Agha Saadat Ali Khan was born on 21st June 1929 in Lahore to a prosperous business family. His father Agha Munawwar Ali Khan owned the Rivoli cinema near the Lahore Railway Station and has a sizeable stretch of property which brings a handsome amount in rentals. He got his early education from St Anthony’s School, Lahore from where he passed his Matriculation in 1945. He did not play any cricket because his school did not have a cricket team but he was in both the Hockey and Football teams in school. He was even selected for the Punjab (B) team in both of these games. He was a football centre-forward and his position in hockey was right-in. Later he joined Government College, Lahore and passed his Intermediate in 1948. Then he went to Government Islamia College, Railway Road where he spent two years there but did his BA privately.
In the year 1945, when Anwar Hussain Khokhar, who was a close relative of his and was the vice-captain of the Pakistan team toured India in 1952-53. He came to Pakistan from Bombay and taught him how to play cricket. His first club was Ravi Gymkhana which was captained by Imtiaz Ahmed. Later he also played and led Friends Cricket Club.
AGHA SAADAT ALI
Born on 21 Jan 1931
Died on 25 Oct 1995
Pakistani Cricketer
During net practice with the club, he usually posted behind the nets. He was already interested in fielding and that improved his game a lot as he had to field the ball all through those sessions. It was on the basis of his fielding ability alone that he was picked to play in the traditional Government College against Islamia College match in his first year as a college student. He was sent in at number eleven and he made 40 runs.
In 1949-50, he made his first-class debut for Pakistan Universities against the touring Ceylonese at Punjab University Old Campus Ground, Lahore. It was not an earth-shattering beginning by any means. Batting at number six in the first innings, he was caught & bowled by Dharmalingam after scoring just 2 runs. Promoted to number three in the second outing, he managed only 6 runs before being run out. Though the match was drawn he had the opportunity of playing alongside some of the best student cricketers of the day. Pakistan was not a test-playing nation then, but the Pakistan Universities included as many as five men who were to go to become test cricketers within the next few years.
In 1950-51, he was included in the Punjab Governer’s XI to play a traditional annual match against the Punjab University at Bagh-e-Jinnah Ground, Lahore. He was dismissed for a duck in his team’s only innings.
In 1951-52, he appeared for Punjab against the touring MCC team at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot. He made only 4 & 14 with the bat but held two brilliant catches in the field to underline his utility as a fielder.
In 1952-53, he played for the Rest XI against Pakistan XI at the Karachi Goan Association Ground in Karachi, a match that was arranged as a benefit for veteran leg-spinner Amir Elahi. He scored 0 & 16 in both innings of the match. Some seven months later, when the time came to select Pakistan’s first official team that toured India to play the inaugural test series, he was unable to win the selector’s favour.
In 1953-54, Pakistan introduced its first national cricket championship to be played for the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He appeared for Bahawalpur, as did several guest players from Karachi like Hanif Muhammad, Alimuddin, Wazir Muhammad and Amir Elahi, in addition to Maqsood Ahmed from Rawalpindi and skipper Khan Muhammad from Lahore. No wonder, Bahawalpur went on to clinch the inaugural Trophy. He was clean bowled for a duck by spinner Anwar Elahi when Bahawalpur started off with 9 wicket win over Sindh at Bahawalpur Stadium. In the drawn semi-final against Combined Services at the Agha Khan Gymkhana Ground in Karachi, where the first-innings lead became very important for elevation into the final. He contributed the most significant knock of his short cricketing life. Batting at number-eight he scored an unbeaten 30 runs and put on worth 53 runs with Zulfiqar Ahmed (25 not out) for the eight-wicket stand and eventually Bahawalpur reached the tournament final. The final was played on the neutral territory at the Karachi Goan Association Ground in Karachi. He managed unbeaten scores of 41 & 6 in both innings of the match. Despite his satisfactory performance during the championship, he once again could not win the selector’s faith for the Pakistan team tour of England in the summer of 1954.
In 1954-55, he had no team to play with during the home season. Bahawalpur preferred this time to depend only upon home talent and predictably got thrashed by Karachi with an innings margin during the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy semi-final. Even Punjab did not require his services. His only appearance of the entire season came when he represented North Zone in a three-day match against the touring Indians at Bohranwala Ground, Lyallpur (now Faisalabad). Sent into bat at number-nine, he got out lbw for 1 run by off-spinner JM Patel in the only innings. However, he remained attached to the Pakistan team even in those trying times, only due to his fielding excellence.
