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Pic :: The Last Of The Tour Surinder Amarnath Did It For Indian Cricket team and his tale about his performance at Pakistan
THAT
MAN SURINDER AMARNATH BHARDWAJ : A Special cricketer to be a " SPECIAL " punching
bag of BCCIJune 5th 1967…..>>>>> June 5th 2020 …….” 53 ” years, HISTORICAL IMPORTANCEOF INDIAN SPORTS
INDIAN CRICKET ROOTS THE FLAG FOR GREATNESS ON JUNE 5th 1967 AT LORDS
Exactly the end of the 53rd YEAR and the start of the FIRST day which takes us to the 54h year.
YES- TODAY IS THE DAY .YES- TODAY WAS THE FIRST TIME TEARS ROLLED OUT OF LALA AMARNATH’S EYE.
YES- TODAY WAS THE DAY WHEN THE GREAT GARY SOBERS HAD REMARKED THAT INDIA IS IN THE COURSE OF TERRIBLY UPSETTING THE WORLD IN CRICKET
What was so GREAT about it one may ask. The answer is-
“ TODAY THE ENGLISH FLAG IN CRICKET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF CRICKET WAS FLYING AT THE LEVEL “ LOWER “ THAN THE FLAG OF INDIA” .
In an manner so uncharacteristic and so UNIMAGINABLE , then and at that era , so very hard and UNTRUE to even hear it- TODAY WAS THE FIRST OCCASION THAT THE TRICOLOUR WAS FLYING FULL MAST AND ABOVE EVERYTHING FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE LORDS- THE “ MECCA ” OF CRICKET
The All India Schools team in England, 1967. Standing (from left): Jasbir Singh, D Inder Raj, JK Mahendra, Arun Kumar, Jitendra Bhutta, Victor Fernandez, Raja Mukherjee, Dipankar Sarkar, Avi Kamekar, Rakesh Tandon, AAS Asif and Laxman Singh.
> Sitting (from left): Mohinder Amarnath, Ajit Naik (captain), unidentified English official, Col Hemu Adhikari (manager)Unidentified English official, Syed Kirmani and Surinder Amarnath,
The Indian School team, then, led by Ajit Nayak which had Miling Rege, Surinder Amarnath, Mohinder Amarnath, Syed Kirmani, Raja Mukherjee, K Asif, primarily as SCHOOL cricketers- playing for India and playing against the full fledged English School team defeated the English School side in a 60 overs one day match at Lords to CARVE the FIRST ever victory at Lords
“ THIS WAS THE FIRST EVER OCCCASSION THAT ANY INDIAN TEAM TOURING ENGLAND HAD WON A MATCH AT LORDS ”.
The Indian team won the toss and elected to field first .They fielded for 248 runs bowling the English team out. Mohinder Amamrnath was the principle wicket taker .He claimed four conceding 48 runs.
Needing 249 to win India were in a dire strait.They had lost 5 wickets for 76 runs when Raja Mukherjee joined Surinder Amarnath who was till then batting with some 20 odds runs. India were not attuned and accustomed to play these kind of one dayers.
This was for the FIRST time that any INDIAN TEAM in their annals of their history were playing a ONE DAY MATCH at Lords in terms of a ONE-DAYER and the experience for them to play these kind of a match was very-very NEW. Yet they were playing without any INNHABITION
Facing the situation and the secne then very ODD against the Indian team to even think of scoring 200 rns, as already said that half the side was back into the hut for 76, India were as good as beaten, however Raja Mukherjee and Surinder first took the opportunity to settled down and then they had a good look at the wicket. They by then had studied the English seam as well as the spinners.
What happened next was an 175 runs partnership raised between them, when Raja Mukherjee was out for a well scored and a brilliant 75. His batting made the purist rub and wipe their eye in disbelief. Strokes of the wonders and stroke of the class was something that came out of his bat and it came with elan
He was out when the team needed some twenty runs for victory. After Raja was out there was two more wickets that India lost. Mohinder was out for “ ZERO ” and then immediately next Syed Kirmani was out. Surinder was there batting with 92.
