 A golden opportunity
I made my first class debut at a time most not-yet recognised cricketers would have called it a day and I myself had almost given up all hope of making the grade. But for my father's insistence that I try for one more season before hanging up my boots, I would not have been around in competitive cricket to be picked for the Hyderabad XI for the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup in the 1975-76 season.
In Tamil Nadu, the state of my birth, I had stood no chance of getting into the state team, as the off spinner slot was occupied by S Venkataraghavan , my senior by three years, and already a Test player. In Hyderabad, I was kept out of the Ranji team by Noshir Mehta, an established off spinner. I had played for State Bank of India in the Gold Cup a couple of seasons earlier, but this year my bank team decided to plump for Noshir, who, like Syed Abid Ali, was an employee of State Bank of Hyderabad, then a subsidiary of
SBI.
That is how I came to be in the Hyderabad team led by Abbas Ali Baig. Six of the regulars were playing for other teams in the Gold Cup tournament, with M L Jaisimha captaining U-Foam XI. No one expected me to displace Noshir from the state team, as he was so firmly entrenched, but I proceeded to do exactly that before the end of the season.
A number of fortuitous circumstances made that possible, the first being the chance I had to play for Hyderabad in Moin-ud-Dowla. As the home team, we were given a bye into the quarter finals, where we beat VST Colts, a young and talented team. Anshuman Gaekwad captained the side, which included Kapil Dev, Arun Lal, Dilip Vengsarkar and a couple of other Test prospects. We beat the Colts quite easily, skittling them out for 73 in the first innings. I took 4 for 22 or so and we entered the semi-finals, where we were pitted against the redoubtable U-Foam XI.
The three-day match was almost washed out and would have normally been decided on the toss, in accordance with the prevailing tournament rules. But there was also a provision to play a limited overs match if some play was possible on the final day. That is how we came to play a 30-over match in extremely soggy ground conditions, as U-Foam felt they could beat us comfortably and persuaded the umpires to start the game. As it turned out, we were a younger and fitter side, more suited to limited overs cricket than our opponents. Our openers Chandran and Inder Raj gave us a flying start and we made 99 for 8 in the allotted 30 overs, and that was a big total on a heavy outfield on which boundaries were rare that afternoon. Our medium pacers Govind Raj and Jyothiprasad then bowled aggressively to bundle U-Foam out for 60, and we were home.
Hyderabad was in the final after a long gap. The other finalists were the JK XI, led by M A K Pataudi. Their star-studded line-up read: M A K Pataudi. Lakshman Singh, Rajeshwar Vats, Abdul Hai, Surinder Amarnath, Salim Durrani, Mohinder Amarnath, Karsan Ghavri, Ranjan Baindoor, Rajinder Singh Hans, and their wicket keeper whose name escapes my memory now.
JK won the toss and batted first, after rain had delayed the start up to teatime. I was introduced into the attack fairly early in the innings, and managed to settle down into a decent rhythm, after a nervous start. The first break came when Lakshman Singh tried to loft me over mid-on and Nagesh Hamand took a well-judged catch after almost losing his balance on the slippery outfield.
That brought the left-handed Abdul Hai to the crease. This was my big break, a real morale booster, as I had frequently bowled to Abdul in Hyderabad cricket, dismissing him almost every time. He had always had trouble against my bowling and this psychological advantage brought out the best in me. I soon got Abdul's wicket, caught behind, if I remember right. The next batsman to come in was the great left hander Salim Durrani. Here again, I had a psychological advantage, as I had once bowled to him at Madras, when he was playing for Jolly Rovers, a strong team in the league there. On that occasion, I had beaten him several times and he had been dropped a couple of times. This gave me the confidence that I could hold my own against him. Soon I had him caught behind too, and in walked Surinder Amarnath. By now, I was convinced I could get anybody out, especially left-handers, that day, and sure enough, I got Amarnath's wicket too, going round the wicket, and clean bowling him with one that came in with the arm from outside his off stump.
I recall this story only to illustrate the role played in a cricketer's success by luck and memories of earlier performances against particular opponents. Several lucky breaks played their part in my success in the Gold Cup - which we incidentally won that year after a gap of 11 years - and subsequent Ranji Trophy debut.
V Ramnarayan
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