Yehi Who Jagah Hai Yehi Who Fizaye ……… Is This The Greatest Ever Indian Hockey XI ...............

Head Pic-:: 

Jaipal Singh, Captain 1928, Indian Olympic Hockey Gold Medal winning Team

Yehi Who Jagah hai Yehi Who Fizaye ………The Greatest Ever Indian Hockey XI

“ Yehi Par Wafa Ka Naya Rung Bharkar, Banayi Thi Chhahat Ki Tasveer Tumnay,

Yehi Kay Bhaharon Ka Phoolon Koh Chunkar , Sawari Thi Ulfat Ki Taqdeeer Tumnay

Who Din Aapko Bhala Yaad Kaise Dilaye “ ……………

This is the SONG from the film “YEH RAAT PHIR NA AAYEGI ” SUNG BY THAT “ KHANT SANJIVEENI ” MADAM ASHA BHOSLE ………….

Sometimes I feel and ALWAYS I FEEL-:

Sometimes I wonder,  “ if AshaTai wouldn't have been there what would these great poets and music directors have created “

This is the song that I first heard when I was a KID of only SEVEN years of age in 1966 just after that INFAMOUS FIFTH ASIAN GAMES FINAL when India under Shankar Laxman had defeated Pakistan by 1-0 in an “ BOMBARDING-THE-INDIAN-GOAL” finals of that Asian games, the goal scorer being that mercurial BALBIR SINGH JUNIOR of Indian Railways

  “ FOR THE  RECORD OF THOSE WHO FOLLOW INDIAN HOCKEY – THERE HAVE BEEN FIVE BALBIR SINGH WHO HAVE PLAYED FOR INDIA AND THREE OF THEM WERE THE CENTRE FORWARDS, THE OTHER TWO BEING IN THE FORWARD LINE BUT NOT AS THE PURE CENTRE FORWARDS ”

From that day ie that day was December 19^th to this day when I’m alive every moment and every time I felt that  I SHOULD BE WRITING A COMPLETE ARTICLE ON THE BEST EVER INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM THAT HAS WON “EIGHT” OLYMPICS HOCKEY GOLD, ONE OLYMPICS  “SILVER” , TWO OLYMPICS “ BRONZE ” ,  FOUR ASIAN GAMES GOLD AND ONE WORLD CUP IN 1975 .

Choosing the ALL-GREATEST HOCKEY XI team had taken me about  FIFTY FOUR years of concentration and time to focus completely on those ELEVEN players who would be making it to the FIRST ELEVEN  and those SEVEN players in the reserves.

 I HAVE IN THE LAST 54 YEARS TRIED BUT COULD NOT FIND THE 18^TH PLAYERS THAT MAKES THE COMPLETE OLYMPICS TEAM OF THE GREATEST INDIAN HOCKEY XI WHICH WOULD COMPRISE THE GREATEST ECER INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM

I STILL WOULD RESEARCH AND MAKE THIS THE PERFECT EVER...... TILL THEN THIS ARTICLE MAY BE CONSTRUED AS THE BEST EVER INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM .....

In doing this I have taken every Indian hockey team and it’s players from 1928 to 2020 that either played in the Olympics, or the World Cup, or the Champion Trophy or the Asian Games or any other International assignment of hockey in which India participated.

Even after finding and researching for those GREATEST EVER 18 PLAYERS that comprises the team – I COULD NOT SELECT MY 18^TH PLAYER That gives you an impression HOW HARD IT HAS BEEN TO CONCENTRATE ON THE SAME FOR 54 YEARS & STILL MISSING THE BULL EYE by 5.56% . That is the MAGIC that HOCKEY holds for India when it comes to picking the team with 100% result.

Infact today ie on June 30^th 2020 I celebrate my IST ANNIVERSARY OF TWEETING AND THIS ARTICLE IS ALL ABOUT PRESENTING MY TWEET READERS A “ GIFT” FOR ASSOCIATING WITH ME ON THE TWEET PAGE FOR THEIR IMPRESSION

At the end of it after reading this article ONE would really feel that the song WHO RAAT PHIR NAA AYEGI absolutely SIMILISES with those lines ending with “ WHO DIN BHALA AAPKO YAAD KAISAY DILAYE ”……..

Well my GREATEST Hockey team with these players and why did they make it to the GREATEST ever Indian Hockey XI is illustrated as under-:

Goalkeeper – Shankar Laxman

This man started his career when he was selected for the LIGHT MARATHA INFANTARY in the Indian Army .  He was at first a Left Full Back when he started playing .His daily work out at the Infantry was observed very keenly by the officials of that infantry and he was put into certain kind of REFLEXES TONING DRILLS by the Infantry.

Pic-: Shankar Laxman

One fine day when these boys from the infantries were playing a hockey game amongst themselves, the actual goalkeeper of that team for one of the two teams playing that game on that day received a ghastly injury and was rushed to the hospital.It was then Shankar Laxman took that position and he SAVED THREE penalty strokes and about seven penalty corner by his AMAZING and UNBELIEVABLE reflexes.

This TEN saves were ACTUALLY TEN GOALS but none could be converted in a goal that day The Coach who wa actually a national level of Hockey player for India, Mr Bandu Patil was absolutely STUNNED to see this. Mr Bandu patil was from Kolhapur and had represented India in the 1958 Asian Games without playing any game in that Asiad . He told Lazman- YOU ARE THE GOALKEEPER FOR “ MLI ” .

Thus started Laxman’s career as a goalkeeper. What was so GREAT about Laxman. Well first his REFLEXES could beat the REFLEXES of the WIND that is so swift to change it’s direction. It was NOT that easy for Laxman to possess that kind of reflexes but his DRILLS made him to achieve that.