For those who believe in the anecdotes of anything- Syed Kirmani for this entire tour was asked by the Team Manager, Mr Keki Tarapore that he ought to concentrate only as a batsman for this tour. He would never been given a chance to keep the wicket as the wicket-keeper role was donned by K Asif from Hyderabad. It was in 1971 when K Asif left India for ever to settle at America, and Kirmani came back as a wicket-keeper to don the Indian colours. .The other one who left India for ever in 1971 was Saeed Ahemed Haatea who was a rocking terrific medium pacer.
Back again and back to the game.The other batsman bogged down by the fact started playing the deliveries out as panic took over the Indian camp. The equation boiled down to 13 runs in three deliveries.A single came and Surinder was the striker.
Two deliveries and the match would be over. At that occasion Surinder was to face the next delivery.He sent a delivery straight out of the ground at Lords. Now the equation was one,RPT, ONE delivery left and Surinder was on 98.
The NEXT delivery no sooner that the bowler delivered the ball for it to travel to Surinder, he jumped out of his crease and hit it STRAIGHT,HARD and DIRE-STRAIT and STRAIGHT, over the sight screen. IT WAS A “ SIX ” .Gary Sobers watching this match from the balcony atr Lords jumped over with JOY There was another luminary watching at Lord's apart from Sobers – celebrated commentator and writer John Arlott. According to JK Mahendra, the team's leg-spinner-batsman from Kerala, Arlott rated Surinder's hundred as the finest innings he had seen in the last 15 years from 1952 to the date till then.
For 17-year-old all-rounder Mohinder, and according to him that he always said to one and sundry- the English tour was, a BLESSING for him as he could see and watch the GREAT Gary Sobers for the first time in his life as he also wanted to be an all-rounder like him.There was another luminary watching at Lord's apart from Sobers – celebrated commentator and writer John Arlott. According to JK Mahendra, the team's leg-spinner-batsman from Kerala, Arlott rated Surinder's hundred as the finest innings he had seen in the last 15 years.
For 17-year-old all-rounder Mohinder, the English tour was, "a great experience away from home. It was my first tour abroad and I had not travelled much alone in India” . Despite Surinder's performance, the biggest batting star of the tour was Rajasthan's There was another luminary watching at Lord's apart from Sobers – celebrated commentator and writer John Arlott. According to JK Mahendra, the team's leg-spinner-batsman from Kerala, Arlott rated Surinder's hundred as the finest innings he had seen in the last 15 years.
For 17-year-old all-rounder Mohinder, the English tour was, "a great experience away from home. It was my first tour abroad and I had not travelled much alone in India." Despite Surinder's performance, the biggest batting star of the tour was Rajasthan's Laxman Singh, whose run tally of 973 included five hundreds. He averaged 74.85 in 16 trips to the crease, though he was not as lucky in life – passing away in 1988, aged only 35.
Raja Mukherjee, who went on to play first-class cricket for Bengal, scored two centuries in 17 innings. Leg-spinner Dipankar Sarkar, who had already played for Bengal, claimed 65 wickets, while off-break bowler Jasbir Singh sent back 52 batsmen. "No student of the game could tire of watching him (Sarkar) so markedly establishing his ascendancy over his opponents. That Jasbir Singh did not take more wickets was due entirely to ill-luck with dropped catches, but even he dismissed 52 batsmen at a remarkably low average of 9.09," A R Harris, the then deputy chairman of the London Schools' Cricket Association, wrote in The Cricketer magazine.
Laxman Singh, who came in from a ROYAL FAMILY and though he always played for rajasthan he had settled at Gujarat , whose run tally of 973 included five hundreds. He averaged 74.85 in 16 trips to the crease, though he was not as lucky in life – passing away in 1988, aged only 35. He in a ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh way back in the early seventy had raised a opening partnership of 410 runs for the FIRST wicket against Uttar Pradesh in a Ranji Trophy match breaking the record set by Chetan Chauhan and Madhav Apte for Maharashtra against Vidhatbha which thereafter was broken by the pair of Roger Binny and Sanjay Desai when they played and opened for Karnataka against Kerala at Chickamagalur in 1977-78.
Back again to the Colt Number One of the GREAT Lala Amarnath.
OH- Surinder Amamrnath is it ? . Did you ever hear the commentary of the match played between the West-Indies and Bush XI , in the 1974-75 series against India and in the Bush Trophy, the benfit match which was played for Ajit Wadekar, then , the second one day match at Wankhede Stadium in 1975 . Did you ever hear that Surinder Amarnath hit those 86 runs in that match and had made a mockery of Andy Roberts. Again did you ever see that knock of 86 by Collis King in the 1979 World Cup finals.
