First In First Out - Part III

You won’t find two opening batsmen, poles apart from each other - both in style and their outlook to the game - as Vijay Merchant and Syed Mushtaq Ali were.

Vijay Merchant was the epitome of concentration. Once, after getting out on 250, in a first class match, he said in a non chalant way, "My concentration ‘slackened a bit’, else I could have easily carried on." Mushtaq Ali on the other hand had a dare devil approach and often stepped out of the crease to hit fast bowlers. Remember, he did that in 1930s! In the words of Ray Robinson, "The only time he is still is when he takes guard from the umpire. Why he goes through the formality is one of the mysteries of the Orient because, after making his mark, he takes no notice of it."

Neither of the two started their test careers as opening batsmen. But when they opened together for the first time at Old Trafford in 1936, they put on 203 runs for the opening wicket, exactly the same no.of runs that Indian team had scored in its first innings. It was no fluke, for they combined together by sharing 81 and 64 run partnership in the very next test at Kennington Oval.

World War II robbed more than 7 years of cricket from their prime, but it failed to diminish the spark from their batting. In one of the wettest English seasons in 1946 (pitches were left uncovered then) they scored 124 and 94 runs in two of the three tests that they opened in. Alas, it was also the last series in which they opened together. In four tests as openers, their impressive record reads 3 half centuries, 1 century and 1 double century, all in away tests.

I can’t resist posting this beautiful piece on Mushtaq-Merchant opening pair by Sujit Mukherjee. He writes: "I wonder if the Mushtaq - Merchant combination did not contain the finest possibilities of Hindu Muslim collaboration in India. Sustained by profound mutual regard, they complemented each other – Merchant representing the wisdom, the endurance, the deep rooted nature of Hindu India and Mushtaq representing the dash, the vision and the grand design of Muslim India. Appropriately matched, it made an irresistible combination".

Like their predecessors, Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy were as different as chalk and cheese. Pankaj Roy was the more aristocratic of the two. It won’t be out of place to say that Roy often played in binary states - 0 and 1. He probably holds the record for the highest percentage of ducks for an opener during his time. But he also held up the Indian innings for a decade, first with Vinoo Mankad and then with Nari Contractor. His partner - Vinoo Mankad - was more gifted, in fact, one of the most gifted cricketers of his time. A pucca Gujarathi businessman, he had the audacity to ask the board to compensate him for the loss of revenues during the 1952 away series against England. No wonder he was a miser, both in giving away runs off his bowling and gifting his wicket while batting.

And as with Merchant – Mushtaq, Roy and Mankad first came together against England at Calcutta in 1952 and straightaway shared an opening century partnership, followed by a half century in the very next innings. The ‘Mankad’s test’ at Lords in the following series saw them break 100 runs mark once again, but it got overshadowed by otherwise disastrous tour. Their crowning glory came in the last test at Madras against New Zealand when they put on a 413 runs in 471 minutes, a world record that has stood test of times till today.

How badly India missed a good opening pair after them is brought out in the fact that in 15 years after this world record stand, India could manage only 4 opening century partnerships.

Gavaskar’s debut changed all that.

Two years before Gavaskar made his debut, Chetan Chauhan had opened Indian innings with Vinoo Mankad’s son, Ashok Mankad, against Australia at Madras. But he had to wait for further nine years to combine with Sunil Gavaskar. The Perth test of 1978 spelt the beginning of the most successful opening partnership, hitherto unknown in Indian cricket. In eight series including the Australian of 1978, Indian cricket witnessed a familiar sight of Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan walking out to open the Indian innings. For four years from then on, they provided much needed stability at the top. Only 4 of the 36 tests that India played during this period saw a different player in the opening role, Roger Binny and Anshuman Gaekwad being the ‘culprits’ on two occasions each.

Gavaskar’s debut is well documented. What is hard to believe, is that Chetan Chauhan’s first two scoring shots in tests were, a square cut for four and a flick for six! Other wise he was an out and out defensive batsman. But he was a perfect foil to the little master and carved out some memorable partnerships like the 192 at Lahore against the likes of Imran Khan and Sarfaraz Nawaz, the near match winning 213 at Oval against England in 1979, the courageous 124 at Manchester in the same series following on, the match winning (and series winning) 192 against Australia in Bombay and the superb 165 against Messrs. Lillee and Pascoe at Melbourne.

They remain the only opening pair in India to put over 3000 runs in test matches and by far, the best India has ever had.

