Mushtaq Ali has the distinction of being the first Indian to score a century abroad, when he scored 112 at Old Trafford in Manchester. Members of his family have said that it was an unfulfilled wish of the great man to create a cricket museum in the city of Indore.
According to a NDTV report, the family has said that Ali always wished to create a museum in the city to safeguard memorabilia like cricket bats, rare photographs taken during the Holkar period, and various other cricketing items.
The Holkar dynasty had ruled over the land of Madhya Pradesh during the 18th century. The Holkar rulers had patronized cricket a lot during the pre -Independence era.
“In 1995-96, I had told the then Chief Minister Digvijay Singh about my father’s wish when he was alive that he wished to set-up a museum in the city to preserve memories associated with the Holkar era cricket,” Mushtaq Ali’s son and former Ranji player, Gulrez Ali said.
“Following this, the Chief Minister moved a proposal in the Cabinet and a government house situated behind the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Medical College where Mushtaq Ali was born on December 17, 1914 was allotted for the purpose,” Gulrez concluded.
However due to a petition filed, the high court had stayed the decision of the Madhya Pradesh government, and the matter was not persisted with by Mushtaq Ali at the time.
It is now the right time to readdress the issue and would be appropriate for the state government to consider the museum, as it will be his centenary birth anniversary next year.
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