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V Gangadhar

Cricket, wonderful cricket

DM bowled slow offspin floaters and was a hard hitting middle order batsman. To him, a match was not lost till the last ball had been bowled and he came down heavily on those who did not try hard enough.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Calico Mills was an outstanding textile unit in the country. Professionally managed, it outproduced and exported high class stuff. After working for nearly three months as a stores clerk, I was informed by my brother-in-law (who was also working in the mill) that the Sarabhai Chemicals cricket team had arrived for a match with us. My brother-in-law, a keen sportsman and badminton champion, asked me to join the Calico team.

Though I had not played any competitive cricket for over an year, I removed the moth balls from my green 'Government Victoria College' cricket cap and cricket boots. And I remember the lavish lunch which was served rather than other details of that match. But I became a permanent member of the team.

We played in all the local league tournaments and the inter-mills cricket tournament. Ahmedabad had nearly 60 textile mills and most of them had a cricket team. Test stars Nari Contractor, Rusi Surti, Deepak Shodan and emerging stars like Bhagirath Thakore turned out regularly for different textile mills. Calico had a David Gower-like strokeplayer in Dev Saini from Delhi, allrounder Revdiwala was always consistent, wicketkeeper and captain Rao from Karnataka urged us to perform better. And, of course, there was never-say-die DM.

Unlike cricket teams from other textile mills which enjoyed special facilities and incentives, the Calico management was not sports-minded. Quite often, players turned up on the field, bleary-eyed after doing night shifts. I used to work in the chemicals stores till one am, go home, grab some sleep and report at the ground when the match began.

Yet, we did not do badly. I think we won the mills tournament once and also fared consistently in the local league. I normally opened the bowling and was later on joined by Mahendra Pandya who played for the state. In batting, I continued my heave-ho tactics over midwicket and fondly remember a particular match when I hit a medium pacer for six fours in an over. It was sheer luck. Everytime I swung the bat, it connected sweetly with the ball. The fielders enjoyed the show and were laughing as the over ended. But the bowler was not!

Another memorable moment was the match against Rajnagar Mills. An elegant-looking lefthander came to bat at number three and stroked the ball confidently. I was bowling particularly well that morning and one of the balls cut back sharply and took the middle stump out of the ground. The batsman acknowledged it was a good ball and walked away. ''Who was that?" I asked. ''Don't you know?" barked DM from mid-on. "Deepak Shodan." It was one of the most thrilling moments in my life!

A local teenager, Bhagirath Thakore, was hailed as an outstanding fast bowling prospect -- even Lala Amarnath, then the chairman of the selectors, spoke highly of him. The media speculated on how Thakore would rattle the West Indians who met the West Zone team in Ahmedabad. Gary Sobers opted to open the innings and carted poor Thakore all over the ground. It was a savage exhibition of power cricket and by the time the match ended, Bhagirath Thakore had second thoughts about his future as a pace bowler. He concentrated on his batting and played for Gujarat as a batsman.

My performance with Calico was considered good enough to merit an invitation for practising with the probables for the state team. Again, my bosses denied me facilities like leave and flexible timings and I could not attend the special practice sessions. Switching jobs to become a lecturer in English in one of the local colleges, I continued my association with the game by coaching the cricket team.

In those days, Gujarat College and the H L College of Commerce dominated the cricket scene and we did not have much of an impact. But when we played the students in the annual staff-versus-students cricket match, there was no underarm stuff for me from the boys. They fired at all cylinders but I still topscored. How the girls cheered!

On to The Times of India, Ahmedabad, which again had a fairly good cricket team. Circulation Manager Pattabhi had played for Madras University and the editor's secretary, Venkatraman, was a class batsman. Proofreader Roy bowled a brisk medium pace. But we seldom practised as a team. In my case, late nights in the office and family responsibilities (wife and daughter ruled out early sessions at the nets!) But still it was fun to play cricket on Sundays.

I asked if I could open the innings and began hitting from ball one. Somedays the strategy clicked and it was sheer joy to watch the new ball despatched to all parts of the ground. We played friendly matches with a number of local clubs. In most cases, the opposition was impressed that they were playing against the great Times of India. But that did not prevent them from beating us regularly!

My playing days ended when I shifted to Bombay in 1977. Living in the suburbs and starting to work at 7.30 am to return after 12 hours left no time for cricket. Much to my regret, the cricket bat began to feel strange in my hands. Now there are only memories.

I look at the photographs of the college cricket teams. Whatever happened to old teammates like Gopi Goray Ganeshan or Parameswaran? From Ahmedabad came the sad news that Saini died of a heart attack. He used to bat like a prince. It was time to switch tracks. I began to write on the game which I love so much. But that is another story.

Illustrations: Dominic Xavier