Second comes his POWER-OF-ANTICIPATION. Laxman was the one WHO BROUGHT THE CONCEPT OF INSTRUCTING THE PLAYERS FORWARD TO TAKE THE POSITIONS TWO SECONDS BEFORE THE ACTUAL MOVE BY AN OPPONENT STARTS.

He could looking into a move very easily find how the moves will end in the Indian Goal and for that whih would be the best position to take for him to frustrate and nullify the shots taken at goal.

Third HIS readings of the one who would go to take the penalty corners and immediately read out how would he hit them and where he ought to take his position to thwart those hits at the goal. Fourth- his complete control and his placement of the body to thwart the PENALY SHOTS and lastly HIS “ LIONISM ” under the bar

He was absolutely a FEARLESS LION under the GOAL with full assurance to his COACH that Laxman will NEVER allow any goals to be conceded.

Infact in 1966 when India won that Asian games INDIA DID NOT CONCEDE ANY GOALS IN THAT TOURNAMENT FROM THE FIRST GAME TO THE FINALS Such was his MARTIAL ART in the GOAL where he used all the ART of KUNG-FU and KARATE to thwart all that when it came to the Indian goal.

There are TWO class examples of Laxman which the WORLD OF HOCKEY never forgets to mention.The FIRST was the example of that Hockey finals between India and Pakistan in the 1962 Asian games which I will write afterwards. The SECOND was the Olympics Tokyo finals in 1964 when in the last ten minutes of that games he denied Munir Dar- THE  “ GHATOTKACH ” OF THAT PAKISTAN TEAM FOR AS MANY AS TEN PENALTY CORNERS IN THE LAST TEN MINUTES TO HELP INDIA TO WIN THAT GOLD AND not to forget that “ BOMBARDING-THE-INDIAN-GOAL” in the finals of that Asian games in 1966 when he led India to that FIRST ever Asian Hockey games Gold medal. In that game too HE COMPLETELY SAVED ATLEAST TEN GOALS FOR INDIA IN THAT SEVENTY MINUTES OF THAT FINALS to give India the Gold in that finals.

Laxman had lost his FRONT teeth .You and would you all like to know WHY and HOW. In the 1962 Hockey finals of the Asian games Munir Dar hit a shot which could be termed as the BALLISTIC OF THE RAFAEL .That shot was a UNDERCUTTING but after he hit that one, the ball hit a stick of an Indian defender and rose up further more to enter the Indian goal. Sensing that goal, he flung his body , diving to the ball and put his MOUTH in front of the ball.The goal was saved but thr  RASP of the ball was such that it broke his MOUTH and the FRONT TOOTH. Yet he played without any bandage on his mouth or without taking any medical aid.That was his LIONISM though India lost that match by 2-0 to Pakistan.More about that game and MORE about that incident from where Pakistan could not beat India for five consecutive years in Hockey till 1967 when laxman finally ended playing hockey in 1967.

Laxman wa the ONLY goalkeeper in the annals and history of HOCKEY who could TURNS his entire body by 360 degree wearing those kind of hockey attires which are worn by the goalkeeper and within a wink of the eye  or within a flash and come back to his original position.That was the PROPELLING SPEED OF HIS BODY INTERMS OF “ ANGULARS ” and all these he could make it by the way he received his military training at the MLI at Belgaum where he started his Army career and his hockey.MLI is again famous for Nana Patekar who was an Army Ofiicer in this Institute of the Indian Army.

That Shankar Laxman did not loose to Pakistan from 1962 to 1967 saving atleast thirty goals from Munir Dar and his hits and not losing any games to Germany, Holland and Australia at any moment of his hockey career and atleast saving say about 100 goals in the form of penalty corners from these THREE countries makes him the GREATEST EVER GOALKEEPER THAT THE WORLD OF HOCKEY HAS PRODUCED and the place AUTOMATICALLY for him to be the FIRST CHOICE as the goalkeeper for the GREATEST EVER HOCKEY  ELEVEN INDIAN TEAM .

Laxman had won a Silver in the 1962 Asian games, a GOLD in the 1964 Olympics  and again a Gold in the 1966 Asian Games before he said GOOD-BYE to hockey after the 1967 FOUR NATION INVITATIONAL tourney where India finished LAST drawing all their game 0-0 against Pakistan, 0-0 against West Germany and 1-1 against Holland , Germany winning that title.

At the end of this article there will be many anecdotes which I would write but I move onto the next

TWO FULL BACKS - :

The next comes the two full back and I start with Randhir Singh Gentle .

Randhir Singh Gentle - ::

This man  from Punjab actually hailed fron Sansarpur which has the RECORD of THROWING about more than ONE HUNDRED HOCKEY players into the Indian National Hockey team.

Gentle first was a Wrestler in his younger days. He turned to Hockey just by watching a school game when he was only 14 years of age and he SIMPLY by his choice took on the field as a Left half. During his formative years in the school playing this game his FIRST coach of his life the School Coach Sardar Sansar Singh put him to the Left Full Back position .That was the place he shifted to but kept of shifting his gear by switching his position at the Right Full Back position also for the Punjab University. Infact when he played his first nationals way back in 1947, he played as a Right Full Back for his state team Punjab but later he was fielded as a Left Full Back for India.

Pic - :

 Randhir Singh Gentle :: LEFT FULL BACK standing sixth from left on the third row.

Gentle’s greatness lays in the FACT that he was NEVER a “ GENTLE ” when he came to take those penalty corners. The greatest example was when he took that penalty corner against Pakistan in the finals of the 1956 Olympics. The match was a cliff hanger and it was Pakistan who continuously would swamp the Indian goal. Minutes afer minutes the Pakistanis were looming large at the Indian goal. It was Randhir Singh Gentle, his WRESTLER like wrist and his WRESTLER like STRENGTH which would TACKLE all the ammunitions that the Pakistani had on that day. ONE HIT THEREAFTER and the ball would reach the Pakistani half to the Indians to produce the counters. . On that day he saved THREE SURE-SHOT GOALS of the Pakistani by stretching his hand, holding the stick in one hand to DEAD STOP the ball on his stick and from there produced those MISSILES fired at the Pakistani goal for the Indians to counter.

