Famous cricketing siblings part 1

BROTHERS IN ARMS IAN & GREG CHAPPELL.

The game of cricket has had a number of famous cricketer- sibling combinations. It has always been interesting to study some of these   siblings and how they interacted with each other when they played for their national team together. There have been some very famous cricketers who have  had brothers who  played successfully for their teams. To quote a few, the CHAPPELL brothers and the WAUGH  brothers played successfully for a long time for Australia. The AMARNATH brothers who played for India and the FLOWER brothers who played for Zimbabwe over quite some time with some success. In this first part of the article, we will look at the famous Chappell brothers, IAN and GREG  who both captained Australia and were leading batsmen for their team.

THE CHALLPELL BROTHERS ( Ian and Greg Chappell )— Ian Chappell , the first of the three Chappell brothers who was born to martin and Jeanee  in Adelaide  was greatly influenced by  his maternal grand father Victor Richardson who was  an all round sportsman who also captained Australia  at the end of the nineteenth century. Ian Chappell was quickly  made familiar to  cricket by his father who was a noted grade cricketer for Adelaide. The Chappell brothers ian, greg and trevor were given batting lessons from an early age  Ian chappell was always referred to as CHAPPELLI owing to the scoreboard which had him as chappell I and greg as chappell G. Ian Chappell was greatly influenced in his formative years by the aggressive style of Gary Sobers of the west indies  and Les Favell a south Australian captain. At the age of 18, Ian was selected to play his debut first class match for south Australia  when he replaced Gary Sobers who was selected to play a test match  in the Carribean in 1962. Right from the onset Ian Chappell was a blunt and a no nonsense sort of a cricketer. He  was a very tough and an attacking batsman who loved to play the cross batted shots especially the cut and the hook shot. In fact he would always say “ 3 bouncers in an over should mean 12 runs to me “. He had a habit of gritting his teeth when he faced up bowlers. Early on Ian Chappell was a lower order batsman who batted at 7 and was a useful leg spinner and fielded outstandingly in the slips.

 Ian Chappell also captained the  Australian team from 1971-75 following the sacking of the incumbent captain Bill Lawry He did not lose a single test series as captain no mean feat.. Ian Chappell had a very aggressive and a head on approach which he instilled on his team and they also came to be known as the ugly Australians with the issue of sledging gaining prominence  for the first time during Ian Chappell’s tenure as captain. He would often say “although we didn't deliberately set out to be a 'bunch of bastards' when we walked on to the field, I'd much prefer any team I captained to be described like that than as 'a nice bunch of blokes on the field.' As captain of Australia my philosophy was simple: between 11.00am and 6.00pm there was no time to be a nice guy. I believed that on the field players should concentrate on giving their best to the team, to themselves and to winning; in other words, playing hard and fairly within the rules. To my mind, doing all that left no time for being a nice guy”. He was also a players captain and in many ways was responsible for   the  professionalism in Australian cricket. During Chappell’s days the players had meagre match salaries and Chappell did not take this things lying down and also took on Donald Bradman and got his point across in no uncertain terms and managed to convince the board to increase the match salaries of the Aussie players . the 1970’s is easily known as the Chappell era. Both the brothers Greg and Ian Chappell had different batting styles with Ian Chappell who batted at no 3 , he was an attacking stroke maker who did not mind playing cross batted shots and took the game to the opposition where as Greg Chappell who batted at no 4 was a model of concentration and precise timer of the cricket ball. Greg Chappell was one of the greatest Australian batsman and his game was based on classical footwork and fierce concentration.

The Chappell brothers had  made an immense contribution  to the Australian cricketing circles.  In spite of Greg Chappell being his  younger brother, Ian Chappell never called him my brother Greg, it was always Greg Chappell which indeed helped Greg carve out a niche for himself in the cricketing fraternity. Ian was also very critical of Greg Chappell when the later was involved in an underarm incident where  Greg Chappell had ordered his younger brother Trevor Chappell to bowl an underarm ball when new Zealand needed 5 runs to get of the last ball in an ODI. In 1981.  The two brothers had mutual respect for each other but there was no untoward brotherly love between them. They behaved with each other in an absolutely professional manner. Maybe their roots during their childhood had to do with this approach. The 2 Chappell brothers  would play hard and uncompromising backyard cricket  Ian Chappell would always be Australia and Greg would invariably be England much to the despair of the younger sibling. The 2 would play fierce and combative cricket and that is where their tough but fair cricketing spirit must be credited.

