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I joined the Pre University course at Vijaya College, I befriended Cavale Sundar Raja Rao who was my class mate. He was selected as a wicket keeper in the college cricket team. The college team comprised of stalwarts like M.R. Sridhar (who represented Mysore University with distinction and later played Ranji Trophy for three states – Madras, Orissa and Maharashtra), Geeka, H.R. Venkatesh, M.S. Madwesh, Pachu, L. Nagabhushana and A. Jagannath. The last named was a forceful wicket keeper opening batsman and was selected for the All India Universities which toured Shri Lanka. Sunil Gavaskar was also a member of this All India Universities team. M.R. Sridhar led State Juniors Team. He represented Mysore/Bangalore University Team for three years in different capacities – as batsman in one year, as bowler in one year and as wicket keeper in one year. It’s a pity that this talented cricketer did not play for Mysore State in Ranji Trophy.

After completion of my Degree Examination in the same college with Physics and Chemistry as Major Subjects in April 1965, I joined the R.V. College of Engineering to pursue the Engineering course.

When I was doing my Degree course in Vijaya College, Cavale completed his Diploma Course and there was not much of a friendship between us as we did not meet very often.

I was a regular scorer for my R.V.C.E. College team. I wish to recall an incident to show how much I was accurate in scoring. R.V.C.E. was playing in Sub Metro League Competition of Mysore State Cricket Association League matches. There was one such match at Binny Grounds. The match went to wire and the opponent team’s scorer declared his team as winner. I was confident that our college team had won. Opponent team went on appeal. K.S.C.A. Authorities called for the score sheets of both the teams for adjudication.

Cavale was the adjudicator and the result was ruled in favour of R.V.C.E. Cavale counted the number of fours scored by the batsmen and also the number of boundary fours conceded by the bowler. My score book tallied, while the opponent score book showed a boundary four more in the batsman’s tally and a boundary four less in the bowler’s tally. Later on Cavale congratulated me for my accurate scoring in a pressure tight situation.

One of my close friends, Sarvottama Rao, a leg spinner, was to tell thus, “R.V.C.E. should get the credit for your upbringing in the field of scoring. Had we not made you to score the matches, you would not have come this far in this field.” He breathed his last a few years back and I recollected his words in an Alumni meet recently.

Cavale and me used to meet occasionally, in the evenings and walk down to Vokkaligara Sangha field – near City Market, where Bangalore Cricketers used to practice. This team had many cricketers who represented Mysore in Ranji Trophy. G. Kasturirangan, K. Rajagopal, L.T. Subbu, C.M. Varadaraj. I and Cavale used to watch the practice from the sidelines. Cavale identified the names for me.

Cavale had already made his mark in the field of scoring with his impeccable handwriting and had scored many Ranji Trophy matches and was familiar with many of the cricketers.

I failed in third year B.E. Examination which consisted of eleven theory papers and five practicals in April 1967. I took the examination in September and came out successfully. From October 1967 to June 1968, it was all Cavale and me. We became inseparables and spent time together during the day and also late up to 11.00 PM in the night. At home, people were not worried. If I was late, they knew that I was with Cavale. Sometimes at the corner of our house – culvert used to be the chatting place or sometimes in front of his house on Kanakapura Road. There are several occasion when both of us went to a second show Cinema. Cavale  has  an advice for me always – to preserve the half ticket of the second show cinema to show  it  to the beat Policeman who use to intercept me on my way back home from Kanakapura Road to  my home in  Jayanagar Seventh Block.

In a retrospect, I opine that Cavale’s friendship was the best thing happened to me in furthering my cricket career – both scoring and umpiring.

While in high school, I used to play for a team called “Kaiwar’s Team”. Mohan S Kaiwar was my class mate. He happened to be the grandson of Late Shri T.S. Venkannaiah, a well-known literary personality. There was match played between Board President Eleven and the touring Pakistan Eleven at Central College Grounds, Bengaluru in January 1961. Board President Eleven was led by Lala Amarnath. Some of our team mates Nagaraja, Prabhu and others decided to garland Lala Amarnath and they chose me to the task. We were allowed to the School’s stand which had a barricade of bamboos. It was decided that I should jump the barricade and run towards the pitch and garland Lala. I was very lean and used to run fast. I did accomplish the job by garlanding Lala but never expected that I would be chased by Policeman. I could not join my team mates in the school stand but ran towards the pavilion. Some elderly gentleman spared me from manhandling from Police and offered me a seat to watch the match after seeing my plight. I was totally frightened.

I for one never expected that I would share this experience with Lala. I had the occasion of officiating a test match between India and Pakistan at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, a few years later. Lala was the expert commentator for All India Radio and I was officiating the test as a Statistician. Lala invited me for a breakfast to the hotel where he was staying. I  had  the breakfast with him and narrated my garlanding him as a school boy when he lead the Board President’s Eleven against Pakistan Eleven  at Central  College grounds a few years  earlier. I had met Mohinder and Rajinder – his two sons and narrated this experience to them also.