In 1955-56, a big chance came his way, when he batted in the top order at number three and four, for Prime Minister XI against the visiting New Zealanders at Bahawalpur. But his contribution was a mere 7 & 0 in the match. Still, he was retained in the squad and was made the 12th Man for the initial two test matches played at Karachi and Lahore. His fielding filled the selector’s heart as it had in the first test, where he scooped up two brilliant catches as a substitute. However, later in the third & final Test at Dacca (now Dhaka), he made his test debut. Batting at number eight and remained unbeaten with 8 runs, when captain AH Kardar declared the innings. True to his reputation, he picked up three catches in the match but within two days was completely washed out by persistent rain and Pakistan failed to force a win. This also proved to be his last appearance at this level and he never played for Pakistan again.
In 1956-57, he was picked by Punjab to appear in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. His role in their winning the national crown was a significant one. In the final against Karachi Whites at Punjab University Ground in Lahore, Punjab had done well to gain a first-innings lead of 129 runs, having scored 418 while batting first. Karachi whites had wrested the initiative considerably by claiming eight Punjab second innings wickets with just 119 made. The lead was still 248 runs but Karachi Whites had the manpower to conjure up a surprise win. He (56) then scored his maiden fifty during a 41-run 9th wicket stand with Khalid Qureshi (30) and helped boost the score to 182, which gave Punjab an overall lead of 311 runs. Karachi Whites made 268 while batting last and were defeated by 43 run margin. He gained his reward thus with a place in the Pakistan Eaglets team for the tour of England in the summer of 1957.
In 1957-58, he started off the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, with a pair in the match against Pakistan Railways held at Aitchison College Ground in Lahore. In the semi-final against Karachi (C) at Karachi Parsi Institute Ground in Karachi, where he made an equal score of 10 runs in both innings of the match. After that, he played no first-class cricket in any of the three subsequent home seasons.
In 1961-62, in a revamped domestic programme, he was named captain of the Lahore (B) team in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. In the opening match against Khairpur at Railways Moghalpura Institute Ground in Lahore, he scored 9 runs each in the two innings. After promoting him to open the batting in both innings against Karachi Blues at Aitchison College Ground in Lahore, he scored 19 & 50 in the match. In his next encounter against Bahawalpur at the Bahawalpur Stadium, he was again out on low scores of 3 & 15. This was also the last first-class match of his entire career.
Overall, in his first-class career which spanned from 1949-50 until 1961-62, he appeared in just 17 first-class matches, in which he scored 325 runs at 13.54 with a career-best of 56 runs including 2 fifties, held 8 catches and took one wicket.
He also played league cricket in England as a professional for Haslingden CC (Lancashire League) in 1952.
After retiring from competitive cricket, he took to umpiring in first-class cricket. He made his debut as an umpire when he was appointed to supervise a match in the BCCP Patrons Trophy between Pakistan Railways and Karachi Greens at Lahore in 1972-73. He continued umpiring till 1985-86. Overall in his career, he officiated in 20 first-class matches. He also supervised 5 List-A matches from 1975-76 to 1982-83. His only appointment as an International umpire was in a one-day match between Pakistan against India at Sialkot in 1978-79.
He was also associated with the numerous training camps established by BCCP, where his skills were utilized. He was also appointed BCCP’s Assistant Secretary (Technical), a post that he was not allowed to retain for a substantial period.
He also served as Assistant Manager of the Pakistan team during the home series against Sri Lanka in 1985-86. He was also a special beneficiary of CBFS at the Singer Trophy at Sharjah in 1994-95. His other Passions were Horse Racing, Billiard & Snooker. He remained the President, of the Billiard & Snooker Association of Lahore and organized a number of tournaments for them. Among his students were former World Champion Muhammad Yousaf and promising National Champion Farhan Mirza.
Both of his sons Agha Abbas and Agha Javed and his younger brother Agha Asif Ali Khan have played first-class cricket.
He died on 25th October 1995 in Lahore aged 66 years & 126 days. Later he was buried in Mominpura Graveyard in Lahore.
