In the event, the Indian captain had obtained permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to remain behind, while the rest of the Indian team that toured England under his captaincy returned to India.
As per the edict of the BCCI, though, Azhar has to return to India, specifically to Bombay, within the next 48 hours - for he is slated to face the three-man committee constituted by the board to en- quire into l'affaire Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The committee - comprising of Raj Singh Dungarpur in the chair, BCCI secretary J Y Lele and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar - will have its first sitting this Saturday and Sunday, at the Bombay Cricket Association premises. The proceedings will, it is learnt, be in camera.
The first to testify will be Sidhu himself. It will be recalled that following his abrupt departure from the Indian side touring England, Sidhu had in a letter to BCCI president Inderjit Singh Bindra and secretary Jagmohan Dalmiya, squarely blamed the Indian skipper for ``humiliating'' him beyond all bearing.
In his letter, Sidhu indicated that his resignation from the team, and from international cricket, was conditional. The ace Indian batsman asked for an enquiry into the circumstances surrounding his departure, and added in his letter that if he were found guilty, he would refrain from playing international cricket again besides facing what- ever punishment the board deemed fit.
The board for its part decided to wait till the end of the tour before constituting its enquiry committee, in the interests of preserving team harmony. Once the players returned, the board for its part constituted the three-man committee, and empowered it to summon any player or official it deemed fit to testify.
The committee in turn indicated that besides Sidhu and Azhar, it would also call on tour manager Sandeep Patil, administrative manager C Nagaraj and vice captain Sachin Tendulkar to testify. The committee is also likely, after hearing initial testimony, to summon any other member of the touring party to testify before it.
Sidhu has indicated that he would abide by the verdict of the BCCI committee enquiring into the matter.
``The aim,'' said Gavaskar, ``is to find out the reasons behind a player's unprecedented walk out in the middle of the tour. I really cannot say anything further at this stage. After we finish our enquiry, we will report to the BCCI and then it is up to the board to take whatever decision it sees fit.''
``We need to probe the entire matter and give our recommendation,'' said committee chairman Dungarpur.
Lele, for his part, tends to see the investigation as routine. ``This is not the first time such an enquiry is being held,'' the board secretary said. ``In 1991, Dilip Vengsarkar was suspended for six months for writing a controversial article in a newspaper, even then we had an enquiry.''
Asked what action the board could possibly take against either Azhar or Sidhu, Lele refrained from comment, saying only that ``We are a fact-finding committee, it is for the board, and not for us, to take action.''
While indicating that the enquiry will begin in Bombay this weekend, it appeared unlikely that a verdict would be arrived at in the first sitting. At least one more sitting is possible before the committee is ready to report to the board, sources said.