Lala used to publish souvenirs ahead of a visiting teams tour to India. When India toured Pakistan in 1978-79, he requested me to provide statistics for the souvenir. I obliged him and he sent me a copy of the souvenir with his autograph with the following words “With all of my best wishes to Dear Gopal” 24.9.79. I had laminated this sheet and preserved it. This souvenir contains the prized possession of the photograph of Don Bradman. This photograph was specially signed for Lala Amarnath by the legend. This was revealed to me by Lala himself in one of our meetings.

An interesting incidence of my life with Bhava is worth narrating here. This was when I was in sixth standard and relates to the year 1955. The monthly school fee was eight annas and Bhava gave me one rupee and asked me to give him back the change in the evening. I paid the fee of eight annas and spent four annas on ice candy – four friends of mine ate four ice candies at one anna each – and in the evening gave the remaining twenty five paise to Bhava. He did not say anything till I finished my evening thindi and was about to leave home to play cricket at Nagarajas. I lied him that there was a fine of four annas for late fee. He was annoyed at my lie and told me in a stern voice – “Gopala, Don’t lie, if there is a late fee it would have been mentioned in the receipt. The receipt shows as eight annas.” He said, “You are lying. Tell me what you have done with four annas ?”.  I broke down and started crying loud. I told him the truth that I ate ice candy with four of my class mates. Then he consoled me saying, “That’s fine and never tell a lie again.” From that day to this day, I have never lied in my life.

Bhava was an asthma patient and suffered from it often. One such attack took his life in 1958, when I was in High school first year.

V. Nagaraja joined National High School for his high school studies and I continued mine at Acharya Pata Shala. The association with him and the playing in his compound became less frequent as our timings differed.

Acharya Pata Shala had a good cricket team to reckon with. A.V. Venkatanarayana, Ramani, H.R. Venkatesh, Shamanna, Joki Pinto, Raghunath Beerala, Paul Royan, were the few names which made rounds in NR Colony  cricket circles. A.V. Venkatanarayana led the school team with distinction. He along with Raghunath Beerala represented Mysore in Ranji Trophy. Add to this were, the Sports Secretaries Shri S. Keshava Rao and Shri Shartrugna. The latter played for a team by name “Bangalore Dynamos.” A.V. Venkatanaryana and Raghunath Beerala later represented Mysore in Ranji Trophy. A.V. Venkatanaryana and Ramani represented Mysore State Schools also.

I was a decent left arm bowler and wanted to represent the school team. Even though I had the requisite credentials, there was a firm NO from my grandparents. It became a fully confirmed “No” after my classmate M.S. Anantha got badly hurt in a School match.

I owe my cricketing career to three of my class mates – Late Shri A.V. Venkatanarayana, Cavale Sundarraja Rao and Raghunath Beerala. How they have influenced me and how their concerted efforts have a bearing on my cricketing career will unfold in the next few paragraphs.

I was a Southpaw – left hander by birth and used the left hand for all purposes including eating. The story goes that my mother used to apply neem oil (Bevina enne) to my fingers before eating and stopped the habit of eating by left hand. She also taught me to write with right hand. Thus the right hand became a cultivated hand for writing and hence I had a very good handwriting. The entire class knew about my handwriting.

It was a Saturday and a friendly match was arranged between Acharya Paatha Shala and National High School at National High School grounds. It was in the year 1960, when I was studying in ninth standard. There used to be a last period let off when our school cricket team played matches to enable students to watch the cricket match.  I went home and had my breakfast and went to National High School ground to witness the match.  Skipper A.V. Venkatanarayana won the toss and elected to bat. To his utter dismay, the scorer had played truant and had not reported at the ground. On seeing me, A.V called me, “Gopala, come here and act as a scorer, as you have a very good handwriting” (Gopala, baro illi, score maado, ninna handwriting chennagide). Thus my initiation to scoring began in 1960. From then onwards, I became a regular scorer for my school team, courtesy my team captain A.V. Venkatanarayana.

A word about my handwriting – how it had impressed my lecturers in the college is worth narrating here. I pursued my college studies in Vijaya College, Basavanagudi – Did my Pre University course as well Bachelor of Science Degree with Physics and Chemistry as major subjects. My Chemistry practical record was appreciated by lecturers. One such incident I would like to recall – it was in the final year of the course. We had a lecturer by name Ms V. Vatsala. Normally mistakes were corrected by the lecturers who were in charge of the practical classes. There was a mistake/error in one of the experiments that I had carried out previous week. Ms Vatsala called me and asked me to rewrite it again, as she did not want to correct the mistake/error. Our practical records were evaluated during the final examination. She did not want me to lose marks for the practical records in the final examination. We had three practical examinations in final examination – Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. The marks allotted to records of inorganic Chemistry was ten, while the other  two branches carried five marks each with a total of 20 marks for the practical record. It’s no wonder that I earned the full 20 marks for my practical records – the first ever student to get the maximum – in the history of the College. So much so for my neat and impeccable handwriting – courtesy my mother.

