and at the age of 45, he was requested to take up the responsibility of captaining the Muslims team in a Triangular Tournament, also featuring the Hindus and the Sikhs, to be played at Lahore in 1923-24.

After a sabbatical of almost 22 years, therefore, he found himself in his cricketing creams once again and at the helm of the Muslims team, preparing to confront the Sikhs at Lawrence Gardens, Lahore in March 1924. Ahsan probably did not know it at the time, but the cricketing Muse was finally about to smile on him.

Ahsan having won the toss and deciding to bat first, the Muslims ran up a total of 559 for 9 declared. The innings was replete with centuries by Ferozuddin (133, at the top of the order), Abdus Sallam (117 not out at No. 9), and the skipper himself (100 not out at No. 11). The first innings of the Sikhs was a rather feeble effort of 206 all out. Following on, they could muster only 228 for 6 in their second effort. The match was drawn, but the Muslims won on their first innings lead.

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Ahsan shared an undefeated stand of 150 for the 9th wicket with Salaam. The skipper’s 100 came up in 40 minutes of batting time. That put him at par with “The Croucher” of legend and song, the brilliant Gilbert Jessop, having scored 101 for Gloucestershire against Yorkshire in July 1897, his hundred coming up off 46 deliveries, also in 40 minutes. These two are still second on the all time list of the fastest First-Class centuries in terms of minutes batted (barring contrived records against “nonsense” bowling). Jessop and Ahsan are behind only the leader on this particular list, Percy Fender (113 not out) captaining Surrey against Northamptonshire at Northampton in August 1920, whose 100 had come up in 35 minutes.

Ahsan’s quickfire 40-minute century is still the fastest in First-Class cricket by any Indian batsman in terms of minutes batted, the record remaining proudly intact even after nine decades.

Although the Muslims did win the Final of the tournament, also against the Sikhs, by 6 wickets, the captain’s contributions in the remaining two matches (one against the Hindus) were somewhat of an anticlimax compared to the opening joust. The final of this tournament turned out to be his swan song in first class cricket. At a later stage of his life, he was credited with being instrumental in setting up BCCI.

As the inexorable march of Time went on, he, like any others, relocated to Pakistan in the wake of the partition of his homeland. He passed away on December 29, 1957 in Karachi, leaving behind his glorious feat in the hearts and minds of his admirers and for the chroniclers of this enchanting game to proclaim for posterity.

Brief scores:

Muslims 559 for 9 decl. (Ferozuddin 133, Feroze Khan 88, Abdus Salaam 117*, Ahsan-ul-Haq 100*; Sant Singh 3 for 100) drew with Sikhs 206 (Wadhawa Singh 54, Baldev Singh 70; Abdus Salaam 3 for 72, Nazir Ali 4 for 35) and 228 for 6 (Jai Singh 82, Hardit Malik 100).