Both the brothers captained the Australian team with Ian captaining from 1971-75 and Greg having 2 stints  of the captaincy after Ian retired from test cricket from 1975-77 and  again from 1979-1984 till the end of his career. The Chappell brothers scored a century in the same innings in the oval test of 1974 and became the first pair of brothers to have done so and even bettered the achievement when they both scored a century in each innings in Wellington against New Zealand in  the same year. Between 1977-79, Greg Chappell had joined the Kerry packer led world series cricket ( WSC ) owing to discontentment with the Aussie cricket board over player salaries and a host of other issues Greg Chappell became the first player to score centuries in both his first and last test. A lot of the modern day players owe a lot to Ian Chappell for the present career scenario in international cricket.   The Chappell brothers always enjoyed a tough but fair relationship amongst them and were typical Aussie blokes in every respect. The personality of these 2 captains also came through on their team. Ian Chappell was a very strong character and always believed that the players had to take their decisions and apply methods which suited them rather than relying on coaches. Ian Chappell also became a successful media commentator for channel 9 and also has enjoyed success in  speaking his mind and  voicing his opinions about various issues on cricket. Whereas Greg Chappell also did some brief commentary stint and  was appointed coach of Indian team  from 2005-07. He had a rather scandalous stint as coach and his man managerial skills came in for some flak as he is alleged to have caused a rift among the senior and the young players in the Indian team.  Finally after India’s early exit from the 2007 world cup, Chappell was sacked as coach .

A memorable evening with the gracious and courteous Mr Sunandan Lele

WITH RENOWNED CRICKET WRITER/ JOURNALIST MR SUNANDAN LELE.

Once I knew that I would not be able to play cricket at any level, there was always this burning ambition/ desire to be associated with cricket in some form or the other. I have since dreamt of becoming a cricket writer/ blogger.  I have been writing cricket blogs with little or no success for the past 3 years. I have always wanted somebody to help me channelize this immense love and passion for cricket writing.  With the  boom of the social media like Facebook and Twitter especially since the past 5 years, to  select a topic for a cricket article which is unique has been the most difficult challenge  for budding bloggers like me. I have desperately wanted to meet a successful cricket writer/ freelance journalist.  Who better than to meet up with Mr Sunandan Lele who happens to hail from my hometown Pune.

.  I wanted to meet Mr Lele for several reasons, since meeting such a veteran journalist would be an enriching experience for me. I have been reading his articles and enjoyed his style of writing and his take on various contentious issues which have been refreshingly different from the mundane stuff you get to read every now and then. Secondly I had already attended his show  ‘12 GAVACHA PANI’   in on 21^st august 2010 in   Pune which he had hosted along with  famous cricket commentator/ host Harsha Bhogle and  Vikram Satheye. I had just enjoyed his style of presenting his various experiences on visiting tours to different countries, where he talked about how the cricketing culture of fans and supporters was so different in every country which he had visited. Somehow that show struck a chord with me and therein was this desire to wanting to know this person on a more personal level. And it all started about a month ago on 23^rd august, some days after a disastrous 3-1 test drubbing in England , when I was sitting pensive in my room and I just thought of sending a mail to Mr Sunandan Lele, a very well renowned sports writer/ freelance journalist  seeking an appointment with him I also sent him some of my articles and photographs with famous cricketers and one of my pics with him as well. To my utter shock and surprise, Mr Lele responded within minutes of my mail stating that he was in England and on coming back to Pune he would meet me in the second week of September. Just a reply from him was more than enough for me to be on cloud 9 and I told this thing to my parents and my   family members.

Meanwhile I was waiting for the second week of September, when on 24^th September finally I again tried to send him a mail  ( read a gentle reminder ) this time while sending the mail I was nervous as I thought he would be feeling irritated  on my reminder mail. Nevertheless I mustered all my courage and sent him a mail and again within minutes he replied stating that we would be meeting at ‘WADESHWAR’ a famous south Indian restaurant/ eatery. I was getting jittery as to how he would be responding to me when I finally do meet up. The day 25^th September arrived which happened to be ‘GHATASTHAPANA’ an auspicious day for all Hindu people. I prepared my compilation of articles and keeping one eye on the watch finally completed my work at 2 o clock in the afternoon. Once I reached home at 4 in the afternoon, I just sent him a mail regarding a final confirmation of time. Again true to Mr Lele’s prompt style of feedback, he replied in Marathi “ TU SHARP 5PM LA F C ROAD VAR CHYA WADESHWAR LA YE”. This meant I had to reach Wadeshwar our meeting point at sharp 5 pm. I was getting even more nervous and accompanied by my cousin Akshay, we decided to reach Wadeshwar at 4:45pm before the stipulated time.  We reached Wadeshwar beating the ever irritating city traffic at 4:47. We took 10 minutes to prepare for what we were going to converse with him as we knew that it would be a brief meet and we had to be absolutely precise and had no scope for a goof up.

We were standing at the main gate of Wadeshwar and true to his punctual style  Sunandan  sir walked in sharp at 5 pm. Me and my cousin were dumbfounded and were looking at each other just as Sunandan sir  said “ CHAL PIYUSH”  patting his  hand on my back. We finally settled down on one of the tables after the handshakes. He asked us “KAI  KHANAR KI KAI PINAR “ ( what would we prefer to eat or drink.)   Just watching him in front of us was one of the most unforgettable moments of my life and I kid you not I was wanting my cousin to pinch myself. You can call us whatever you wish but the bottom line was we were overawed by his presence. But by his sheer demeanour and style of talking put us at absolute ease. After ordering APPE (a south Indian dish) and hot cup of tea, we started our conversation.