To be continued

The test at Bangalore between India and Afghanistan starting on June, 14, 2018 will mark my 100^th International match as a Scorer-cum-Statistician.

On this occasion, I am making an effort to go “Down Memory Lane” detailing out how I have made a mark in the field of cricket.

I was born at Chennaraya Patna, Hassan District, Karnataka State, India on 12^th August 1946 to my parents Hirisave Ramaswamy and Lakhsmidevi.

My father Ramaswamy, affectionately called Annaiah, in the family circles was an Engineer in PWD. He was transferred frequently within the State of Karnataka.

My schooling was at Thirthahally when my father was serving there as an Assistant Engineer. I was admitted to a Government School which was a few yards of walking distance from the residential quarters. Later on I learnt that “Kuvempu” also had his schooling in the same school.

I was a sickly child suffering from chronic cough (Naayi Kemmu in Kannada). I still remember my ever caring mother telling her uncle Sreenivasa Rao (Seeni) while sending me to Shivamogga with him thus – “I have kept Peps tablets in his pocket. If he starts coughing, give him a tablet, he would get relief. (“Magu Jebinalli Peps ittideeni. Adu Kemmakke shuru maadidare, Jebininda ondu tablet kodu. Adakke samadhana aagutte”)”, just a few minutes prior to the departure of the bus at the bus stand where she would be there to see us off.

“Seeni” (Shrinivasa Rao) and his wife Lalithamma were well-wisher and guide throughout her life. He loved her, cared for her and had concern for her. The same was extended to her sons – that is to both of us – myself and my brother Chandri – after her death.

Seeni’s sons – Prabhu. Venkatesh and Suresh – are also affectionate towards us. Prabhu’s hospitality at Delhi – when I visited Delhi for a few commentary assignments – were immaculate and worth remembering for a long time. After, who is Prabhu, he is the chip of the old block.

There was an occasion in which she was stressed very much with regard to her health and she yearned for Seeni couples presence and confided with her varagitti Dodda Jayamma. This information was revealed to me by Dodda Jayamma many years after her demise

Prabhu was there to receive me at the New Delhi Railway station on my first assignment of statistician with All India Radio and he had arranged the accommodation at Delhi Karnataka Sangha using his good offices. Prabhu and his wife Sujatha helped me in some shopping I made during some of my Delhi Visits and also introduced to some of the shop keepers. I am very grateful for this affectionate couple for their time and courtesy extended to me. The couple’s warmth and affection was always there for their “Gopi”. He has made me comfortable in Delhi to an extent that I can do shopping in Delhi alone.

Tragedy struck the family in the form of demise of my mother Lakshmi Devi on January 01, 1953 at Meggan District Hospital, Shivamogga.  She died of acute anemia. I was six and half year old and my brother Chandri was four year old.

I still remember the conversation; I had with my mother, just a day prior to her demise. My grandmother, Doddamma, who had come from Bangalore to Shivamogga to see my mother, had taken me to the hospital. I told her that I have no mind to go to school till she returns home. She took me in her lap and consoled me by saying that I should not tell like that. Doddamma will be there to care of me in her absence. (Doddamma is my grandmother, father’s mother). She told me that she would like me to become an Engineer, like Annaiah {my father}.

After her demise, both of  us, myself and my brother Chandri were under the care of my  grandparents – Shri Krishnappa {Bhava} and Smt Gowramma {Doddamma} at Bangalore. My father could not get a transfer to Bangalore immediately after the demise of my mother. He was transferred to Bangalore in the year 1958 after five years of my mother’s demise. He used to visit Bangalore almost every month to see us and also his aged parents.

My mother’s both wishes were fulfilled. We grew up under the care and protection of Doddamma and I became an Engineer.

At Bangalore, Bhava and Doddamma lived in the outhouse at No. 102, Ratnavilasa Road with their two sons, Kitti and Seeki. Kitti was married and his wife was Dodda Jayamma. Seeki was unmarried. There was also Chikka Jayamma who was not married. Chikka Jayamma’s love and affection was unparalleled towards us. She used to bathe us, prepare us for the school, was attending to our home works of the school, tie shoe laces, and wash our faces after return from school. In short, she took the role of my mother. She taught me Mathematics in Primary third year which made me to secure the highest marks in the class. Bhava’s reaction to this was, “For Gopala’s success, the entire credit goes to Chikka Jayamma”. Everybody at home agreed with my grandfather. These marks helped me to secure admission to fifth standard at Acharya Pata Shala Middle School, N.R.Colony, Bengaluru with a double promotion from third to fifth standard.

A small narration here as to how I was named as Gopala and Krishna according to Doddamma. A baby boy and a baby girl were born prior to my birth and both died in their early infancy within one and a half years. “Namakarana” (naming ceremony) vidhi was not performed to both these children as my father could not get leave from his official duty to perform the Namakarana. Doddamma was keen that the Namakarana Vidhi should be performed in my case and hence she named me as Gopala Krishna.