It was ONE from the PENALTY CORNER SHOT – the FORCE and the POWER that it carried that the Pakistani Goalkeeper out of FRIGHT went aside when the ball was traveling to him at the goal. Gentle’s shot that one that day hit the GOAL BOARD at the back and RICHOTIATED in  such a manner that it travelled all the way from there to the CENTRE LINE position. . The ANGRY Pakistani playes when asked the goalkeeper of Pakistani about why did he do that, his reply was- MERA TAANG TOOT JATA AUR WHO KABHIE BHI THEEK NAHI HOTA . It maesn that MY LEGS WOULD HAVE BEEN BROKEN FOR IT NEVER TO BE REPAIRED. That was the REPLY . Such were the POWER that his shot as a STING would carry
In the picture above just see the THIRD row.The Sardarji and the GREAT man standing SIXTH from the left is Randhir Singh Gentle.

Gentle was a very CANNY kind of a defender who always would read the moves of the opponent and take the right place at the most appropriate time to defend.In that Oympics at Melbourne, India had won the First TWO games by the score of 14-0 and 16-0 against her opponent and in that TOURNAMENT, India DID NOT CENCEDE A SINGLE GOAL to her opponent. It was because randhir kept on keeping all the opponents at bay and kept the score board CLEAN and INTACT.

He was a very powerful driver of the ball when he and it came to take those penalty corners. His another fine point was that he was very ACCURATE and ABSOLUTELY a DEAD-BALL-STOPPER when he tackled his opponent. His ability to thwart the opponents while in motion and taking away the ball from his opponents were like the LION TAKING AWAY IT’S PREY FROM THE MOUTH OF IT’S OPPONENT when it came to it. He would never allow the opponents to pass him and pass him at all.

He won THREE OLYMPIC GOLDS in the THREE events that were held in 1948 at London, 1952 at Helsinki and 1956 at Melbourne before he retired from the game . In his entire hockey career that he  represented India, he only CONCEDED  only four goals, One each to Argentina and Holland in 1948, ands one each to Great Britain and Holland in 1952 . That is it . Actually in the Olympic Finals of the 1956 if that is taken into account Pakistan should have beaten India by 3-1 but THOSE THREE GOAL SAVES BY HIM  just on the goalline which won India the GOLD. Since he could FIT himself at Both the position he is MY automatic choice for the BEST ever LEFT FULL BACK in this team

Next comes “ PRITIPAL SINGH ” for the RIGHT FULL BACK POSITION

A “ XEROX ” COPY OF RANDHIR SINGH GENTLE .What more can I write. To start with a YOUNG WRESTLER , then shifting to hockey to play in the Right Full Back Position and all the same INGREDIENTS of Randhir Singh Gentle. Nothing DIFFERENT from Randhir Singh Gentle except that he played in the RIGHT FULL BACK POSITION from the day ONE to the LAST of 1969 when he played Hockey for India and retired after the INVITATIONAL HOCKEY COMPETITION representing the IHF  Indian Blues .  EVERY INCH A XEROX COPY OF RANDHIR SINGH GENTLE

Pic - : Prithipal Singh  

Captained India in the 1968 Mexico Olympics jointly with Gurbax Singh and won a Gold in the 1964 Olympics for India and a Bronze for it in 1968. He was FEARED like anything  especially by the Pakistani’s when it to that and NO Pakistani player ever would try to come anywhere near him.That was his LIONISM on the field.

I turn down to my bits on the THREE CENTRE HALVES and start with my CENTRE HALF position.

CENTRE HALF -:

Charanjit Kumar Singh

Pics - : 

Charanjit  Singh

He took out that name KUMAR from his name to become CHARANJIT SINGH. Once when a JOURNALIST from Pakistan had askd him- WHY DID HE CHOOSE TO TAKE AWAY THAT MID NAME KUMAR HE JOKINGLY REPLIED  “ I WANT TO BECOME THE  “PRINCE “ OF HOCKEY ON THE FIELD AND NOT BY THE NAME . He REALLY was the “ PRINCE ” of the MIDFIELD and he could be GUAZED and ASSUMED that  HE WAS THE  “BEST” CENTRE HALF IE THE MIDFIELDER OF THE GAME OF HOCKEY THAT HAD EVER PRODUCED ANY MIDFIELDER.

What was so SPECIAL about this man . It was his MORE-THAN-THE-PERFECT-BALL-CONTROL and his PROFICIENCY and EFFICIENCY to send that kind of a PIN-POINT-ACCURATE-PASS from the range of five feet on the field to a range of about 50 yards on the field. His SCOOPS were the RAINBOW ARCH that the RAINBOW could make out of the same.

His dribbling within a range if ONE-SQUARE – FEET with the ball glued to his stick  COULD BE EQUALISED by Mohammed Shahid and Shahid Noor beside the Great Dhyanchand. His trapping wa such that the MAGNET- TRAPPING-THE-IRON to stick to it. His uncanny readings of the moves and to take the appropriate position at the NICK of the time to snatch the ball from the opponents, and then to spray the ball onto the field to lauch the counter attack was something which still has NO-PARALLEL .

It was in 1962 when the finals was played , of the FOURTH Asian games  that were in progress.That was the  SECOND edition of the  Asian games Hockey finals played as Hockey was NOT palyed in the 1951 and the 1954 edition of the Asian games,  between India and Pakistan. In the 27^th minute he suffered a JAW BREAKING moment when a rasping shot of  Brigadier Atif hit his face when Pakistan took that penalty corner. He had to leave the field and thereafter Pakistan scored TWO to beat India to WIN her SECOND ASIAN TITLE .

