by Abhishek Mukherjee

He was nicknamed Rainbow, because he aced seven sports. Five of these were hockey, football, table tennis, chess, and polo (take a moment to imagine the range).

In tennis, a sixth sport, he represented India in the 1924 and 1925 editions of the International Lawn Tennis Challenge (now Davis Cup) and in the 1924 Olympics. He also reached the third round in both Men's Singles and Men's Doubles in the 1922 Wimbledon.

In 1935-36, Hadi played an unofficial "Test" against Jack Ryder's Australians, at Madras, scoring 19 and 19*. He also toured England in 1936.

But before that, in 1934-35 at Secunderabad, he scored 132 not out for Hyderabad against Madras. This was the first hundred in the history of Ranji Trophy.

Syed Mohammad Hadi was born on 12 Aug 1899.