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Keki Daruwalla
“There’s a breathless hush in the close tonight;
Ten to make and the match to win
A bumpy pitch and a blinding light
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat
Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame;
But his captain’s hand on his shoulder smote
‘Play up, play up and play the game.”
I quote from memory and forget the name of the versifier. It wasn't Neville Cardus for sure. Play up the game meant play it sportingly. Cricket was never football, has always been a no-contact game. The knee and the elbow never get into play, as it can in hockey and football. Remember, how Gautam Gambhir, now a member of the BJP, was punished for using the elbow? Now, our star off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin runs Jos Buttler out, as the non-striker leaves the crease. And Ashwin never even gives a warning to the over-eager batsman who was going great guns. Yes, we agree it was instinctive. But Ashwin's instinct should have also made him withdraw his appeal, the next second. It was poor advertisement for the game, and painfully embarrassing. Ashwin will have to carry this moral load for a long time, and it may affect his performance in this IPL.
Look at the other side. The batsmen, or rather batters as they are called now, have all the advantage: Good pitches, restrictions on the field, huge bats with which you can hit the ball from Chandigarh to New Delhi. And you are two yards down the crease, before the ball has been bowled. It is not cricket, say the old timers. Is T-20 cricket? Or is it just a parody of the game?
And brand it as ‘Mankading’! Vinoo Mankad warned Bill Brown, the Australian batsman in the second Test of the 1947 series. Next time, he knocked off the bails. I was an unlucky fan of Mankad. Thrice I saw him bat, he was dismissed early. The first time was in 1946 when Jamnagar team came to play the Hancock tournament. They were playing against Junagadh’s D Team! A college opening bowler hit him on his pads, appealed like mad and the Junagadh umpire raised his finger. Then Dilawar Khanji (later Governor of Sindh) called Vinoo for nets, as Dilawar himself was a good fast bowler. People flattered him by saying he was faster than Phadkar. Mankad batted brilliantly hitting the best bowlers all over the park. The next was when we went to Rajkot to watch Kathyawar against Gujarat. Mankad failed, but Gujarat won the match by four runs. Two Junagadh players Gatoor and Chipa played for Kathiawar. The third occasion was when we (meaning the family) came to Delhi to watch the first Test between India and the West Indies. Mankad failed. Rusi Modi and KC Ibrahim batted brilliantly. Adhikari hit a century.
Mankad (pronounced as Makad in Gujarat, with the ‘n’ silent) was the man who hit two centuries against Australia and Ray Lindwall in 1948. Lindwall wrote in his book Flying Stumps that Vinoo asked him what was wrong with his batting. Lindwall told him he was bringing down the bat from too high, and too late for the yorker. That is how he was falling prey to yorkers. He wrote that through the next innings, when Mankad scored a century, he kept asking Lindwall if the bat-lift was held low enough! Mankad scored two centuries, during that tour, later two double centuries against New Zealand. And the Lords Test was a triumph. Mankad was playing the Lancashire League, and his club was Haslingden. For the first Test, the club asked for £200, and a hundred for Mankad, and a replacement. The Indian Board could not rustle up £300! These things need to be remembered. For the next Test at Lords, we did it, we did it! The Board got hold of £300. Mankad made 72 in the first innings, then bowled 73 overs (inclusive of 25 maidens), gave 195 runs and took 5 wickets. Then, he came out to bat and scored 184 runs in four hours. The only similar feat (though not applauded as such) was Umrigar’s 56 and 172 and 5 wickets in the West Indies.
Mankad was as great an all rounder as Kapil Dev was. His best years were lost in the War. He was our best bowler for over a decade.
As a kid in 1946, I watched in shock and awe, two billiards players, in a semi-final, potting the white ball. It was never done. Now I am told it is par for the course, as golfers say. Bishan Singh Bedi got into trouble objecting to English fast bowlers applying cream or something on the ball.
Today, the ethos is aggressive. Bare your chest, pump your fist, shower expletives on the batsman. You cannot urge aggression and sportsmanship in players at the same time. Mindsets are going aggressive. Cow saviours are on the kill. The police get aggressive, killing 70 in 3,000 encounters in Uttar Pradesh. Now, space is turning into a battleground for aggression! The old order changeth.