Explosive batsman, dignified man: Goodbye, Skipper!

Bishan Singh Bedi

THE year 2020 hasn’t begun very well for my cricketing fraternity. We have seen several cricketers bidding farewell to Mother Earth, the latest being my former captain at Punjab, Chaman Lal Malhotra.

I have fond memories of Chaman, whom I always addressed as ‘Skipper’, which he liked. He was a respected senior and a thoroughbred gentleman, almost to the point of being meek. I’m talking of the times when Punjab merely participated in the Ranji Trophy, as compared to now when the team can put up a good fight when it tries hard enough. I’m also referring to the times when the Punjab cricket officials firmly let the players know who the boss was. I reckon we can safely conclude not much has altered on that front!

In my formative years in Amritsar, we would hear about Chaman Lal’s explosive batting feats from Ludhiana and his insatiable appetite for runs on matting wickets. The cut and the pull were his favourite scoring shots. He would terrorise the bowlers all over Punjab, especially in the inter-college games of the Panjab University.

But I’m afraid we never saw him peaking, for that’s when he went to England for higher education and returned a much more refined and cultured young man. Alas, his intensity for cricket had to take a back seat when business management became his main goal. When Chaman returned to Punjab cricket, it was as if captaincy was his by right. Punjab had little to gloat about good leaders, so for someone who made his First-Class debut in 1952 to become captain a decade later was not at all debatable. His being so refined after England was a big plus — how we wished it had rubbed off on the PCA officialdom!

Much as I feel grateful for the opportunity I had to interact with Chaman as my captain while playing for Punjab, there was seldom any gameplan to go beyond the zonal matches. Again, the buck had to stop with overall strategic thinking — a little more proactive Chaman could have afforded me better memories of my Punjab days! When I moved to Delhi in 1968, he was still leading Punjab — with grace, but not very strongly in practical terms.

But if we look at his overall averages, he was a consistent performer in solitude. I believe Chaman was truly torn between his business career and cricket. When he was on the field, his mind was in Ludhiana; and when he was engrossed in business, his heart was on the cricket field. This was one of the pitfalls of the amateur sport of those times.

Personally, I’d like to remember Chaman Lal Malhotra as a highly dignified and self-respecting cricketer from my home state, never given to petty squabbles — which in itself is an achievement of sorts. RIP, Skipper!

The writer is a former India captain