The cricketer-turned racing driver

Recently elected the president of FMSCI, the national body controlling the sport in India, Akbar has spent most of his life in the fast lane, first as a racing driver, coach and official. 

Akbar did not get to play a biginnings for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy  though his junior stint for the State promised so much. He got tons of runs as an opener in the under-19, under-22, under-25 and the One-day Inter-State competitions (Subbiah Pillai Trophy) and the standout performance was a 60 he had scored against Karnataka with Test stalwarts Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel, Sadanand Vishwantah, GR Viswanath in their ranks. 

He had captained the Don Bosco Matriculation school and Bains Baptist Higher Secondary School in Inter-School tournaments and Loyola College in Inter-College tournament in Chennai. He went on to captain Madras University and later played for South Zone in the Vizzy Trophy. 

He had also mentored former Indian international Robin Singh and also had a chance to play alongside former England captain Nasser Hussain in MCC. 

“I met Robin when I toured the West Indies a part of the young hopefuls,” recalls Akbar. “He showed a keen interest to play in the Madras First Division league and India. I offered to host him at home and looked after him for a few years. He played under my captaincy in the league and then went on to play Ranji and then for India.” 

Akbar and Nasser were known to each other for long. “As I used to stay at his house (London) when playing in England as his dad, Jawad Hussein used to work for our family concern when in Chennai, Nasser came to India as a 16 or 17-yearold to hone his skills in the Madras First Division League,” recounts Akbar. 

The interesting aside of Nasser’s cricket that Akbar still remembers is that the former England captain first came to Chennai as a leg spinner but on seeing his ability with the bat, Akbar had advised him to focus on his batting. “He did that and in the second year of playing for MCC, he scored a lot of runs and  when he went back to England, he first played for the Essex second eleven in the County games and then made it to the main Essex County team,” Akbar said. But that was the interlude. Before his cricket stint, he had raced in Solavaram at the age of 15 for two years. “Then I got involved in cricket. In 1988, (the late) Karivaradhan developed the Formula Maruti race car and that made me get into racing again,” says Akbar, whose son Armaan is racing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series now. Armaan had won the National racing and karting championships and the proud father insists the son got into racing ‘without any push’ from him. 

Unlike many who have written off India from the motorsport domain, Akbar believes there is still scope for the country to excel in the fast lane. He says hard work and commitment will fetch due returns though the pain and frustrations are part of the journey. “Once you take motorsport as a career, you have to give up all your youth in terms of friends, movies, parties and the nice social life around you. It is just work and nothing else… work as in physical fitness, training, racing, branding, marketing and sponsor engagements,” signs off the chief of FMSCI. For Akbar, it will be a tough task to get Indian racing back on track. 

Played as an opening batsman. 

Captained the Don Bosco Matriculation School & Bain Higher Secondary School in the inter-school tournaments in Chennai. 

Captained Loyola College and MCC.

Captained the Madras University in the inter-university cricket tournaments. 

Played for South Zone in Vizzy Trophy and Ranji Trophy for TN

Winner of All-India  McDowell GP in  Sholavaram in 1978. 

Formula Maruti Class in Sholavaram in 1988 and then onto the MMST Race Track in Chennai from 1989. 

5 Time Indian National Racing Champion. 

Indian National Formula 3 Champion with Lakhsmi Mills and JK Tyre. 

Third in the Formula Asia Championship. 

FMSCI President.