Coming back after healing his injury, he travelled all along to   MHOW ( MILITARY HEAD OFFICE OF WAR ) to meet Shankar Laxman and from there they TRAVELLED to the GANESH TEKADA at Indore at Khajrana to take a  VOW- AUR KABHIE BHI HUM PAKISTAN KOH JEETNAY NAHI DENGAY. It means that WE WILL NOT ALLOW PAKISTAN TO WIN ANYMORE.

These TWO then NEVER allowed Pakistan to win from that day till 1967 when finally Shankar Laxman retired from the game .Charanjit Kumar had retired immediately after the 1964 Olympics after captaining India in that Olympics to win that Gold.

He won a GOLD in the 1964 Olympics and the Silver in the 1960 at Rome . Complete CONTROL of the ball by him at the Centre Half position and then completely keeping the game and his forwards at the moves by his distribution and ABOVE ALL falling at the most appropriate time at the back to help the defenders makes him a OUT-OF-THE-WORLD kind of a Centre-Half and he had NO PEERS to equalize him when it came to that .

 Leslie Claudius

Right Half back-:  

Why is that I’m choosing a player at the Right half Back position when he was ACCLAIMED as ONE-OF-THE-BEST-CENTRE-HALF of the World. Well there are TWO reasons for that. He played as a RIGHT HALF in the London Olympics and also in the Helsinki Olympics before he changed his position to the Centre half for the 1956 Olympics and the 1960 Rome Olympics.

There CANNOT be ANYBODY who can be EQUAL to Charanjit Singh as the CENTRE-HALF and they cannot be anybody who can AFFORD to drop a player like Leslie Claudius from any team that plays hockey . HE HAS TO BE THERE AND THAT IS THE THUMB RULE.Well that position of RIGHT HALF as his and ALWAYS his.

Pics-:

 Leslie Claudius

Starting as a footballer in the RIGHT HALF WING POSIOTION he had travelled all the way from Bilaspur at Chattisgarh in 1946 to Kharagpur to get selected for the B N railway team and he found himself selected as a HOCKEY player for that team.

One year with the B N Railways in 1947 for Hockey saw him getting a JOB at the CUSTOMS at Kolkatta and thereafter it was HOCKEY for him.

A player with TREMENDOUS SPEED which a WING HALF of a FOOTBALLER is for OVERLAPPING, his dribblings to cut off four to five players so easily when on the runs, his so very PIN POINT accuracy and an absolute pefect defense split passes made him a CYNOSRE of all the eye.

He was SOON selected for the Indian team for the 1948 Olympics as the Right Half of the taem and from there till 1960 it was THREE “GOLD” and a SILVER at Rome . He cahged his position in 1956 as per the advise of Balbir Singh Senior to play as a CENTRE-HALF just Behind Balbir to feed him with those JUICE and for balbir to score.The “ B-C ” combination as they say was such that the WORLD would find it too HARD to bear and the PAKISTANI’S would fall on their feet to pray their LORD to save them from the IGINOMIES from the combo and their WITCHING tactics to tear apart their defense .

 “ UNDOUBTEDLY ONE OF THE GEATEST EVER INDIAN HOCKEY PLAYE TO WIN THREE OLYMPIC GOLD , TWO COMING AS A RIGHT HALF BACK AND ONE EACH A SILVER AND A GOLD COMING IN AS A CENTRE HALF IE THE MIDFIELDER “.

Left Centre Half ie the LEFT HALF

Harmik Singh

What can you say of a PLAYER whose 1000% comes ONLY WHEN HE PLAYS WITH HIS HEAD COMPLETELY BOILING AND IN IT’S WORST OF THE TEMPER

Can you ever guess a PLAYER who just cannot play the GAME with 100% accuracy playing it with a LEVEL HEAD . Imagine a PLAYER who would play the MOST accurate game only when his TEMPER was as high as the 11^th SKY with so much of perfection. YES- IF THERE WAS ANY WHO PLAYED WITH THAT KIND OF A MINDSET IT WAS THIS MAN FROM THE PUNJAB POLICE TEAM WHOSE NAME WAS  “ HARMIK SINGH ”

Pics –
Harmik Singh

His position was  at the Left Half and he was the KING when he darted with the ball from the flank to the opponent goal or from his position to his own gal to support the defenders when it came to saving the attack from his opponent.

Beautiful ball control on the run, absolute  maintain his speed constantly, deft placement coupled with  BODY SWERVES, BALL-STOPS-DEAD when tackling and above all his PIN POINT ACCURACY leaving the goalline  for thwarting th penalty corners of the opponent and NOT to forget his ACCURACY of the PENALTY STROKE conversion makes him an automatic choice for that position.

“ He won a SILVER for India in the 1970 Asian Games, won the Bronze for India in the 1971, inaugural World Cup hockey, again a Bronze in the  1972 Olympics at Munich  , won the Silver in the 1973 World Cup hockey and the Silver in the 1974 Asian Games beside being the coach of that Indian Hockey team which lost the Finals to Pakistan by 1-7 in the New Delhi Asian Games in 1982 “ .

After having finished with the half line as well as the entire defense line I shall turn my way to the FORWARDS.

I’m  PLACING THE PLAYERS AS PER THE 5-3-2-1 COMBINATION WHICH HAD BEEN THE TRADE MARK OF THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF ASIAN HOCKEY AND THE WORLD HOCKEY AT LARGE.

The list of my forwards are such that makes into the GREATEST EVER ALL TIME INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM.

I start with the Left Wing ie the LEFT WINGER in the forward position. It starts as under-:

Left Winger

Harbinder Singh-:

Nothing can be DESCRIBED so BEAUTIFUL of a HOCKEY player who darts from the left wing, ARCHES like the RAINBOW arching at its end to penetrate with that a kind of ANGLING BODY that controls the BODY and the BALL simultaneously and combines with the Inside Left playing the ONE-TWO to finally relay the ball with such an accuracy to the Centre-Forward to score.

