Indian Cricket Controversies

R Wadhwaney K

Description

The book is dedicated to cricket Winners who, if they happen to read it, should be men enough to restrain themselves from throwing stones at others.As many as 117 controversies have been listed in the book which has been written after in-depth research from among piles of clippings, meticulously stocked and stored.The book is not a fiction; nor it is a figament of imagination of any one.There is no malice against any one. The controversies have merely been put together. They portray how flimsy, frivolous and fussy have been our stars since India?s entry into international cricket in 1932.

Informations

• Publié par: Diamond Books
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789352618743
• Langue: English

Extrait

INDIAN CRICKET CONTROVERSIES
 

 
eISBN: 978-93-5261-874-3
© Publisher
Publisher: Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.
X-30, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II New Delhi-110020
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E-mail: [e-mail]
Website: www.diamondbook.in
Edition: 2012
INDIAN CRICKET CONTROVERSIES
By - K. R. Wadhwaney
Dedication
The book is dedicated to cricket Winners who, if they happen to read it, should be men enough to restrain themselves from throwing stones at others.
As many as 117 controversies have been listed in the book which has been written after in-depth research from among piles of clippings, meticulously stocked and stored.
The book is not a fiction; nor it is a figament of imagination of any one.
There is no malice against any one. The controversies have merely been put together. They portray how flimsy, frivolous and fussy have been our stars since India’s entry into international cricket in 1932.
Acknowledgement
All photos have been graciously provided by Pradeep Mandhani, one of the finest photo-journalists in cricketing world.
 
 
 