The interest in the game of cricket was instilled in me by my grandfather “Bhava”. He was interested in cricket. As we did not have the Radio at home, he used to send me to the neighbour’s house to know the scores. He was very keen to know the full details of the scores – batsmen’s individual scores, who were at the crease, the scores of the batsmen who were dismissed, etc. In fact, these details fascinated me and made me to embrace cricket statistics.

I would like to remember another person who perhaps influenced me and take up cricket statistics rather unknowingly. It was Niranjan Ram -“Ranji”, who was my neighbour across the road.

We lived in Ratnavilasa Road, Basavanagudi, close to Netkallappa Circle.  Dr. K.S. Srinivasa Murthy, lived in the corner house which had a very big compound. Doctor’s brothers and sisters lived in the same compound. There were scores of youngsters by name, Shanthi, Ranji, Jaggi, Rami, Shivi, Pachhu and Sharadu. The neighbours on the road were Saranga, Dodda Ramamurthy, Chikka Ramamurthy, Ananda, Nagi, Ramachandra, etcetra had formed a tennis ball team which was known popularly as Doctor’s Team. Dr. Srinivasa Murthy was himself a connoisseur of the game of cricket. He was a member of the Managing Committee of Mysore State Cricket Association. I used to spend most of time on Saturdays and Sundays with these youngsters. Sharadu later became my college mate in RV College of Engineering and we played cricket for the college team

Shivi used to buy Sports and Pastime of the Hindu Publications every week and I used to read it. Ranji had a long book in which he used to write the score cards of test matches copying it from Sports and Pastime. I also wrote the score cards regularly in the long book maintained by Ranji.

Thus the interest towards the cricket game was sown in a right perspective from my childhood through Bhava, Ranji and Doctor’s team members.

My schooling was at Acharya Pata Shala. I joined the Middle School, Fifth Standard in 1954 and passed the SSLC examination in First Class in 1961.

While in Middle School, I used to play cricket in the evening with my classmate V. Nagaraja. He used to live in Subbarama Chetty Road, which had a very big compound. V. Nagaraja’s mother was very affectionate towards me. Whenever we got drenched in rain while playing, she used to shout asking us to come home fast, After reaching  home, she used to give me a towel to dry the wet hair and sometimes she did dry wet hair herself to both of us – his son Nagaraja and to me. She also fed us with Dosa, Upma etc., in the evening.

Continued

Former Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee led the tributes at much-loved cricketer Rod Marsh’s funeral on Thursday, describing the wicketkeeper-batsman who died earlier this month as a unique man with whom he developed a lasting friendship.

Marsh, who played 96 Tests in the 1970s and 1980s, died at the age of 74 in Adelaide, eight days after suffering a heart attack while on his way to a charity event in Queensland.

“Caught Marsh, bowled Lillee” appeared on Test scorecards 95 times as the moustachioed Western Australian combination wreaked havoc on opposing batting orders in a golden era for cricket Down Under.

“It’s taken me days to be able to write my thoughts down on this amazing bloke,” Lillee said in Adelaide. “I don’t want to talk about his cricket ability because that’s been very well documented – it’s the person Rod Marsh that I loved. “It’s something that grew over time, even after our careers were finished.”

Lillee, who made his Test debut in the same Ashes series as Marsh, told around 800 people in attendance that his friendship with the wicketkeeper did not get off to the best start.

“One day after a day’s play, him, unusually with a beer in his hand and me pouring a full-strength soft drink ready to chat, he said to me, ‘I gotta tell you, I don’t trust you’,” Lillee said to laughter.

“Gradually our friendship blossomed. I miss my mate and will keep remembering the good times. He was a one-off.”

Marsh’s professional golfer brother Graham recalled how the cricketer had rescued him from a town bully in their childhood.

“I learnt two valuable lessons from my little brother that day, I always wanted to be on his team, and secondly, he would do anything to protect his family,” Graham said.

A recorded message from former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist was played out before Marsh’s former team mates John Inverarity and Bruce Laird spoke.

Cricketer whose prodigiously talented spin bowling helped West Indies to their first ever Test match win in England

Sonny Ramadhin, the West Indies cricketer, who has died aged 92, was immortalised as one of “those two little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine” in a calypso by his fellow Trinidadian, Lord Beginner. With the left-handed Jamaican Alf Valentine, Ramadhin, a right-hander, was one part of the most famous West Indian spin bowling duo – perhaps the most famous in all cricket.

He made his Test debut at Old Trafford in 1950, the year when West Indies first beat England at Lord’s, and also won their first ever away series against the “mother country”.

Prior to the trip, Ramadhin had only played two first-class matches, and to select both him and that pal of his, Valentine, also a complete novice, for a full Test tour was a daring gamble. But it paid off: they dominated the series as dramatically with the ball as the Three Ws – Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell – did with the bat, Ramadhin playing a pivotal role in the second Test at Lord’s which turned the tide of the game and the series towards West Indies. After his first year of first class cricket Ramadhin was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1951, and he went on to have a highly successful career across 43 Tests, with 158 wickets at an average of 28.98. In all first-class matches he took 758 wickets at an average of 20.24.

