India is the big pie, any former cricketer, of any nationality, would love to grab a slice of. Sadly though, this pie is as elusive as it is lucrative. Several have aspirations and few ever get to get a look-in. Abid Ali too had aspirations of coaching India, but got the regret letter pretty early on. Needless to say, he is not too happy.
It was as late as 1998 that Abid Ali sought out one Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official and asked him why he had not been offered the job of coaching India. "He (the official) said ‘you are not here’," Abid Ali says. He is presently a resident of the US.
"Now I ask you, was John Wright here? I have got nothing against him but he wasn't here either. He never played cricket here. I know the cricket here, I know the administrators and a lot of other things.
"I've played a lot for my state and for my country, how can you tell me I'm not here?
"Anyway, I don't want to get into all that now," said the veteran all-rounder, talking to reporters in his hotel room here.
Life after cricket has not been bad for him though. "I went to England after the 1975 World Cup, and stayed up to 1977-79, playing club cricket. I got some messages that I may not be there in the team, so I knew my time was coming. I did a coaching course in England.
{{/usCountry}}Life after cricket has not been bad for him though. "I went to England after the 1975 World Cup, and stayed up to 1977-79, playing club cricket. I got some messages that I may not be there in the team, so I knew my time was coming. I did a coaching course in England.
{{/usCountry}}Abid Ali returned to India and was offered coaching assignments then. He declined since the money was not good enough. "A couple of times in 1983 I was offered the job again, but the same money problem was there. I was in the US and I was about to lose my job and I had to go back home and take care of my family.
"I'm still there, 23 years. I coached club by club because I didn't want to get rusty. Then I got an assignment in Northern California.
"Then in 1998, I worked in the Maldives, taking them to Nepal for the ACC Trophy,” he says.
Abid Ali then went back to the US to train that side for the ICC Challenge Trophy. "It was here that I got an offer to coach the Andhra Ranji Trophy team."
Abid Ali now focuses completely on the job of coaching the United Arab Emirates. "If you remember, they were there in the 1996 World Cup. I don't know what happened after that, they went into a slump.
“It possibly had to do with the citizenship criterion. Once the ICC started coming up with some ideas like letting guys who have stayed in the country for seven years to play, that helped the boys, and people all over, the associate members, the ICC too.
"Because of that there were some good expatriate cricketers from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and they have come into the team and these boys are doing well."
Abid Ali has a three-step programme for the side. "We want to go to the ICC qualifiers (in Ireland in May 2005) and then to the World Cup. If we go to the World Cup, I don't want them to do the same as they did in 1996."
Coaching is a labour of love for Abid Ali. "I love it. It’s kind of thing which has been there in me. When I retired I thought about a few things, how do I get myself involved in cricket.
“There are three things -- get into administration, become an umpire or become a coach. I became a coach because I thought parting experience from what you have done, playing first-class and Test cricket, would be the ideal thing for the youngsters to give.”
But will he be around long enough to see his dream bear fruit?
"My contract ends in September. Who knows whether they (the Emirates Cricket Board) will extend it or not!"