Ahmedabad: An illustrious innings and poignant partnership spanning decades ended on Wednesday when the storied cricket coach M S Qureshi passed away at his abode for 30 years — the home of his protege and carer, Sanjay Limbachiya.Qureshi was 80. He is credited with training nearly 80,000 cricketers in Ahmedabad over decades. With one such disciple, Limbachiya, the relationship transcended cricket and significant cultural boundaries. The relationship began in 1987, when Limbachiya sought training from Qureshi, but dropped out after three months because he couldn’t afford coaching fees. Qureshi, having spotted cricketing talent in Limbachiya, traced the boy’s address and persuaded his father to allow him to continue training. Limbachiya’s father stressed his inability to pay the fees as he had to look after five kids. Qureshi waived the fees, of course. But he went much farther than playing a one-off shot of compassion.M S Qureshi committed to bearing the expenses for Limbachiya’s education.When Limbachiya scored a century in an important match, his father was impressed and as a mark of his indebtedness, he constructed two rooms on the first floor of his house in Ghatlodia for Qureshi and invited the coach to live with the family. Qureshi was single and he moved in with the Limbachiya family in 1992. When Limbachiya moved to a new house in Gurukul, he took Qureshi along. Qureshi was family to the Limbachiyas until his last breath. “When my father renovated our home, he built an extra room over the existing structure and asked Qureshi sir to stay there for his lifetime,” Limbachiya said. “My father died in his arms, and today he died at our place. After my father’s death, Qureshi sir was the head of our family.”Limbachiya took Qureshi’s body to Jamnagar for his last rites. Qureshi’s relatives live in Jamnagar.Qureshi came to Ahmedabad from Jamnagar in 1977 and started umpiring in local matches. “In 1977, he started imparting structured coaching to budding players at the Sardar Patel Stadium before shifting to a ground in Paldi,” said Iqbal Shaikh, who became Qureshi’s student in 1978.Shaikh then went on to become Qureshi’s long-time assistant. “I didn’t have the white outfit for training. Qureshi bought that as well as the kit for me,” Shaikh said. “Money was secondary to him. Honing the cricketing skills of youngsters was more important.”Qureshi used to teach every budding cricketer fielding before honing their batting and bowling skills, Shaikh said. Former Gujarat Cricket Association joint secretary Hitesh Patel penned a heartfelt note on Qureshi’s demise. “Qureshi Sir has left the outfield for heavenly abode. But he will never leave our hearts,” the note says. “He never charged a fee from the ones who couldn’t afford it. Because for him, cricket was never a business — it was a lifelong tapasya.”The note concludes by saying, “Behind that firmness was a heart vast enough to embrace every one of us as his own. He shaped cricketers, but more importantly, he shaped our character. He built not only teams but also a family.”