 We introduced ourselves and I told him of my passion for cricket  and how i loved to write about the sport.  Me and my cousin were realizing that we were speaking a tad too fast but again to Mr Lele’s credit he just calmly replied “TU BOL RE “(you just speak whatever you want to). He was quite relaxed and I have not met any renowned person who has given us so much time and we were pleasantly surprised at his demeanour. He gave us valuable tips as to how to approach writing and offered his advice as to how to focus on  how to write on non ventured fields on which very few people would have written. We both were just listening to his pearls of wisdom and imbibing them ever so keenly.  I even asked him about how his tour of England was and in his inimitable style he replied “CRICKET SODUN UTKRUSHTA” (wonderful besides the cricketing part.)   Finally it was time for our photo session and typical of the man he again agreed to click several photos with us unlike to other celebrities who do not even bother to look in the camera or are in a lot of hurry. Mr Lele was sitting patiently amidst the photo sessions when it came to clicking the 3 of us (Sunandan sir myself and Akshay), somebody had to click the camera in order for the 3 of us to come together in a photo and Mr Lele in Marathi just told one of the hotel employees “CHAL RE TU FAKTA CLICK KAR KI RE” (telling him just to click the camera.)   After half an hour of spending time with the respected man, it was time for us to leave (though we did not wish to leave) I gave him a small gift as token of   his courtesy and graciousness. . While leaving also when my cousin was hurriedly packing the camera and other stuff in his sack, he left the chain of the sack open and Mr Lele just exclaimed “TE BAG BAND KAR KI RE “(close the chain of the sack properly.)

 We both were dumbfounded and bowled over by his sheer courteous and gracious behaviour.  I have never met such a celebrity who has had the ability to make novices like us feel so comfortable and at ease. SUNANDAN SIR, we are truly indebted to you for being gracious enough to meet us amidst your busy schedule and putting us at complete ease and making us feel so comfortable. It has been truly one of the most memorable and cherished evenings spending time with a humble person like you.  I am also very thankful to you for sharing your experiences with us regarding writing cricket articles and helping me channelize my passion for writing.

“SUNANDAN SIR TUMHALA AAMCHA MANACHA MUJRA”

                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

A tale of 2 unheralded and unlucky spinners.

                      

 Just a few days  back  I was reading a book on Bishen Singh Bedi the legendary spinner and by all accounts it was a fascinating story about an Amritsar born boy who had limited dreams and went on to become one of  the finest  exponents of left arm spin this game has ever seen. Bedi played 66 tests for India was  the highest wicket taker with 266 scalps until a certain Kapil Dev Nikhanj eclipsed it much later. In  that book there was mention of 2 spinners whose careers coincided with Bishan Bedi. Yes all the cricket lovers must have guessed it by now – Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar. Both of them took plenty of wickets for their domestic sides Delhi and Bombay respectively but could not play a single test for their country. This article is a humble tribute to these 2 great non test  cricketers from India. 

Rajinder Goel - Born on 20^th September 1942 in Haryana. He started his first class career with Patiala in 1958 which later evolved into southern Punjab. He moved to Delhi in 1963 and Haryana ten years later. The Indian team before Bishen Bedi had Salim Durrani, Bapu Nadkarni and Rusi Surti as left armers and so Goel was denied the opportunity despite taking loads of wickets for Delhi. In the 1960’s Bedi was considered the’ next Goel ‘ a fact which is ironical since Goel did not get to play any test match owing to Bedi’s presence in the national team. His bowling style was considered to be similar to Bedi but Bedi flighted  the ball while Goel had a flatter trajectory. Even established Indian batsmen found him unplayable on turning tracks, a fact endorsed by Sunil Gavaskar where he has included Goel in his book ‘ Idols “ . Goel along with Padmakar Shivalkar are the 2 non cricketers in Gavaskar’s idols. According to Gavaskar, he would much rather face Bedi as against Goel on a turning track. He has sound reasons for this theory where he goes on to say that Bedi’s flight  allowed batsmen to come down the track and drive him whereas with Goel he had no chance of coming down the track as Goel was deadly accurate with his flatter trajectory. Though  Gavaskar rated Bedi as a more complete bowler.