Harbinder Singh gaian and again and again from the 1964 Olympics where India won the GOLD to the 1972 Olympics when India won the Bronze kept on playing that kind of the EYE-ATTRACTING hockey for India in that position.

Pics- 

Harbinder Singh 

Harbinder was a MAGIC – MARVEL to watch with his so controlled beautiful runs at the flank  from the left with such an accurate passing from the flanks to his peers. His dribbling was another FEATHER to his caps and above all HIS-BALL-CONTROL which was a TREAT to the eye.

He won the Olympic Gold for India in the 1964 Olympics at Tokyo, a GOLD for India in the 1966 Asian Games beating Pakistan by 1-0 in the finals , a Bronze in the 1968 Olympics, a Silver in the 1970 asian games captaining the side which had lost to Pakistan by the SUDDEN-DEATH goal that was scored against India in the 119^th munite of that game when Abdul Rashid Junior scored that one, a Bronze again in the 1971 Inaugural World Cup and again a BRONZE in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

 IT WAS  SAID FOR HIM THAT HE NEVER RETURNED EMPTY HANDED WHENEVER HE PLAYED FOR INDIA IN THE INTERNATIONALS.

Left-In Position ie the LEFT WINGER

Mohammed Shahid

If ever there was ANY player in this WORLD who could PLAY the SAME amount of the BALL-PERFECT game on the GRASS and then transhift to raising his DEGREE of the game everytime by ONE DEGREE on either the POLYGRASS or the ASTRO-TURF it was this man from Varanasi and India.

There were many a MURMERS from the hockey players those days when they were asked to shift playing form the grass to the POLYGRASS and ASTRO-TURF. All over the WORLD the players playing were very SKEPTICAL about their game BUT NOT THIS MAN.

Pics - : 

Mohammed Shahid

He was the FIRST one in the entire WORLD to RAISE his ACCURACY and it’s EFFICIENCY to many a DEGREE on the scale while playing in the POLYGRASS first in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and then at the various ASTRO-TURF all over the world.

It was HE  the “ FIRST ” who proved that  “ THERE EXISTS NO BLAMES AND BLUFF ABOUT PLAYING HOCKEY IN ANY SURFACE BE IT EITHER THE ANE, OR THE GLASS OR THE GRASS OR ANY KIND OF A SYNTHETIC TURF IF YOU KNEW HOW TO PLAY THE GAME “.

There are THREE hockey players WHO HAVE NOT COMMITED EVEN A SINGLE WRONG WHILE PLAYING THE GAMES IN THE WORLD. Well the FIRST was Dhyanchand, the SECOND was Mohammed Shahid and the LAST one was Shahid Noor of India and Indian Airlines.

Pics - : 

Mohammed Shahid in “ ONE ” of his “ DEVASTATING ” run to the opponent circle

 “ What was so unique about Shahid. The FIRST is his DASH where he would beat the BEST of the 100 metres runner in India, the SECOND was his BALL CONTROL. IN AN HALF A SQUARE FEET SURROUNDED WITH AS MANY AS NINE PLAYERS HE WOULD CUT THEM LIKE THE KNIFE CUTTING THE CARROT courtest  his DRIBBLINGS, third was the BALL-CONTROL with that kind of a VELOCITIC SPEED wherein he would run through the ENTIRE DEFENSE like the RED-HOT-KNIFE- RUNS-THROUGH-THE-BUTTER, fourth his SUCH A DEFENSE SPILIITING PASS from the top of the D to his fellow forwards to score, Fifth, his BODY-SWERVES coupled with his WRIST which sprayed the ball to COMPLETELY QUASH the defense like anything, Sixth- his SHOTS off the LONG CORNERS to the goal and Seventh his ON-THE-RUNS- shots coupled with dribbling at the goals ”

Shahid played the GAME at the WRONG time for India. He should have played in the ERAS of either the 1928-1936 along with Dhyanchand or in the era between the period of 1956 to 1968. Had he played INDIA WOULD HAVE ALWAYS WON THE OLYMPIC GOLD AND ANY OTHER TITLES THAT WAS BEING PLAYED THEN

Shahid’s Accuracy and his “ DRIBBLINGS ”

Once  Mr Jhamanlal Sharma,  who was the Assistant Coach of the Indian Hockey team was asked by an Pakistani journalist-  “ WHAT IS SO UNIQUE ABOUT SHAHID The reply was- “ SHAHID CAN TEAR APART AND RIP THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA IF HE HAS TO GET PAST IT BY HIS THAT KIND OF AN GLUED-STICK-DRIBBLING WITH PIERCING THE WALL LIKE A NEEDLE PIERCES THE CLOTH FOR STITCHING “ .

Shahid was SIMPLY a TREAT to the EYE like the TASTE of the SWEET “ ICE-CREAM ” in it’s fullest FROZEN form and was as SWEET as a “ CANDY ” as well as “ TASTY ” as the                     “ ROSOGOLLAS ” are when it comes to it, when in action on the field .

His accuracy of the passes, and his COMPLETE TEARING of the DEFENSE with that a kind of BALL-CONTROL and “ DASH ”  coupled with that kind of an “ HIGH-INTENSIVE-DRIBBLINGS ” could make any LION feel SHAME of it’s expedition as those were the kind of an 100% accuracy with which he operated-  “ ALWAYS-ALWAYS –AND-ALWAYS “ .