Even more significantly for the development of the game, Ramadhin was the first East Indian – a West Indian of Indian extraction, so called to distinguish them from Indians native to the Caribbean – to play for West Indies, and for close to 10 years he was the only one. Alvin Kallicharran (66 Tests), Rohan Kanhai (79 Tests) and the Trinidadian spin bowlers Inshan Ali and Raphick Jumadeen (12 Tests each) followed.

Ramadhin’s grandparents had emigrated to Trinidad from India to work as indentured labourers. He was born in St Charles village, about 15 miles south of the capital, Port of Spain, but after both his parents died when he was young, he was raised by his Uncle Rock in Esperance village in the south of the island. Cricket was the one benefit he derived from attending – or more frequently, not attending – a Canadian mission school, where he was called Sonny to go along with the one name with which he arrived there, Ramadhin. His birth had not been registered, and he adopted the initials KT only when told that a cricketer could not tour without them.

Although spin bowlers generally need years of first-class exposure to mature, Ramadhin bowled spectacularly from his first game, for Trinidad against Jamaica, at the end of January 1950, taking five wickets for 39 runs in his first innings and three for 67 in his second. That match was also Valentine’s first class debut, though he did not take a wicket and conceded 111 runs. Ramadhin had never left Trinidad before the 1950 tour to England, and though awed by the novelty of his experience – he was delighted by the “upstairs” buses, for instance – he was not entirely unsophisticated. Called upon to order dinner for other players at a London Indian restaurant, he not only assured them of a fine spread, but quietly left the table unobserved during dessert and settled the bill, successfully fending off all attempted contributions from West Indian gentlemen players substantially more wealthy than himself.

Before leaving Trinidad he had bowled only on the island’s makeshift matting wickets. Yet on that first tour he took 135 first- class wickets at an average of 14.88 from more than 1,000 overs bowled. He took 26 of the 80 wickets available in the four Tests at an average of 23.23, bowling 377 overs in total. In the critical Lord’s game he took 11 for 152 from 115 overs, 70 of them maidens. It was he who made the breakthrough on the final day, bowling Cyril Washbrook after he had spent more than five hours at the crease, and finishing with six for 86 off a staggering 72 overs.

Ramadhin’s early statistics bear out how impossible he was to play. Even his usual wicketkeeper, Walcott, looking down at Ramadhin’s tiny, 5ft 4in frame from his formidable 6ft 2in, 15-stone vantage point, confessed to being unable to predict which way Sonny would turn the ball. With his cap on and long sleeves buttoned at the wrist, he turned the ball either way without a perceptible change in delivery, either by a conventional flick of the fingers or a barely perceptible turn of the wrist. His skills bewitched most teams he played against, particularly the first time they had to face him.

After seven years of dominance in international cricket, however, Ramadhin’s ability to bamboozle batsmen ended in dramatic and rather unseemly circumstances. During the 1957 West Indies tour of England, in the first innings of the first Test at Edgbaston, he was as mesmerising as ever, taking seven for 49. But in the second innings he was first neutralised and then devastated by an approach still regarded in the West Indies as being as unsporting as Bodyline.

After Ramadhin had taken Peter Richardson’s wicket to have England struggling on 113, still 175 runs behind with only seven second innings wickets remaining, Peter May and Colin Cowdrey, facing mainly Ramadhin, took the score to 524. Playing Ramadhin as an off-spinner, they simply planted their left feet well down the wicket, padding away any ball too short to drive. At the time the leg before wicket law stated that if a batsman was hit on the pads outside the line of the stumps then he could not be given out by the umpire, even if he was not playing a shot.

Ramadhin sent down a record 98 overs in that soul-destroying encounter, and had countless lbw appeals turned down, most of them against Cowdrey, who was the chief perpetrator with his pads. The West Indies drew the game and lost the series, fortunes turning on the fulcrum of Ramadhin and Valentine just as surely as they had seven years earlier – but negatively this time. The lbw rule was later changed to prevent the spirit and spectacle of the game from being ruined in such a manner, but it came too late to protect a discouraged and exhausted Ramadhin. CLR James described him as being “singularly innocuous” for the remainder of the England series.

Though he had a good season against England at home in 1959-60, taking 17 Test wickets at 28.88, and he continued playing until the end of 1960 (his last Test was against Australia at Melbourne on 30 December of that year), his era had effectively ended at Edgbaston, not at the hands, but at the feet, of Cowdrey.

Ramadhin played for Trinidad and Tobago from 1950 until 1953, and enjoyed some success for Lancashire in 1964. He played minor counties cricket with Lincolnshire from 1968 to 1972, and Lancashire league cricket at various times, first signing for Crompton in the Central Lancashire League in 1951 and ending his league career by taking a hat-trick in his last match for Daisy Hill, in the Bolton & District association, at the age of 50. He was awarded Trinidad and Tobago’s highest honour, the Hummingbird Gold Medal, in 1972.