Goel had the ability to bowl long spells without losing his nip and accuracy even at the fag end of the day’s play.  As he had the rare ability to turn the ball on any wicket, even though the flight was minimal it more than made up for in the end with his deadly accuracy. Goel took 640 Ranji trophy wickets still a record by any bowler and  S Venkatraghavan is second with 530 scalps. Rajinder Goel took 25 wickets in a season for 15 seasons   including his last 9 seasons for Haryana. He took 640 wickets in Ranji trophy at an impressive average of 17.12 in 122 games with 53 five wicket hauls and 17 ten wicket hauls. His longevity can be understood from the fact that he is the only bowler to bowl against 3 father – son combinations. ( ML  and Vivek Jaisimha, Lala and Surinder Amaranth and Pankaj and Pranab Roy. A measure of his immense popularity stems from the fact that when Goel took his 600^th wicket he was sent a congratulatory letter from the infamous dacoit  Bukha Singh Yadav who was locked up in Gwalior jail. Goel is perhaps the only cricketer from india whose performances were recognized even by the dacoit and it was a pity that selectors turned a blind eye to his feats. Goel was certain to play in the Bangalore test against west indies in 1974-75  owing to Bedi’s absence but  his name was missing when the team was announced. This was as close as it got for Goel as far as national duty was concerned. Today Goel remains  a simple man who is still supremely fit and is an icon for the younger generations who have a lot to learn from this champion. He played Ranji trophy for over 25 years and even during the later parts of his career his enthusiasm and passion to succeed did not diminish even though he knew that he could not play for India anymore. Never for once did he publicly vent out his frustration against the fact that despite being the leading Ranji trophy wicket taker, he was denied a test cap when a lot of the other bowlers who followed were much less  talented and skillful than him. Goel used to say that he was simply unlucky born in a wrong  era.

 Padmakar Shivalkar – Born on 14^th April  1940  he  served Bombay for 20  years becoming  the leading wicket taker with 589  scalps. Paddy as he was affectionately called in Bombay cricketing circles had an accidental entry into cricket. It was his friend Dattu Satelkar took him to nets at Bradbury mills. Paddy had never held a cricket ball as he had only played tennis ball cricket. The first ball he bowled   hit a bamboo on the off side net and the next ball hit a side net on the leg. He bowled the next ball on the stumps and was asked whether he wanted a job. The man who offered him a job was none other than the great Vinoo Mankad. Paddy had a minimalistic 3 step runup and he had relentless accuracy. On a crumbling wicket he was considered as dangerous as Derek Underwood on a dying wicket. He toured Australia in 1962 with the Cricket Club of India taking plenty of wickets and scoring useful runs. He bowled with a teasing flight and induced the batsmen to play shots which they might have avoided otherwise. It took him some time before  he could play for Bombay Ranji side owing to the presence of Bapu Nadkarni who was taking plenty of wickets and scoring centuries with regularity. After Nadkarni, Eknath Solkar found favour with the selectors due to his ability to bowl left arm spin and medium pace and being excellent in fielding.. around 1967-68 paddy got an opportunity to play for Bombay and he never looked back thereafter. Initially he was a shy person but after couple of years he opened up and had a dry and naughty sense of humour. Paddy helped Bombay win the Ranji trophy on numerous occasions and his best figures came against Tamil Nadu in 1972-73 finals where he took 8-16 and 5-18 in madras.

Sunil Gavaskar has also included Shivalkar in his  book ‘ idols’. Paddy was a match winner for Bombay right till the very end . He was also known to be passionate about taking wickets and hence the longevity for over 20 years. Today paddy is an accomplished singer and sings in public forums on various occasions. He has also sang a song on how one misses an opportunity if luck is not on his side. He virtually put his heart and soul in that performance and was admired by listeners. It was as if his entire cricketing career was being played out in that song of getting so close to getting the India cap but not achieving the goal.

 It is indeed an irony, call it ill fate or playing in the wrong era  that Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar despite taking loads of wickets could not get into the Indian side. The reasons given were always that since Bedi was a left arm spinner as these 2, however one can argue this theory as Prasanna  and Venkatraghavan could play simultaneously in one side then surely one of these 2 greats could also have paired alongside Bedi. India could have done wonders in world cricket with these players in the mid 60’s and 70’s when they lost out on an opportunity   of closing out sides and winning many more test matches. Be that as it may despite these 2 cricketers never having played for India does not in any way take anything away from them and they will always be remembered for their contribution to Indian cricket.

                         First Class Records

                                       
                    M         W         Avg         5W      10W        BB

Goel           157      750       18.58        59          18         8/55

Shivalkar    124      589        19.69       42           13        8/16

Colourful and fascinating characters of world cricket - part 2

           

In the first part of this 2 part article I  had made an attempt to bring to light 2 of the colourful and fascinating characters to have played cricket. Over the years as cricket got more fierce and professional on and off the field, the urge to outwit  the opposition in every possible manner  came to the forefront and it was an added incentive for some of the temperamental characters to indulge in some friendly banter and  some sledging tactics were also being tried especially in test cricket. In this part  let us look at some more fascinating and colourful characters .