 SHAHID COULD BE TERMED AS THE  “ MODERN DHYANCHAND OF THE SYSTHETIC TURF’S HOCKEY “

Centre-Forward::

Roop Singh - ::

There is a SONG that says-:

 ROOP TERA AISA , DARPAN MAI NAA SAMAYE, KHUSHBOO TERI AISEE

JOH MUN MAI NAA SAMAYE

MUJHE KHUSHI MILI AISEE JOH JEEVAN MAI NAA SAMAYE

This song was SUNG by the GREATEST “ Kishoreda ” and this is from the film “ EK BAAR MUSKURA DOH ”

I’m SURE that this SONG was written after keeping Roop Singh game in the mind .Youngest of the THREE Brothers of the Singh family whose eldest was Dhyanchand and the middle one was Mool Singh , Roop Singh had a FACE which was just made for HOCKEY and his game always BEAUTIFIED the game in it’s natural form.

Pics - : 

Roop Singh

Hockey in the form of the game and that one which was played as a CENTRE-FORWARD by ROOP SINGH just cannot be REPLICATED till the WORLD EXISTS and the ENJOYMENT ie the KHUSHI that the people got were like JEEVAN MAI NA SAMAYE. The END result would be – “ EK BAAR MUSKURA DOH ” A smile of the most MYST would come out from everybody’s mouth whenever he scored ONE for India That was the STYLE and the CLASS with which he scored

Two Olympics 1932 and 1936 and TWENTY SIX goals as a Centre forward with ELEVEN as his HIGHEST in ONE against the USA India beating them by 24-1,  in 1932 in the FINALS a RECORD which I do NOT think that it will vever be broken.

A FAST-MEDIUM speedster but a player on whose STICK the ADDRESS was always written when he moved with the ball- “ GOAL ” with his so accurate PIERCING capacity, TEARING the opponent’s defense by that kind of a SPEED coupled with the ball control and dribblings and the PICTURE-PERFECT shooting from any angle from the “D” to score a GOAL Roop Singh would PASS on the POINTS or on the EYE-OF-THE-NEEDLE with the ball without his body or his stick touching the TWO edges of the EYE of the needle to score- “  that was his accuracy ” .

Right In-::

Dhyan Chand

Well  THE SUN RISES FROM THE EAST AND SETS ON THE WEST . Any Doubt. Well the LIGHT emitted by the SUN dispels the DARKNESS. Any doubt. Well  YOU CANNOT LOOK AT THE SUN AS IT’S RAY WILL DAMAGE YOUR EYE AND WILL TURN YOU BLIND Any Doubts.

 CAN ANYTHING BE WRITTEN ABOUT THE SUN AND IT’S VIRTUES. ANY DOUBTS

No DOUBT that DHYANCHAND WAS THE “ GREATEST ” MAGICIAN OF “ WRIST-PLAY- GAME-OF- HOCKEY ”  AND THAT IS THAT ”

“ THE FIRST PLAYER ON THE PLANET EARTH TO SCORE OVER A “ THOUSANDS ” GOAL IN THE FIELD BALL GAME IN THE HISTORY OF ANY SPORTS FOLLOWED BY KING PELE AND ROMARIO BOTH OF BRAZIL”. –

Dhyanchand could have scored about SEVEN HUNDREDS opf GOALS for India in all the game that he played for India but he NEVER was interested on scoring.He was interested on ASSISTING his players to score.

Pics - :  

Dhyanchand

Dhyanchand is the ONLY one along with Pele who NEVER went in to score from the PENALTIES, STROKE in Hockey and KICKS in Football. These TWO never believed in it and in that- “ NEVER ” .He could have easily ended his career with over 1500 plus goals as aginst the 1024 that he scored However HE DID NOT BELIEVE IN SCORING BUT TO HELP THE OTHER’S SCORING .

Nothing more to write about him.

Right Out

K.D.Singh “ Babu ”

K D Singh babu at the Right Out position was the Dhyanchand of India in and at the Right-in position

A class in the sense that K D Singh Babu had NO error in the game when it came to passing, trapping, swerving, body-feinting, DRIBBLES and those passes from the flanks to either Dhyanchand during the 1948 East African tour by the Indian Hockey team, or to Balbir Singh Senior from 1948 to 1952 till the moment he played hockey for India.

Pics-::

K D Singh " BABU " 

The recipient of the “ HELMS-AWARD ” for being ADJUDICATED as the BEST OLYMPIAN of the 1952 Olympics amongst the ENTIRE Olympians participating in the Helsinki Olympics Babu in one word could be DESCRIBED as the “ XEROX-COPY-OF-MAJOR-DHYANCHAND ”

The ONLY Indian Hockey player to beat Dhyanchand in the tour of 1948 by scoring NINTY GOALS in that tour in the entire TOUR by the Indian Hockey team playing the matches at various places at Africa, sidelining Dhyanchand with 72 goals that Dhyanchand had scored in that tour.

The reason of Dhyanchand not scoring to beat Babu was Dhyanchand desperately wanted Babu to take a place in the Indian team and secondly Dhyanchand was almost 43 years of age which by that standard was TOO OLD TO PLAY HOCKEY. He did not regret himself too much for scoring these goals but help Babu to score.Yet he finished the tour with 72 goals on that tour

These would make the CUTS for their places in the BEST ever HOCKEY team of India.

Very FEW would know that Kunwar Digvijay Singh Babu was an OUTSIDE Right to start with and he played in that position in the 1948 Olympics .He then in the 1952 Olympics switched to the INDSIE RIGHT position to make the way for Rajagopal of HAL and then ICF ( Integral Coach factory, Perambur )  to get a berth for him for the 1952 Olympics . Rajagopal from the period of 1952 to 1960 was the BESTOUTSIDE RIGHT in the WORLD and for India .

K D Singh babu getting that piece of Major Dhyanchand where Dhyanchand advised him to cut in with precision and provide the ASSISTS to Balbir Singh Senior after tat African sojourn, completely gave away scoring for India and kept on providing those JUICES and JUICY pass from the flanks to the Centre for them to score . No doubt for his TEAM GAME and SACRIFICE for the sake of TEAM he was awarded the HELMS AWARD for the BEST Olympians for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics

Now I shall make the other names as the RESERVES for India.