From 1965 to 1990 he and his English wife, June (nee Austerberry), ran the White Lion public house in Delph, Saddleworth, north east of Manchester, until forced to retire when brewery monopoly rules would have made it necessary for them to buy the pub outright. Their daughter Sharon married the Lancashire fast bowler Willie Hogg, and grandson Kyle Hogg, a seam bowler, played for the county from 2001 to 2014.

June and Sharon predeceased Ramadhin. He is survived by their son, Craig, two grandchildren, Natalie and Kyle, and two great-grandchildren, Nancy and Fifi.

Article Courtesy : The Guardian

Some journalists and purists advocate that a cricketer should be given an extended appearance after his debut in International Cricket. This is because they have to be judged by their performance. I totally agree with them. I was told that this was the policy adopted by Saurav Ganguly when he was at the helm of affairs as a captain of the Indian team.  Its unfortunate that this policy is treated with scant respect when SC Ganguly is the Board President. It appears that he is mute spectator to the selectorial policies and their doings or undoings

But what’s being done by the selectors and the Board is just contrary to the captioned theory. Look at the way K Gowtham of Karnataka and Venkatesh Iyer of Madhya Pradesh are treated. The latter made debut against Sri Lanka at Colombo-RPS on 23 Jul 2021 and it was his only International. He was dumped in favour of veteran R Ashwin. When R Ashwin was not selected for the ensuing white ball cricket against West Indies, K Gowtham was an automatic choice under the theory ”Off spinner for an Off spinner”. But he has been shown the doors. K Gowtham is a mixed product of Limited Overs cricket and also First Class Cricket.

Let us not forget what Mumbai Indians had done to this cricketer from Karnataka. He warmed the bench for an entire IPL Season for Mumbai Indians which dented the confidence of this upcoming cricketer. Gowtham is not the only cricketer from Karnataka to suffer at the hands of Mumbai Indians. J Suchith of Karnataka is another cricketer who suffered the same feat. He was played just one match in a season for Mumbai Indians in IPL. The fact that these two Karnataka cricketers have moved on from the injustice meted out to them at the hands of Mumbai Indians reflects their tenacity and the talent they have/possess.

K Gowtham was picked by Chennai Super Kings in the last edition of IPL. He was elated that he got an opportunity to play under MS Dhoni. But his wish remained a dream as he did not play single game.

It is just a coincidence that these two cricketers represented Mysore Warriors in Karnataka Premier League with distinction.

S Dhawan was selected for the South African tour under the “Opening batsman for an Opening batsman” theory. But the same theory does not apply for a bowler like K Gowtham. Board and selectors have their bounden duty to explain this for the cricketing public.

VR Iyers case is also to be looked into with top priority.  Hope the selectors and the Board is hearing.

I am furnishing the career figures of K Gowtham to show that he is the mixed product of First Class Cricket {168 wickets} and Limited Overs Cricket {121 wickets} and some say that the “figures speak for cricketers”. But these words do not apply to Karnataka’s K Gowtham.

A Video by the famous videographer Sri Gowrish Akki on my cricketing achievements was premiered on 23 Jan 2022.  Here are the links of the videos Part 1 and Part 2. Request peruse them and your comments are welcome.

Bharamaiah Vijayakrishna – the left arm slow orthodox spinner – breathed his last on 17.06.2021 due to Cardiac arrest. The following tables depict his first class career

BHARAMAIAH VIJAYAKRISHNA

Full name:	Bharamiah Vijayakrishna
Born:	12 Oct 1949, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Died on	17 Jun 2021, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Batting:	Left-hand batsman
Bowling:	Slow left-arm orthodox
Teams:	Mysore (Main FC: 1968/69-1972/73);
	Karnataka (Main FC: 1973/74-1983/84);
	Karnataka (Main ListA: 1977/78);

First-Class Career Batting and Fielding (1968/69-1983/84)

	M	I	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	Ct
Overall	80	105	16	2297	104	25.80	2	16	76

First-Class Career Bowling (1968/69-1983/84)

	Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BB	Ave	5	10	SR	Econ
Overall	13043	527	5297	195	7-85	27.16	7	1	66.88	2.43

List A Career Batting and Fielding (1977/78)

	M	I	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	Ct
Karnataka	2	2	0	21	15	10.50	0	0	0

List A Career Bowling (1977/78)

	Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BB	Ave	4	5	SR	Econ
Karnataka	110	4	70	3	2-36	23.33	0	0	36.66	3.81