Mervyn Hughes.-  Known as Merve Hughes to all his fellow Aussie teammates and opponents, Merve Hughes was best described as one of the  humorous and funny characters of the game and a bowler who was known to be a workhorse and an earnest trier. He represented Australia   in 53 tests and 33 ODI’s between  1985 and 19993. He was a burly 6’4inches with a typical handlebar moustache, a penchant for exuberant display of affection for his fellow teammates and an uncanny tendency to talk to the opposition in inventively colourful   language which led him to be nicknamed ‘fruitfly’. A bowling run up which sometimes stretched to 45 paces and this made him a firm favourite among crowds who often imitated his stretches during practice sessions. The crowd often called him ‘Sumo’ when he came on to bowl Some of the occasions which displayed his typical sledging style

1 ) After beating Graham Gooch on  numerous occasions,  Hughes casually  told him “ i will bring the piano, lets see whether you can play it instead.

2 )  This time another Englishman, Robin Smith was at the receiving end of Merve Hughes, when he was all at sea against the Aussie, Hughes retorted “ if you turn the bat backside, you will see the instructions written.

3 )   During a tour match  in south Africa on a flat wicket after  being hit for  numerous boundaries by Hansie Cronje, Merve Hughes farted in the middle and told Cronje “ try and hit this for a boundary “.

4 )  Against Javed Miandad, who himself was a master of sledging called him “ a fat conductor”, but the revenge was sweet  after few balls when hughes dismissed Miandad and gave him a send off by going to him and asking him “ tickets please “.for once even the great Javed had no answer.

Javed miandad -  Javed Miandad played for Pakistan between 1975 and 1996. He was arguably the greatest Pakistani batsman. Miandad was always known to be a  gritty fighter and some would say a bugger as well. He was known to needle the opposition and get up their nose  with his on field antics and  was perhaps the only batsman in the history of the game who is known to have sledged the bowlers on numerous occasions. He was a complete package as far as batting was concerned, with quick silver feet he used to score cheeky 1’s and2’s  making the opposition sweat and before they realized he was past 40 or so . Javed Miandad was particularly good when it came to intense pressure and scored runs when the going was tough for his team. He used to speak in an odd manner having a heavy tongue and had the ability to irritate even the coolest of opposition players. He was also seen as a problem player when it came to even his own teammates. Javed would invariably start sledging the batsman when he was fielding at silly point and would be constantly muttering something or the other to his wicket keeper. He was the ultimate street fighter who never gave up and hated losing. Some of Javed Miandad’s famous on field incidents.

1 )  during one the matches in Pakistan Miandad  during one of his duals with Dilip Doshi, came down the wicket and would pat the ball with a dead bat and say “ i should have hit that for a six “ . on another occasion, he kept patting the ball back to Dilip Doshi and kept asking him “ Dilip what is your  hotel room number to which Dilip being the quiet fellow he was did not reply but javed constantly kept nagging at him and asked him the room number   almost after every ball and getting irritated Dilip finally replied  and told him what for was he asking the room number to which Javed cannily replied “ i will hit the next ball for a six in your room.

2 )  playing against  the Aussies at Melbourne in 1978-79, Rodney Hogg gently tapped the ball to Miandad at point and Hogg took a casual stroll down the wicket to tap the pitch, Javed sheepishly removed the bails and appealed and the umpire had to rule Hogg run out. Hogg was not amused at all and  kicked the stumps before leaving and Miandad did not stop at it even then taunting him off to the  field

3 )  in the 1981-82 WACA test, Miandad was attempting a  single and Lillee blocked him at the non strikers  end and on his way back kicked javed on his knee . javed instantly picked up his bat and followed lillee with an intention of hitting him. This is one of the most disgraceful incidents in the history of the game

Colourful and fascinating characters of world cricket - part 1

Cricket for over 100 years has thrown up several interesting, quirky, some aggressive, some likeable and some fascinating characters. Being a team sport comprising of about 15 players  (  including the reserves ). All the teams are filled with a mix of characters who apart from their  on field antics also keep the dressing room in splits. It is indeed very difficult to choose a handful of enjoyable and fun filled characters, but in this  first part of a 2 part article i have tried to bring to light two  of the interesting characters.

Frederick Trueman – Frederick Trueman  fondly known as Fred Trueman or fiery Fred was one of the greatest fast bowlers to have played for England. Fred Trueman was the first bowler to take 300 wickets. He opened the bowling with Ian bothom on many occasions, but he had many a showdowns with the cricket establishment criticising the board for its snobbishness and hypocrisy. He was known for his rudimentary sense of humour, prodigious memory and forthright views on the game. During the 1953-54 tour of the west indies, he had a very indifferent tour with some controversial   incidents on and off the field. Under instructions from skipper Len hutton, Trueman had devised a strategy of bowling some nasty  and short stuff to the Carribean batsmen and apparently did not show any sympathy for the batsmen who were victims of his  hostile stuff. He was not very popular for this behaviour with the usually sports loving west Indian crowds. He was apparently called ‘ The Bumper Man’ by the west Indian crowds. He was also involved in a controversy along with Tony Lock and was reprimanded but in  reality it was Dennis Compton who had been the culprit. After breaking the barrier of 300 wickets, when asked whether anybody could break his record, typically of fred “  Aiye anybody who breaks the record will be mighty tired “. There have been numerous incidents when Fred Trueman has exhibited his dry sense of humour and forthrightness

1} in a county circuit match, when dismissed by  Fred Trueman, the batsman exclaimed “ that was a very good ball Fred”. To this Trueman retorted “ Aiye it was  wasted on you.