I start with the goalkeeping position.

 Chinnadorai Deshmuthu:: First Reserve Goalkeeper

A CLASS of a Goalkeeper with a very HIGh essence of the undertsnding of the basics of Goalkeeping is what MR Deshmuthu was as an Goalkeeeper

Chinnadorai Desamuthu became the youngest gold medalist for India. He was 19 years and 272 days when India won the Olympic title in the Helsinki Games

 What was the difference between Shankar Laxman and Deshmuthu. It was the AMAZING-OUT-OF-THE-THINKING-REFLEXES and ANTICIPATION that Shankar Laxman because of his Army Traning possessed That was the only difference between these two goalkeeper.However the LEFT-KICKS by Deshmuthu could have made the FOOTBALL PLAYERS rub their eye in disbelief the manner in which Deshmuthu kicked those balls during the penalty corners thwarts. Deshmuthu again was the member of the 1956 Olympic team which won the GOLD again . That was his class .

Defense ::

Left Full Back

Aslam Sher Khan

If there was ONE hockey player whose entire career was RUINED by the SET-UP of hockey first and then the politics that the politicians had brought to this game it was this man from Bhopal who played for Indian Airlines and then for India.

A FIRST CLASS DEGREE HOLDER in Science from th Sofia College, Bhopal and son of Ahmed Sher Khan who was the member of the Indian Hockey team that won the gold in the 1936 Olympics, this man  WOULD NOT HAVE EVER MADE TO THE TEAM IF HE WAS NOT TAKEN AFTER THE MUNICH OLYMPICS  FOR THE ASIAN GAMES SOJOURN IN 1974 by Mr Leslie Claudius who was then the Coach of the Indian Hockey team for the Tehran asiad.

Seventeen years of age in 1972 when he was picked by none other than K S Singh Babu who was the coach of the 1972 Olympic team for Munich. Suprprisingly he was NOT played at all in that tourney

BELIEVE ME IF HE WAS PLAYED AT MUNICH AFTER INDIA WAS TRAILING BY 0-2 AT THE BREATHJER INDIA WOULD HAVE WON In that game in the second half India got penalty corners after penalty corners only to see Mukhbain Singh missing them and missing them very badly.

If in the place of Michael Kindo, Mr K D Singh Babu had brought in Aslam Sher Khan the result was have been different.

 Aslam Sher Khan was basically the LEFT FULL BACK but he played on many an occasion for the Indian Airlines at the Right Full Back position giving away that Left Full back position to either Misbah or Monappa who were the other players for Indian Airlines from 1968 to 1973. Misbah was from Bhopal and Monappa was from Coorg then

Pic - :: 

Aslam Sher Khan

Aslam Sher Khan was a very ROCK-SOLID and a HARDD DEFENDER against whom it was very HARD to take awy the ball from the position that he played. Tremendous understanding of the moves and taking the right place at the right and appropriate moment he would thwart attacks after attacks to send the opponent banging their head against the wal. He was a very SURE SHOT penalty corner connectionist and had a very good record of converting them as well .

His shots were very hard and his tackles were very clean and neat despite the fact he tackled it very very hard. He possessed a very STRONG wrist which was like the steel . Though not very sppedy he played very safe and clean hockey . It was very HARD for me to DROP Surjit Singh Randhawa from the list and choose Aslam Sher Khan but as Leslie Claudius had remarked in 1974- THOSE WHO THINK THAT ASLAM SHER KHAN IS NOT A GOOD HOCKEY PLAYER TO FIND A NAME IN THE GREATEST EVER INIAN HOCKEY TEAM THEY SHOULD GO TO THE MENTAL ASYLUM.

He is my BEST choice to fill that place as  he could play in both the position whereas Surjit Singh could NOT play in both the position if required.

Centre-Half/MIDFIELDER

Ajit Pal Singh

A very EBULLIENT and a FINNESE of a ball player when it comes to the distribution of the ball on both the flanks.Falling back to cut off the opponents move at the time when needed to help the defense and moving up to help the forwards to create the moves and the gaps to score those goals Ajit pal Singh will never find any Centre-Half to challenge him except Charanjit Singh for that position.

Pic-::

Ajit Pal Singh 

 Charanjit was far more effective and accurate to deliver as compared to Ajitpal Singh and he obviously finds a place in the side as a reserves .

Left-Out

Inam-Ur-Rehman

Another hockey player from Bhopal whose career was KILLED by the HINDU-MUSLIM tangle and because Inam was NEVER a MAN who knew how to BOW-THE-HEAD and find the favour

Pics- : 

Inam Ur Rehman

Inam was PERHAPS the ONLY player for whom once Dhyanchand had said that if he was BORN in that era when Dhyanchand played hockey then Dhyanchand could have breathed more easily and Roop Singh could have scored many more goals for India

Inam was such a DELECTABLE-ART that his wrist jobs could have been easily compared to Gundappa Vishvanath in cricket for India. Absolutely a player with such a balanced stride and what a beautiful control he has when he was in action with the ball to either dribble, or to cut in from the flank and relay those such a wonderful defense splitting passe from the flank and in such a manner that JUST CLOSE THE EYE AND ALLOW THE BALL TO HIT YOUR STCICK BEFORE IT GOES INTO THE GOAL

Inam was severe on the runs in the flanks with a marauding schemes and a penetration that the opponents would find it very hard to bear . Yet his hockey career could not give him the WORLD-BEST status and the place in the FIRST ELEVEN.

