 A formidable outfit
The State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) cricket team was one of the early successes of public sector support extended to cricket in particular and sport in general in the sixties and seventies. Those in the know of things attribute the building of the SBH cricket team to the interest Jaiwanth Rao, a top official of the bank took in the game. Rao's connection with cricket was further strengthened when his daughter Jayanthi married the flamboyant cricketer M L
Jaisimha.
Back in the seventies, the SBH team was led by Syed Abid Ali, the mercurial all-rounder who went on to represent India with some distinction. In 1971, my first season in Hyderabad cricket, it was a formidable outfit, generally gaining the better of its exchanges with State Bank of India, my team. The SBH team then read somewhat as follows: Abid Ali, N Ramprasad, Maheshwar Singh, Prahlad, John Tarachand, Zahid Ali Khan, R Premkumar, Khaja, Noshir Mehta, Satyendran, K Premji and B Mohan.
The first time I played against them was the play-to-finish final of the Behram-ud-Dowla trophy. The match went on for 5 days, and we lost it by a couple of wickets, though it was a closely fought and exciting encounter. I remember picking up a couple of wickets in each innings at a very economical rate and creating a good impression overall. It was a huge challenge to bowl to the in-form Abid Ali and his accomplished colleagues like Maheshwar Singh and N
Ramprasad.
Zahid Ali Khan was an excellent left arm spinner, very accurate and persistent, while John Tarachand, a similar bowler, was the more adventurous of the two, more willing to give the ball air. Khaja was an off spinner with a doubtful action, but Noshir was the star off spinner of the team, with more than 150 Ranji Trophy wickets to his credit. In tandem with Abid, he won several matches and tournaments for SBH. B Mohan was another very capable cricketer, with his sharp pace and attacking middle order batting. The tall Mohan and his younger brother Muthukrishna, state players both, are worthy successors of Bhupathy, former Hyderabad all-rounder and coach. R Premkumar was a hard working medium pacer all-rounder who had played for Services in the Ranji Trophy before settling down in Hyderabad, his home town. He was known in his youth for his excellent fielding in addition to his tireless accuracy as a bowler. Prahlad was a very capable wicket keeper who could also bat in an attacking mode. He was unfortunate that his career ran parallel to that of P Krishnamurti who represented Hyderabad and India as a wicket-keeper. Premji, an elder brother of Test opener K Jayantilal, was an all-rounder with a reputation as a brilliant fielder. He was the twelfth man of the Hyderabad team for many years. (A profile published in the Hyderabad Blues Australian tour souvenir said: Premji was Hyderabad's twelfth man for several 'reasons' instead of 'seasons'!) Satyendran was a much respected left handed batsman who played for Kerala with distinction.
State Bank of Hyderabad fielded a strong team in the local league and knockout competitions but it was also a rather colourful bunch of highly individualistic players. John Tarachand and Khaja were a riotously funny pair of comedians who mercilessly pulled each other's and other teammates' legs, Noshir being their favourite target. Prahlad, Mohan and some others were very outspoken and this often resulted in arguments and shouting matches off the field, with the skipper an active participant as well. There was never a dull moment in the SBH camp!
V Ramnarayan
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