Fifty plus runs

No	Score	Opposition	Ground	Date
1	54*	Hyderabad	Hyd-LBS	22 Jan 1972
2	50	Tamil Nadu	B’lore-CCG	29 Jan 1972
3	71*	Rajasthan	B’lore-CCG	17 Mar 1972
4	50	Tamil Nadu	Chepauk	23 Feb 1973
5	50	Kerala	Tumkur	03 Nov 1973
6	64*	Tamil Nadu	B’lore-MCS	23 Dec 1973
7	71	Rajasthan	Jaipur	23 Mar 1974
8	56	Andhra	Shimoga	09 Nov 1974
9	66	Maharashtra	B’lore-MCS	17 Jan 1976
10	102*	Maharashtra	B’lore-MCS	17 Jan 1976
11	53	Delhi	B’lore-MCS	11 Mar 1977
12	68	Tamil Nadu	B’lore-MCS	17 Dec 1977
13	104	Bihar	B’lore-MCS	18 Feb 1978
14	52	Kerala	Trichur	28 Oct 1978
15	77	Hyderabad	Hyd-LBS	13 Dec 1979
16	74*	Hyderabad	B’lore-MCS	13 Dec 1980
17	53	Hyderabad	Nizamabad	21 Nov 1981
18	51	Andhra	B’lore-MCS	04 Dec 1982

Fifties in both innings

No	Score	Opposition	Ground	Date
9	66	Maharashtra	B’lore-MCS	17 Jan 1976
10	102*	Maharashtra	B’lore-MCS	17 Jan 1976

Five or more wickets in an innings

No	O	M	R	W	Opposition	Ground	Date
1	25.4	3	65	5	Andhra	Udupi	18 Nov 1978
2	22	0	79	6	West Indians	Ahmedabad	10 Feb 1979
3	22	8	39	5	Bengal	Bengal	24 Feb 1979
4	40	13	85	7	Andhra	Bangalore	04 Dec 1982
5	23	12	28	5	Andhra	Bangalore	04 Dec 1982
6	15	8	17	6	Baroda	Vadodara	11 Feb 1983
7	29.1	10	63	5	Rest of India	Rajkot	01 Sep 1983

Ten or more wickets in a match

No	O	M	R	W	Opposition	Ground	Date
1	63	25	113	12	Andhra	Bangalore	04 Dec 1982

Fifty and ten wickets in a match

No	Score	W-R	Opposition	Ground	Date
1	51	12-113	Andhra	B’lore-MCS	04 Dec 1982

‘The most charismatic cricketer of his generation’ : A selection of tributes to former India captain MAK Pataudi on the demise of former India skipper on 22 Sep 2011

“It is a terrible news for me, he brought me up and guided me. I can’t even express myself, it is one of my saddest days. He was a great human being, a great cricketer, a great fielder, shrewd captain, it is really sad. He always guided the youngsters. I was very close to him, so I can’t really forget the way he brought me up. He was my first captain under whom I played. Whatever career I had, it stands on him.”

Former India batsman Gundappa Viswanath is crestfallen at the passing of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi

“It is an extremely painful loss for me. Unbearable and shocking loss. He was one of the greatest captains to lead India. He gave a new face to Indian cricket and emphasised on the role of quality fielding. He was primarily responsible for developing India’s spin quartet in an aggressive role similar to what the West Indians had later in form of the pace quartet. He always believed that teams have to bowl at least 80 to 85 attacking overs out of 100 overs.”

Erapalli Prasanna, the former India spinner, lauds Pataudi’s captaincy skills

“It is a great personal loss, he was a very dear personal friend, he was my first captain, I learnt a lot from him. He was by far the best Indian captain to my mind of thinking. He was the first leader of Indian cricket who told everybody in the dressing room, ‘look you are not playing for Delhi, Punjab, Madras, Calcutta or Bombay, you are playing for India. You are Indian.’ That left a very very good mark on the minds of youngsters who played under him. “His faith in the spinners was absolute and we all prospered under his captaincy, he guided us so comfortably and serenely, the spin quartet had the highest regard for him… We won’t find the likes of him in a long, long time. His voice cannot be filled. A great, great chapter of Indian cricket has come to a close.”

Former India captain Bishen Bedi says we won’t see another Pataudi

“It is a big shock for me. It is too early for him to depart.. just 70 years. A great captain, always attacking and aggressive.. never defensive at any stage. He always focused on trying to win the match and would go all out to win. We had four spinners then, and I, especially, was extremely lucky to have had him as a captain.”

“Tiger Pataudi was my first captain. When I played my first Test in 1969, he was not just a nawab, royalty, but also already a superstar. When I walked out one morning to have breakfast at the CCI (Cricket Club of India) where the Indians players lived during a Mumbai Test, he invited me over to share a table with him and I’ll never forget that. He was captain of India, a nawab and I was a debutant. He taught the Indian team how to win, he brought about its transformation convinced us that we could beat strong sides, even with limited resources, even by having basically three bowlers. He was aggressive but didn’t shout on the field, nothing of the sort, his thinking about the game was that if you were playing for the country, you didn’t have to be treated like children; you didn’t need motivation or baby talk.

Former India legspinner Bhagwat Chandrasekar is grateful to have had Pataudi as a captain

“He treated us all as equals, as a captain he was totally professional on the field, aggressive, attacking. It didn’t strike me then, but when I played against other captains, I realised just how attacking he was, I realised he was the best captain I had every played under. Off the field he was an extrovert, he loved going out, socialising, late night partying and often he said to me, ‘you take cricket too seriously, you’re young, enjoy your life. If you are too emotional about it and take it too seriously, you will be an unhappy man’.”