You always talk about Viv Richards unbeaten 139 of that match but do you know what was 86 runs of Collis King in that finals. IT WAS “ BRUTALITY WITH GRACE AND CLASS ”. Surinder Amarnath’s 86 in that match was the same. It could have been easily compared to that knock of Collis King. Collis King was far more devastating in that match with his knock of 86 than compared to Viv Richard and I say because I saw that match along with my friend Rajan Nair, a Ranji Trophy Cricketer from Vidharbha. Yet Surinder Amarnath was not selected for the inaugural World Cup match in 1975. He along with Salim Durrani should have been the member of that squad and I’m sure India would have made it to the semis of the 1975 World Cup.
Anyway back again to that India – England School boys’ match. India had won the match. Thereafter when Surinder was called upon by the Duke who was watching the match and was asked- WHAT DO YOU WANT, he replied- “ I WANT THE INDIAN FLAG TO FLY HERE TODAY ABOVE ALL THE FLAG” That ORDER was FOLLOWED ” .
Lala Amarnath who was busy coaching a Delhi School Team and was busy with that team was told by some Sports Journalist as to what had happened at England and he came to know about his son’s doing the plot and creating the script to rewrite the plot. TEARS HAD COME OUT OF HIS EYE.
Gary Sobers was watching the match as I have said and described earlier..Actually after this match the next day a Gillete One day match was to be played by the Nottinghamshire team against Lancashire.
Gary was there with the entire Nottingham team and he was watching the match. He called Surinder and asked him- DO YOU PLAY FOR INDIA >NO was the REPLY- WELL YOU WILL PLAY MANY MANY AND MANY FOR INDIA >Gentleman YES- I say- adding a “ JOKE ” in my write up, SURINDER HAD PLAYED MANY FOR INDIA THEREAFTER.He had played “10” Test Matches for India which was “ Many ” – maybe in terms of Gary Sobers.
Later when Gary Sobers was asked to distribute the prize which he did he was asked to speak for the occasion.He spoke about Surinder saying that- HE WAS THE TORCH BEARER OF THE FUTURE OF INDIAN CRICKET. Well that GREAT COLT of LALA played in ONLY 10 without carrying anything. Many a THANKS, THANKS, THANKS, THANKS , THANKS and Thanks to the Indian selectors for playing Surinder Amarnath for only 10 Test Matches. Atleast the Indian selectors did have a LARGE heart to give him the chance to play 10 matches…. In a very crucifying " JOKE " I put it-:
EHSAAN TUMHARA KI DIL KA MARAA HAI DOSTOH…. YEH DIL TUMHARA PYAAR KA MAARA HAI DOSTOH. It means Thanks To Your Clemencies That The Heart Is Broken Yet It Remains Gravitated To You, Because The Heart Carries All The Love For You
Gary Sobers then said- RAJA MUKHERJEE IS THE SHADOW WHICH THE LIGHT OF INDIAN CRICKET HAS CREATED AND WILL CARRY INDIA ON HIS SHOULDER.
Gary the GREAT had assimilated the light cutting the opaque body for a shadow ….. RAJA MUKHERJEE ALWAYS REMAINED IN THE DARK NOT THE SHADOW…….. GREAT
BY the Way INDIANS- DO YOU AND DO YOU ALL IN ANY POINT OF YOUR LIFETIME HEARD ABOUT RAJA MUKHERJEE..
WONNA- That is Indian cricket ..
It was MARCH 10, 1971 when India toppled the mighty West Indies at Port-Of-Spain to win that match and then the series by 1-0 , and then again, AUGUST 24th 1971, some 4 years afterward the senior Indian cricket team thereafter defeated England by six wickets at the OVAL and then came June 26 1983( IST) exactly 16 years and 20 days on June 25th 1983 ……. PARADOX….. !!..!!..??..??
We talk so much of Indian cricket saying that ….THAT Team of India was responsible….. this team of India was responsible….. he of that team was responsible…… beacause of him the Indian cricket touched that HIEGHT.