2} During the ashes test in 1960, the great bowler was fielding on the boundary when a young batsman was coming out to bat and he returned to close the gate to which Fred chirped “ don’t  bother son you wont be there for long “.

3}  in another ashes test the Aussie team was pressing for victory and some Aussie fielders had crowded fred trueman who was batting at one end . feeling nervous he  exclaimed “ if you lads don’t back off, i will appeal for bad light.

4}  in a county match for Yorkshire, when he induced an edge from the batsmen but only to be undone by Raman Subba Row who was fielding at slips who failed to grasp the catch. After the end of the over, Subba row sheepishly apologized to trueman  for dropping the catch by saying that he should have kept his legs close to each other  to which trueman in his typical style said “ so should  your mother “.

Sir Vivian Richards -  The west Indian team  of the 70’s and 80’s was full of great cricketers who were all colourful and likeable characters on and off the field.  Vivian Richards was one of the greatest players  to have graced the cricketing field.  In addition to the immense talent which he possessed with bat, what stood out for him was his unmistakable swagger while he was batting. Vivian Richards was a complete package of a man possessed with the trademark swagger, his chewing of the gum and his manner of taking off his proud west Indian maroon cap. He was the only batsman of his era whom bowlers dreaded facing and even the great  Pakistani all rounder Imran Khan also admitted to having nightmares facing Richards. Imran said that Richards was the only batsman whom he feared bowling to and even jokingly said that one needed a helmet when bowling to Richards.

 Viv Richards belonged to Antigua and in the west indies he was known as king viv for his attitude and body language which could intimidate any bowler. He was a very proud  west Indian and wore his heart on his sleeve. Right from his manner of walking confidently to his incessant chewing of the gum and his swagger sent a clear signal to the opponents that he was coming out to get them and they better be prepared. Viv Richards played hard and fair on the field but when it came to off the field activities, he was a very chilled out guy who would always go to the opposition dressing room and was never shy of sharing a drink or two with the opposition players. The following incidents amply demonstrate the kind of  character Viv Richards was.

1)  Apparently in a county game between Somerset and Glamorgan, Richards playing for Somerset was facing a bowler called Greg Thomas.  The bowler Thomas  was steaming in and bowled a delivery three quarters  short of length and beat Richards and chirped “ you know what its round in shape and red in colour , cant you see it”.

 The next delivery was an action replay of the previous one and  again Richards was all at sea and Thomas said “ its round in shape, red in colour and weighs four and a half ounces of leather, cant you see it.

 By now Richards had heard enough and he  strolled down the wicket did some gardening and  adjusted his maroon cap in customary style and as the next ball was right in his slot, Richards just wacked the ball out of the ground into the river flowing nearby the ground . by the time the bowler had almost died seeing it go out of the park and Richards retorted” you know how it looks like now go fetch it”.

2)  in a match between Australia and the West Indies, apparently Merve Hughes was bowling very briskly and kept staring at Richards . viv was not amused and said “ man  this is my land and my culture and in my culture we just bowl.  After dismissing Richards, Merve Hughes just said  “ in our culture we just say f......k off.

3)  in order to relieve himself of the pressure of opening the batting and to gain some respite, Sunil Gavaskar demoted himself down the order at no 4. To his utter dismay, Malcolm Marshall dismissed Anshuman Gaikwad and Dilip Vengsarkar quickly  without a run on the board and Gavaskar walked in at no 4 with the score at 0/2 and Viv in his typical style said “ man it does not matter where you bat the score is still zero.

Viv Richards once had come to the county match in a helicopter wearing pads  and with a willow in his hand. Richards always played to win and once during a presentation ceremony he was given the runner up trophy and he shocked one and all by destroying the trophy saying that he did not keep any memories of defeats.

 With the presense of such enjoyable and playful characters the game of cricket makes for an even more enjoyable experience and  the viewer also feels all the more attached with the sport be it on the field or on television.

Impactful and Influential Captains of world cricket part – 2

In the first part of this 2 series article, i had mentioned the contribution of 2 of the most influential captains whose win records might not match with the most successful captains of their era, but the impact and influence which they left on world cricket was next to none. Ian Chappell was captain from the 70’s and Imran khan captained in the 80’s. In this second part, i have chosen 2 captains who were excellent as leaders of men , one from the 90’s decade and another from first decade of the 21^st century. Just like the previous captains, these captains had a great influence on world cricket and were true leaders in every sense.

