I first saw Gulabrai Sipahimalani Ramchand in action in the 1950s. His defiance of the raw pace of Roy Gilchrist and Wes Hall at the Corporation Stadium, the venue of the Madras Test of 1959, was courageous. During his fighting knock in that Test, he was once struck on the head, and left the ground, bleeding, but only for first aid, we were to learn later. He came back to play a brave little innings. Even though he made only 30, a spectator ran on to the ground to garland him. The newspapers next day carried a photograph of that charming interruption of India’s demolition by the powerful Windies. Kripal Singh of Madras who followed Ramchand in the batting order played with equal courage to make 53.

Ramchand was known for his powerful batting and more than useful medium pace bowling. His 109 at Bombay against Australia was highly rated, made as it was with wickets tumbling all around him. His finest moment in Test cricket was when he led India to a surprise win over the touring Australians at Kanpur in 1960, marshalling his bowling resources quite superbly. While his trump card was Jasu Patel, an off spinner with a suspect action who finished with 14 wickets in the match, he made the best use of Polly Umrigar and himself.

What impressed me most during that 1978 encounter with Ramchand was the great regard my own Hyderabad captain, MLJ, obviously had for him. Jai’s attitude to Ram was almost reverential when it came to matters cricketing. “He was perhaps the first Indian captain to stand up for players’ rights and dignity before cricket officials and selectors”, said Jai. “A selector who barged into the dressing room during a Test and gave Ram the batting order on a slip of paper, soon realised he was up against a captain with a mind of his own. Ram did not mince words while telling him exactly where he got off.”

The Ramchands were perfect hosts. One evening on that tour, after treating us to some top class singing by Ram’s sister-in-law, a well known ghazal singer, they took us (Jaisimha, Wadekar and Murtuza, younger brother of Abbas Ali Baig were among the guests) to a Thai restaurant for dinner. The highlight of the evening was the robust singing by Jai who took the mike from the beautiful singer of the hotel and filled in admirably with his rendering of old Frank Sinatra numbers.

Ramchand regaled us with hilarious stories from India’s cricketdom, narrating the ups and downs of his own career without a trace of self pity. According to him, the selectors originally wanted to name him captain for the final Test at Delhi in the 1958-59 series against West Indies, before they plumped for Hemu Adhikari, the fourth captain of the rubber! They even decided to involve Ram in the selection of the team, and despatched a local official to the Madras Central after the Test match came to an end, hoping to catch him before the train left for Bombay. When the official came back unsuccessful in his mission, they not only appointed Adhikari captain for the next match, they actually dropped Ramchand from the squad.

Bitter disappointment followed when Ramchand was omitted from the team that toured England soon afterwards under Dattu Gaekwad’s captaincy. That India was trounced 5-0 in that series is now part of history. 

Ramchand who had worked hard to attain peak physical fitness for the tour, and could not fathom the reason for his sacking, lost heart and took it easy for the next few months. “I had put on weight and even developed some minor health problems, while relaxing at Poona, when the selectors sprang yet another surprise on me by naming me captain for all five Tests against Benaud’s Australians, due to tour India soon, “ he told us with a twinkle in his eye and struggling to suppress a guffaw.

Story after story was told that evening, raising bigger and bigger laughs all the time. Many of them involved cricketers and cricket administrators and not all of them were flattering to them. What came through them all was a singular lack of malice in the narrator, who treated every member of his audience with affection and warmth. To me, it was interesting to see that the tough, gutsy fighter I had watched from a distance, was in real life, a polished, dapper gentleman with a keen sense of humour, excellent taste and a genuine interest in people. He was every bit worthy of my captain’s respect.