Actually this was the INDIAN team which laid the platform for all the other Indian team to put their feat on the platform to take off ….. to an unprecedented height, and Surinder Amarnath was the one who showed how to hit the sixes when required to be hit. He is the FIRST left hander in the world of cricket to hit two consecutive sixes in two deliveries. Salim Durrani became the second Left hander to hit four of four consecutive deliveries.
The MAN who on that day said that Surinder Amarnath would…… ( I do not want to mention…. It hurts)….. was the FIRST to hit SIX consecutive sixes in an over of Malcolm Nash, the very next day after this match got over in a Gillette Cup match followed by Yuvraj Singh .The difference between the MAN who was the FIRST to hit those SIX – SIXES and Yuvraj Singh was- he hit all the sixes where the distance of the groung was 95 yards from the wickets whereas Yuvraj was beneficiary of the 68 yards. Ravi Shashtri batted right to hit six consecutive sixes in an over of Tilak Raj in Ranji Trophy match against Baroda, though Ravi was a left hand bowler. Of the Right Handed Batsman, Gordon Greenidge had hit Kapil Dev for six consecutive sixes in an exhibition match in an over, that the West Indies team played at Wankhede Stadium, on their way to tour Pakistan in 1986.
Surinder Amarnath always had his younger brother Mohinder who mostly played along with him and had made his Test debut 7 years before him; but Mohinder Amarnath, and his handsome features, on-field swagger, and dazzling strokeplay had already made him famous.
Surinder sizzled on arrival, smashing 124 at Auckland and outscoring Sunil Gavaskar in a 204-run stand. Lala and Surinder became the first father-and-son pair to score hundreds on Test debut. Unfortunately, just like Lala, Surinder did not score another hundred, finishing with 550 runs from 10 Tests at 31.
There were several innings of note. He scored 63, 14, 40, and 63 in consecutive innings against England at home in 1976-77. He also did not do too poorly in his last series, when India were humiliated in Pakistan, but never played again. He also played 3 ODIs on that tour, scoring 100 runs including 62 in the disputed match at Sahiwal.
In domestic cricket, Surinder scored 8,175 runs at 40, having made his First-Class debut 3 years before that schoolboys’ tour. These are not phenomenal numbers, but he was the backbone of the Delhi side that rose into prominence in the late 1970s.
Before all that, he kept delivering in domestic cricket throughout the 1970s, peaking in 1971-72 and 1972-73, with 938 runs at 55 with 2 double-hundreds. Exactly why he did not find a place in the Test side during this period remains a mystery. He proved his point with 118 in an unofficial Test against Sri Lanka.
He kept scoring heavily in domestic season even after his international career was over, and played a crucial role in Delhi reaching 4 Ranji finals in a row, winning 3 of them. In fact, Surinder was there when Delhi reached their first Ranji final, in 1976-77; starting that season Delhi reached the final 12 times in 16 attempts, lifting the title 6 times. Along with Madan Lal, Surinder Khanna, and brother Mohinder, Surinder Amarnath carried Bishan Singh Bedi’s legacy, handing it over to the next generation.
There were talks of a recall in 1980-81, when he had a sequence of 242*, 104, 28, and 144, but that never materialised.
While Mohinder played for Delhi, youngest brother Rajinder played for Haryana. Surinder’s son Digvijay plays domestic cricket in Sri Lanka.
Ironically we do have have the School Cricket and the National School Cricket championship held at all any more.
The Team::
.> Pic courtesy: JK Mahendra collection
Mr Shyamal Bhattacharjee, the author was born at West Chirimiri Colliery at District Surguja, Chattisgarh on July 6th 1959 He received his early education at Carmel Convent School Bishrampur and later at Christ Church Boys' Higher Secondary School at Jabalpur. He later joined Hislop College at Nagpur and completed his graduation in Science and he also added a degree in B A thereafter. He joined the HITAVADA, a leading dailies of Central India at Nagpur as a Sub-Editor ( Sports ) but gave up to complete his MBA in 1984 He thereafter added a Diploma In Export Management. He has authored THREE books namely Notable Quotes and Noble Thought published by Pustak Mahal in 2001 Indian Cricket : Faces That Changed It published by Manas Publications in 2009 and Essential Of Office Management published by NBCA, Kolkatta in 2012. He has a experience of about 35 years in Marketing .
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