Arjuna Ranatunga  ( Sri Lanka ) – easily one of the finest captains Sri Lanka has produced not in terms of success rate  but in terms of  sheer impact and authority over Sri lankan cricket. Arjuna Ranatunga was a man of strong character and very much his own man. The island nation got test status in 1982 and  Ranatunga became captain in 1988 and went on to lead the country for next 10 years. Arjuna Ranatunga was never a prolific batsman but what he brought to Sri Lankan cricket was a certain aggressive and feisty approach. In the early 90’s,  the Sri Lankan cricketers were always known to be the nice guys on and off the cricket field but, Ranatunga owing to his head on approach, transformed the nice guys into a team  were not to be intimidated from the opposition sledging and mind games. The Sri Lankan cricketers also started responding to the opposition  tactics and were not shy to fight fire with fire.

Arjuna Ranatunga   was an interesting character, overweight  and not the fittest bloke on the field and between wickets ( he used to walk for the runs and rarely  ran between wickets ).  Once during  an ODI match against England in Australlia, umpire Darrell Hair no balled ace spinner Muralitharan for 5-6 times over suspect bowling action, Ranatunga threatened to take off his entire team off the field and was almost about to forfeit the match. Such a behaviour on a foreign tour was unheard of specially   by a subcontinental captain. Ranatunga was always known to be fierce supporter of his team and stood by them in adverse circumstances and in a way his  tremendous support of Murali helped the offie revive his career and Murali went on to become one of the greatest spinners of world cricket.  The best example of his innovative captaincy was his decision to send Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana as openers and let them take complete advantage of the first 15 overs   with just 2 men outside the inner circle. This inspired move paid off and Sri Lanka reached the finals of the world cup   against Australlia. Even prior to the finals, Ranatunga dismissed off Shane Warne as an “overrated bowler” which put Warne off his mark and Ranatunga scored heavily of the leggie in the finals chasing down 243 runs on the back of a splendid ton from  Aravinda De Silva. Winning the world cup in  1996 was a huge boost for cricket in Sri lanka.  The rise of Sri Lanka from being  minnows in 1982 and winning a world cup just 14 years later was indeed a giant step in  the country’s  sporting history. Ranatunga and his aggressive captaincy had a great deal to do with this transformation. Today the Sri Lankan team is one of the top sides, plays aggressive cricket and much of the credit goes to Arjuna Ranatunga who played a key role in shaping the team in its present form.

Captaincy record

Tests  Won   Lost Drawn      ODI’S   Won     Lost    Tie   N/R

56       12      19     25             193       89      95        1        8

Sourav Ganguly  (India ) – the year was 2000 and Indian cricket was going through its  darkest phase as several  top players had been found guilty of  being involved in match fixing and other illegal activities. Amidst all this cauldron, Tendulkar had refused to  assume captaincy and Sourav Ganguly was appointed captain for tests as well as ODI’s. Ganguly had been a consistent run getter  and had  forged a successful opening partnership with Tendulkar in ODI’s.  Ganguly was a captain who always wore his heart on his sleeve and showed his emotions on the field. A lot of captains before Ganguly had been very defensive in their mindset and always buckled under the selectors and seldom got the team which they wanted.  Ganguly on the other hand was a hands on character who knew which players he wanted and made sure he got his way most of the times with the selectors.

 The Indian team before Ganguly era was virtually unbeaten at home but were absolute poor when it came to playing abroad. Ganguly along with senior players like Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid and Kumble were all keen to resurrect this reputation of being poor travellers.  Under Ganguly won the test series against Pakistan on their home soil   for the first time in 2004.  On tours in England in 2002, his team managed to draw the test series against Nasser Hussain’s men.  With Ganguly at the helm one thing was clear that there was no scope for parochial selections and on tour of Australlia in 2003-04, Indian team played some wonderful cricket managing to draw the test series 1-1 and were unlucky to not have won the final test and the series in Sydney.  Earlier in 2001, the Indian team had managed to win an incredible series at home against Australlia beating the kangaroos by 2-1 thereby bringing Steve Waugh’s record of 16 consecutive tests. This test series was one of the greatest series in cricket history for the sheer quality and intensity of cricket between the 2 sides.

What made Ganguly different than other Indian  captains was his ability to back the players who were talented and with solid temperament. Players like Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni had all started their careers under ganguly’s reign and have all become  match winners in their own right. Ganguly also had the knack of going under the opposition skin and distracting them from their plan like he had made Steve Waugh wait for the toss deliberately and his wawing of the t shirt from the balcony after winning the Natwest trophy in England in 2002 is a part of Indian folklore.  His partnership with coach john Wright was a very fruitful one with India shedding off the tag of being poor abroad .  even the Indian team had begun to sledge and play mind games with the opposition and refused to take a backward step when they were confronted  by the opposition.