Apart from these three pairs, only handfuls have threatened to be successful. Contractor – Jaisimha, Prabhakar - Sidhhu and of late Sehwag – Chopra, have flattered to deceive. A rather grim scenario, given that this June 25th, India will be celebrating 75 years of test cricket.

An opening pair is often a measure of team’s strength and overall success. In India’s case, the paucity of thoroughbred openers is a good measure of its long drawn failures in test cricket.

Legacy

Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar both started as quintessential middle class Maharashtrians. Gavaskar played his early cricket in Chikalwadi and Tendulkar grew up playing at Sahitya Sahawas, the abode of Marathi Saraswats (intelligentsia).

Their cricketing exploits are well documented. But beyond the cricketing field, they have pioneered and abetted in their own way, a process of frenzied commercialization of the game. A legacy which subjects these players to alternate deification and vilification.

When Gavaskar started his career, team India had achieved little noteworthy in the preceding 40 years of international cricket. His advent coincided with two of India’s most famous overseas wins in West Indies and England. Gavaskar, in fact, played a huge part in the former. He was catapulted to stardom overnight. Not that there weren’t many stars before him, but Gavaskar challenged and demolished the stereotypical image of an Indian cricket star. He used his fame to commercially venture into areas that were never tapped by an Indian cricketer before. For some Indians entrenched in a socialist mindset, it was akin to desecration of the sacred game of cricket. After all, was cricket not played for the love of it?

Mihir Bose in his book ‘A Maidan View – The Magic of Indian Cricket’, devotes an entire chapter titled ‘The Besieged Hero’ to Gavaskar. He writes:

Indians respect Gavaskar but they also fear him. He is not for instance, able to invoke the sort of warmth that was accorded to Kapil Dev or his own brother in law, Vishwanath.

Bose quotes MAK Pataudi from the article ‘The decline of Indian cricket’. Writes MAK,

Gavaskar opened up entire new vistas of making money. He had noticed how quickly cricketers once out of the limelight were actually shunned by the same people who had fussed over them, fought for the pleasure of inviting them home and queued to have photographs taken with them. In Bombay only money seemed to matter, and there was more than one way to make it. Gavaskar found them all. Advertising, film producing, writing articles (on the same match, but for different publications), taking fee for organizing matches, writing instant books which were spiced to sell better, appearance money and signing contracts with manufacturers of sports equipment. He became the first millionaire through cricket, rich enough to buy a flat in the centre of Bombay. In a capitalist cricketing country, he would have been considered a genius. In India they began to call him a mercenary, and within the team he became the envy of some of who felt that their contribution to Indian cricket was not much appreciated. Why should Gavaskar hog all the publicity as well as the money? The answer was simple: he had reached those dizzy heights to which no Indian cricketer in his right mind would even dream of aspiring. As importantly, he was articulate where others were dumb, he was controversial where other dared not to be, he could even be witty and this made him ideal material for the media and advertiser.

What Gavaskar started, Tendulkar took to another level. Sachin was fortunate that within two years of making his international debut, India had shed its socialist mindset to become a free economy. Economy, that celebrated entrepreneurial spirit. Sachin was shrewd enough to capitalize on it. He wowed the Indian public, first with his Rs 200 million deal with World Tel in 1995 and then followed up with a mind boggling Rs one billion deal in the year 2000. It helped him no less that in the intervening period, Mark Mascaranhas had made BCCI aware of the gold mine they were sitting on, by successfully bagging the TV rights of 1996 world cup. Ofcourse, Sachin was also riding the crest of his batting form.

And so long as Sachin performed, his money matters remained a part of largely private domain. Tongues started wagging when there was a perceptible decline in his batting post 2002. Initial murmurs gave way to noisy talk. Fans who were previously dazzled by his multi-crore contracts, raised questions on Tendulkar’s attitude, something unthinkable five years ago.

Whereas other Indian sport icons like Sania Mirza, Leander Paes could afford to be erratic - they played an individual sport and largely controlled their own destiny – Sachin could not, for he not only played a team game but was also responsible for India’s fluctuating fortunes.

It seems remarkable therefore that, despite his recent failures, Sachin has managed to bag Rs two billion contract from Iconix, earlier this year. Harsha Bhogle dismisses questions on Tendulkar’s worth as typical ‘middle class’ ish. According to him Sachin still earns only a fraction of what the top international sportsmen and sportswomen do!

Two great cricketers, one huge legacy. Whether it bodes well or otherwise for Indian cricket, only time will tell. You can take your pick too.