Former India opening batsman, Chetan Chauhan, remembers Pataudi’s zest for life

“Tiger Pataudi was the most charismatic cricketer of his generation. To bat with almost zero vision in one eye and still to score nearly 3000 runs and half a dozen centuries in Test cricket tells you what a genius he was. He will be terribly missed and it’s a huge loss to the game of cricket.”

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar puts Pataudi’s achievements in context

“I recently watched him on television and he looked great, but the sudden news of his death is a shock to me. When Pataudi started his career, we didn’t have India-Pakistan ties but we got a chance to play together in a World XI and I found him a great human being, a charismatic character and a genuine cricket buff.”

Former Pakistan captain Hanif Mohammad reminisces about meeting Pataudi

“Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was a man of exceptional talent who turned out to be an inspiration to millions of cricketers, not only in India but across the globe. It was an honour and privilege to have known him. He became a true darling of India cricket due to his on the field heroics and off the field easy manners. After retirement, he maintained his close association with the game in different capacities, including as a commentator. Whenever he shared his views on the game, they were taken seriously as they were considered to be coming right from the bottom of the heart of one of India’s greatest servants of the game. He will be sorely missed.”

ICC president Sharad Pawar remembers Pataudi’s contribution to the game

“I had grown up as a young cricketer hearing about his achievements and had only met him for the first time during The Oval Test on 22 August where he had come to present the Pataudi Trophy to the England team, while I presented Andrew Strauss with the Reliance ICC Test Championship mace. During the Test, I had the privilege of discussing with him the past, present and future of Test and 50-over cricket. It was absolutely fascinating to hear his views and confidence in these formats.”

ICC chief Haroon Lorgat recollects his recent discussions with Pataudi in England

“I am shocked to hear the news of Tiger Pataudi’s demise. He was an exemplary individual, who guided Indian cricket to unprecedented heights, as batsman, fielder and captain. He revolutionised fielding standards in the Indian team, and across the country. In an age wherein a draw was considered as good as a win, Tiger Pataudi encouraged his players to go flat out for victory. He was an aggressive batsman who excelled in crisis situations, and showed the nation how to combat adversity. I join my colleagues in the BCCI to express my condolences at his passing away. His services to Indian cricket will never be forgotten.”

BCCI president N Srinivasan pays tribute to Pataudi

“We are very sad to hear of Tiger Pataudi’s untimely death. He was a legendary figure for his country, and is fondly remembered for all he contributed to Sussex Cricket. I met him at the recent Test match at The Oval when he was very much looking forward to visiting us at Hove later this year. It has come as a great shock to us all and our condolences from everyone associated with Sussex Cricket go to his family.”

Sussex Chairman Jim May offers his commiserations on the death of Pataudi, who played 88 first-class matches for Sussex between 1957 and 1970

“He was a legend for us and we have never seen him play. He was a romantic figure, an absolute legend. I have always heard stories of Tiger, how he changed Indian cricket. He had a huge impact beyond his sheer performance in the cricket field. He was a huge inspirational figure. Even after so many years whenever you talk to legends of cricket, they always talk about him with awe and respect. He will definitely go down as an all time great, who had influenced not only on the cricket field but beyond it as well. He made the game popular in India with his sheer personality and performances. He led the team in the different way. He was a leader for us and he always stood with the current lot of players. In 2002, when we had problem with ICC with the central contract system, Mr. Pataudi backed us along with Madan Lal. I met him briefly in England at the Oval, after the Test series. We spoke briefly and now when I think about it, I regret that I couldn’t spend more time talking to him.”

Rahul Dravid wishes he could have spent more time with Pataudi

“I am extremely saddened hearing the news about Pataudi passing away. My heartfelt condolence to his family and may his soul rest in peace. I had known him personally and even met him a few times. There was lot of class and dignity about the man. Due to an accident he lost one eye and was yet successful at the international level, just goes on to show how good a player he was. The most positive thing about him was that he was very honest and always had the good of Indian cricket at heart.”

Sourav Ganguly remembers Pataudi for his class and dignity

“It’s a terrible loss to the cricketing world. I had the privilege of meeting him on a few occasions. World cricket will miss a hero like him. I really respected him.”

Sachin Tendulkar mourns the loss of a cricketing hero

“I am devastated, I had no idea he was in hospital … he was a contemporary of my cousin Javed Burki, and what I heard from my cousins, and from his contemporaries, was that had he not lost his eye apparently, he was a genius of great proportions. Anyone who knows batting, knows that it’s difficult to play with one eye, specially [to play] fast bowling. What he achieved with one eye, the sort of ability he had, what sort of a player he could have become… In Pakistan, to us he was also a cricketer who was a crowd puller.”

Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, says Pataudi was a crowd favourite across the border as well

Article Courtesy – Espncricinfo.com