(From top) A file picture of Ayazuddin flanked by father Azharuddin and actor Salman Khan; parts of Ayaz’s bike lying on the highway on Sunday; the damaged sports bike. Pictures by G Vijayalakshmi

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: Congress MP and former Test cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin’s son Mohammed Ayazuddin was “very, very critical” in hospital tonight after a high-speed motorbike accident that killed his cousin Ajmal-ur-Rehman.

Police said Ayaz, 19, who plays in Hyderabad’s local cricket league, was testing the new sports bike on the road to the airport where two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws are banned. Ajmal, 16, was riding pillion.

“It was apparently driven at a high-speed,” an officer said. As Ayaz applied the brakes near a tollgate, he lost control and the bike skidded off the road.

Ayaz is the younger of Azhar’s two sons from his former wife Naureen, whom he divorced to marry actress Sangeeta Bijlani. Ajmal is a nephew of Azhar and the grandson of former Congress MP Khaleelur Rehman. Azhar, who is in England, has left for Hyderabad.

Apollo Hospitals said at 8pm that Ayaz — who has suffered serious injuries to his head, kidneys, chest and abdomen — had responded to initial resuscitation measures and would undergo emergency surgery to stop the bleeding in his chest.

The hospital said the patient was on ventilator and his blood pressure was being supported with high-dose medication. He has received multiple blood transfusions.

A taxi driver who witnessed the accident informed the police, who brought the duo to the hospital around 9.30am, less than half an hour after the crash.

The hospital’s chief surgeon, Dr Mahesh Joshi, said both victims arrived in a “state of cardiac arrest” and Ajmal couldn’t be revived. “They did not have pulse, blood pressure or respiration of their own. (Ayazuddin) is very, very critical.”

Ayaz is a second-year BCom student at St Mary’s College. His batting style is said to resemble that of his father, who was known for his elegant and wristy stroke-play. Ayaz is also a useful off-break bowler.

His elder brother Ashaduddin, however, has made more progress as a cricketer and made headlines in January 2009 when he attended the Kolkata Knight Riders’ selection trials in Calcutta.

Among those who visited the hospital today were cricketers V.V.S. Laxman and Yusuf Pathan, Sangeeta, Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and MPs Asaduddin Owaisi and G. Vivek. Owaisi quoted doctors as saying the next 12 hours were critical for Ayaz.

A multi-speciality team of doctors is closely monitoring the patient’s parameters.