Important : Any dispute shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Delhi Court only.
A Foreword
There is a story which runs something like this. A football fanatic played as the custodian for his club side. Nothing wrong with that. But the trouble was that every night he would dream and fancy playing football. Sensing that something was droll, he went to consult a psychiatrist. In the process of questioning, the patient was asked ‘Don’t you ever dream of anything else? Not even of girls?’. ‘How funny’, was the response, ‘I dream of buxom bunnies and let slip a goal’.
Like the soccer goalkeeper of the story, Kishin Wadhwaney, is entranced with cricket, he swallows cricket, eats cricket, munches cricket and of course dreams cricket. In his love for the game of the willow he seemingly yields to none at least I know of, and I have known him now for more than half a century, when I joined Lucknow as a probationer. I had then the good fortune of knowing him intimately as I had also been bitten by the cricket bug. Fortunately again, Uttar Pradesh then had a Postmaster General, Mr PKS Chari, who would go any length to give a fillip to sporting activities and it was his ardent aspiration that Posts & Telegraphs should win the Lucknow District Cricket Championships. We did not let him down and won it 2 years running.
But Mr Chari did something unprecedented, brushing aside all impediments, cited in the office files, he ordered a concrete pitch for our net practice, arguably one of the very firsts in this country, a step which Don Bradman had, at a point of time, advocated for India. Our happiness was unalloyed but Kishin Wadhwaney was over the moon.
With an athletic figure, lithe and balanced physique, Kishin Wadhwaney was energy personified. His indomitable coverage, specially when chips were down, boosted our morale. He was an all rounder and as a bowler he could manage to get a lot of pace off the wicket. As a new ball bowler he would bowl outswingers of more than medium speed, switching on to off-breaks as the ball wore down, which turned noticeably, and rising menacingly made the task of any batsman none too palatable. We used to marvel at his stamina. As a batsman he was audacious, innovative, hard hitting, his reflexes being sharp. Needless to say that his shots were loaded with power and his batting colourful. Kishin clearly enjoyed playing cricket. And in fielding he exhibited hawk-like alacrity.
One could not imagine, at least not I, that in later days Kishin Wadhwaney would wield his pen as effectively as he wielded his cricket bat on the play field. It is a tribute to his passion and fascination for cricket. And over the years he has matured, like vintage wine, into a seasoned and celebrated writer of books of a game which ‘flannelled fools’ played at a point of time and which, as of now, is a commercial leviathan.
Kishin Wadhwaney knows his mind and while writing speaks it loud and clear. His thirst for information on cricket is seemingly insatiable and he would go high and low to seek it. Record of performances of cricketers, famous and not-so-famous, are on his finger tips and that is how he knows the hawks from the hernshaws among Indian cricketers.
He is blessed with prodigious industry and enviable memory and his capacity to rummage through mountains of material to seek the facts and his capacity to separate the wheat from the chaff, could be the envy of many sports writers.
What is no less praiseworthy is that although most unfortunately—and strange are the ways of destiny—he is not as mobile as he was expected to be yet he has refused to pity himself and become a couch potato. May be, somewhat oddly though, he reminds me of James Stewart in the Alfred Hitchcock film ‘Rear Window’ where the sleuth in Stewart, confined to a wheel-chair, manages to pin down a criminal.
Kishin Wadhwaney writes with candour and singleness of purpose. Wielding a facile pen, writing lucid prose and making pungent remarks when occasions so demand, he may seem opinionated occasionally but in the process he never twists or distorts facts. His opinions are his own but based invariably on the material he has amassed. He has written about controversies but has never allowed himself to slide down into its quagmire, even if in his view reputation of some of the famous names stand smirched. It is possible that the book may trigger off more debates and controversies than it seeks to settle. It must however be acknowledged that Kishin Wadhwaney has chosen a knotty subject and in the process, is perhaps walking on thin ice. It is possible that the book has been written because of the anguish the writer had felt in his heart on the state of health of Indian cricket. Certain abrasive happenings in the Indian cricket scenario has disturbed him, and his dreams about Indian cricket have gone sour and acerbic. What Kishin Wadhwaney has ventured to disclose reminds me of what the US President Franklin Rossevelt once said, ‘At the bottom of every case of criticism and obstruction we have found some selfish interest, some private axe to grind.’
But what indeed ails Indian cricket? Why is it that India’s continuous fluctuating performances cause so much ceaseless palpitations in hearts, timid or otherwise? This seems to be an open question. But I suppose it no longer remains an open question when one questions the physical toughness of an Indian sportsman. Physical toughness is a sine qua non and an Indian sportsman is a poor example of it. Say, in soccer, India is not even in the first 120. In tennis, talent may be there but it never matches the stamina. The same is the story in badminton, in hockey and other major games.
In cricket, interestingly, a recent study shows that some of the West Indian cricketers of Indian origin have hit the headlines only as batsmen and spin bowlers but never as pace bowlers. It is the bowlers of West Indian origin who specialise in four-pronged attacks of relentless nature and blinding speed or as once Ian Botham put it ‘hunting in fours’. In India, Mohammad Nissar was perhaps an aberration.
Dilating on this theme Kishin Wadhwaney in a preface to one of his books had commented on the food habits of the Indian sportsmen. I would tend to agree, though I know it would ruffle many a feather. I am inclined to think that as long as the goal of an Hindu, and an overwhelming number of Indians are Hindus, is to attain salvation or ‘Moksha’ for his own self and as long his food habits remain unchanged through centuries, any dream of outshining others in international arena will remain a distant one.
Now, as for the author Kishin Wadhwaney he is a rough diamond and as for the book, in one word, it is ‘inputdownable!
N.C. Talukdar S-80, Greater Kailash, Part-II New Delhi 110048
Note : N.C. Talukdar was one of the renowned UP Ranji Trophy all- rounders in 1950s. A member of the UP Governor’s XI against Commonwealth XI at Lucknow in 1951, he was invited to attend Test trials. He led Agra University to Rohinton Baria Trophy final in 1948.
Preface
Cricketing ‘babe’ India indeed has been in relation to England and Australia. But, since its entry into the arena of international cricket in 1932, it has encountered far greater quantum of controversies than all ICC (International Cricket Council) members put together.
If the growth of country’s cricket, governed by British Raj, princes and zamindars, was turbulent, its adolescent years were tentative. Then, amidst unprecedented blood-bath, the body was severed into two with Pakistan taking a birth as a new baby out of the Indian womb.
The present has been equally uncertain; it has in fact been topsy turvy. It is now besieged by sordid happenings of betting, bribery and match-fixing. The match fixing may indeed have taken worldwide ramifications, but it is born out of the sub-continent, particularly out of India. This is a fact. If in this unholy scandal, India is the father, Pakistan mother and all other nations have fallen prey to the greed of money, more money and black money.
Unlike in most other sports-minded countries, where cricket is, by and large, governed, managed and administered by cricket players, of cricket players and for cricket players, here cricket has been firmly in the clutches of politicians and bureaucrats. From British Raj and princes, we have merely travelled into the lap of politicians and bureaucrats who consider cricket as a launching pad to their progression.
Quality, it is said, emerges from quantity. Here, quantity from school to Test level has been enormous. The following by masses even more enormous. There are academies and clinics in every part of the country. There is no dearth of money. In fact, the number of cricket players and following by masses, even by illiterate ones, is much more than all other cricket playing countries put together. Yet we mere