Tests  Won   Lost Drawn      ODI’S   won     lost     Tie   N/R

   49        21     13       15           146     76       65       0       5    

Impactful and influential captains of world cricket- Part 1

Cricket more than any other team sport is probably the only team sport where the role of an effective captain can never be underestimated. Unlike other  team sports, the captain of a team is not just any other member but is  one of the most important member while selecting the team and has to take all the major tactical decisions on the field during the course of play. Unlike soccer, where the coach takes all the on field decisions and the captain is basically redundant, in cricket an impactful and a positive captain makes the job of the team all the more easier. The world of cricket has been witness to a lot of great captains with high success rate of winning  and who have left an indelible mark on the fortunes of their teams. I have picked 4 such captains who with their aggressive and positive intent and tactics have left a lasting impact on world cricket.

Ian Chappell ( Australia) – if there is one player and captain who typifies the aggressive and combative Aussie culture then it surely has to be ian Chappell. Having made his debut against Pakistan in Dec 1964, Chappell had to wait for a good 6 years to become captain of Australlia. It was during 69 -70 tour of south Africa under Bill Lawry, when Australlia lost the test series 4-0 and following a fallout with the cricket board over refusal of playing  an extra test owing to fatigue, Lawry was sacked unceremoniously and ian Chappell was appointed captain in the 70 -71  ashes season. Chappeli as he was fondly called, captained Australlia from 1971-75. Under his captaincy the Aussie team played with a certain aggressive and attacking brand of cricket which went on to become a trademark for the future aussie sides. Chappeli was greatly influenced by the attacking captaincy of Sir Gary Sobers and Les Forell who was captain   for  South Australia.  Ian Chappell was known as a   fierce competitor and a no nonsense cricketer and it was this aggressive approach which rubbed off on the Aussie team during his reign. Ian Chappell had a lot of run ins with the Australlian cricket board as far as the financial contracts and earnings of the players. He   always had the best interest at heart as far as the players were concerned and he had a greater role in improving the player earnings and contracts were concerned. Chappell did not hesitate in locking horns even with the great Donald Bradman when Bradman as a board member refused to part  with the profit of the board and his refusal to  give the players a fair deal as far as annual contracts was concerned  was a cause of tension between the 2 strong individuals.  The modern day cricketers owe a great deal to ian Chappell.  The word sledging which is a much used word today came to be used for the first time during Chappell’’s captaincy stint. The Aussie team under his captaincy was termed as the ugly Australlians. Apart from his win loss record , ian Chappell’s legacy has been influential in terms of giving fair justice to the players and  ensuring financial security to them.

Ian Chappell’s test record

Tests     Won       Lost   Drawn

   30        15        5          10

Imran Khan Niazi -  By far the most influential and the most charismatic captain that Pakistan has ever produced. Imran khan went on to captain Pakistan intermittently during 1982-92.  Prominently one of the great all rounders of his era, Imran was a fast bowler who won matches for Pakistan both with the bat and ball. It was his   style of captaincy which   came to the fore on several occasions. Being a captain of one of the most mercurial sides in world cricket was never an easy job but imran carried it out with some panache and much elan. The Pakistani side has always been a very talented side with players having immense talent and flair, but somehow the team could never reach those  dizzy heights which was expected. Apart from being a great performer on the field it was his leadership skills  which was a major factor in Pakistan becoming a force to reckon with in the mid 80’s. Imran had a very aggressive approach on the field and expected his players to be unselfish and totally committed to the cause of the team. He always believed in putting team first against any individual. One such example was when he declared the innings with Javed Miandad unbeaten on 280 which led to a rift between the 2 great players but imran typical of his nature did not budge from his decision.

 There is also an instance in Sharjah during a one dayer when  Manzoor Elahi batting down the order for Pakistan was struggling to keep his place in the side and during the final few overs he batted very cautiously to keep his wicket intact thereby playing against the team interest. When the innings ended, manzoor elahi came back to the pavilion remaining unbeaten and imran khan was infuriated by his selfish attitude and told him in no uncertain terms what he thought of the effort and to nobody’s surprise he never played for Pakistan ever again. Such was imran khan’s aura and   influence on his team and the cricket board that he virtually got the players which he wanted in the team. This is  phenomenal considering that Pakistani  team and the board has been parochial and biased towards players from  their respective cities. After having retired from cricket in  1987, imran came back and helped his country win its only world cup in 1992. Midway through the world cup, Pakistan was virtually out of the world cup but it was imran’s inspired leadership which infused the belief in the players and Pakistan won  all its matches thereafter beating England in the final played at Melbourne. This triumph was a great tribute to his captaincy and man management skills. One of  the highlights of his captaincy was his ability to  take out the best from all his players.  Even though he had a galaxy of stars like javed, asif iqbal, wasim akram, waqar younis, sarfaraz nawaz, to make these players feel wanted in the team and make them play as a unit with their egos notwithstanding. For his sheer aggressive mode of captaincy and man management skills, imran khan will go down as one of the finest captains the sport has ever seen.

Imran khan’s record as captain.

Tests    Won    Lost     Drawn    ODI'S   Won     Lost   Tie   N/R

48          14           8         26        139     77       57          1      5