The reason was HE WAS HIS OWN MAN and his carrer was jeopadised when in the 1964 Olympics just beforte the finals he went to meet his COUSIN ATIQ-UR-REHMAN who was playing for Pakistan in that Olympics. Inam had grown up playing hockey for Bhopal in India with his cousin Atiq, but Atiq parents shifted to Pakistan after the Independence .Inam just wanted to meet Atiq to find out how were his Uncles and Cousins doing at pakistan and whether they need any help from his family . But the JEALOUS –BURNING-EYES and the ARSEHOLES of the Indian Hockey who were hell-bound to destroy his career went to the extent of ruining his game .Yet he played Hockey with style and GUSTO till 1973 after which he took over the Coaching of the Indian Airlines team and there also he was successful helping the Indian Airlines to win the national Championship

When Inam came out of the Pakistan tent there few many whispers that he had gone there to take the BRIBE from the Pakistani’s and that NOT TO PLAY WELL AGAINST INDIA IN THE FINALS

Inam was NOT played in the finals in 1964 against Pakistan and though he was in the team for the 1968 Olympics and even the fact that he was doing far better than Harbinder Singh, he was NOT played even for a SINGLE game at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. The result was India could not reach the semis and had to be contended with a BRONZE for the FIRST time in Hockey in the Olympics

 BACK HOME HE DECLARED- “ SAALA BHAAND MAI GAYA INDIAN HOCKEY ” He kept on playing for Indian Airlines and won the 1968 Nehru Cup SINGLE HANDEDLY for Airlines and whe players like B P Govinda, Ashok Kumar, Shahid Noor, Mehboob Khan, Perumal Krishnamurty, and Aslam Sher Khan joined the Indian Airlines he led the Indian Airlines in 1970 to BEAT the GREAT BRITAIN OLYMPIC TEAM by 2-0 in the finals of the Nehru Cup Hockey with B P Govinda scoring both the goals in the finals.

If here I’m giving the preference and the place to Harbinder Singh in the FIRST ELEVEN it is because he won THREE medals in the Olympics- ONE GOLD and TWO BRONZE as compared to ONE GOLD and ONE BRONZE by Inam . Else Inam was FAR ahead of Harbimder as a HOCKEY player . However Harbinder also has ONE Asian games Gold 1966, and was the Captain of the Asian games 1970 Indian Hockey team which lost to Pakistan after a 119 minutes of play in the finals through the SUDDEN-DEATH winning the Silver.

Once in 1971 after the inaugural World Cup hockey match a reporter had said/remarked to Dhyanchand that- SHANAZ SHEIKH IS THE BEST OUTSIDE LEFT OF THE WORLD to which Dhyanchand had replied .

Inside Left

Shahid Noor

India. Indian Airlines and Mohun Bagan

How would one describe a player if he is 50% Dhyanchand and 50% Mohammed Shahid in everything of the game .

Basically an inside Left he could have played in THREE position at the Outside of the Left, and in the Inside of the Right in the forward position but from 1968 he regularly played as the Indide left.

Shahid Noor was an exemplary player of the HIGHEST CLASS with such a TREMENDOUS ball control and that kind of a 100% perfect pass from the flnk inside to the centre for his peers to score .

 SHAHID NOOR WAS THE “ONLY”INDIAN HOCKEY PLAYER WHO COULD RUN AT SUCH A SPEED AND ALL-OF-SUDDEN-STOP-THE-BALL “ ABSOLUTELY-DEAD” AND WITH IT HE WOULD STAND AT EASE MOVING MOVING A FRACTION OF A MILLIMETER .For that was the KIND of the BALL CONTROL and BODY CONTROL he possessed when in the game with the ball.

He had a beautiful inside ARCHING curve on the run,  and with the ball he was so BEAUTY to watch when he would dribble one after another with his body serves, and the runs. He would then arch at the position in the inside of the left on the top of the circle and pass the balls in such a manner that the opponent would be completely taken on the wrong foot

Infact he was FAR better than Mohammed Shahid but his FATE was such that the NEPOTISM and FAVOURITISM completely broke his career and his hockey to the NOUGHT.

When he was dropped from the Indian Oympic Hockey team in 1968 immediately Dhyanchand who was called as an observer then to observe the players chosen for the Olympics, Dhyanchand immediately left the place with a NOTE to the IHF that HE SHOULD BE INVITED AT ALL IN THE FUTURE FOR ANY SERVICES THAT OUGHT TO BE GIVEN TO THE IHF

Dhyanchand NOT finding his name on the list for the Mexico Olympics  immediately said- INDIA WITHOUT SHAHID NOOR AT THE LEFT-IN CANNOT WIN ANY TOURNAMENT IN HOCKEY FOR ATLEAST SAY SEVEN YEARS.That is what had happened that from 1968 it took SEVEN years for 1975 for India to win that ONLY World Cup Hckey on March 15^th 1975.

His reason for not finding a place in the Indian team once as ascribed by the Coach of the Indian Hockey team in 1968 was- USKA BAAP BHOPAL MAI SAMOSA BECHTAH HAI. SAMOSA BECHNAY WALLA KYA HOCKEY KHELEGA

  “ It means his Father sells Samosa at Bhopal and what will a SAMOSA selling Son of a father will play Hockey ”

This was again the same reason advocated by the same coach in 1971 when he was LAST seen donning the Indian colours.He just played for 15 minutes for India from 1968 to 1971 in the span of three years as a substitute and his goal against Kenya in the 1971 World Cup hard-line match got us the equalizer after Kenya had kept India under their sieze with a lead of 1-0.It was Ashok Kumar who got that elusive goal for us to win that BRONZE MEDAL for India.

Back Home after the World Cup Sojourn at Barcelona in Spain in 1971 Shahid Noor declared- AB HOCKEY KABHIE NAHIN which means NEVER TO TOUCH THE HOCKEY STICK

Centre-Forward

Balbir Singh Senior

It is so unfortunate for  somebody to drop a player of the caliber of Balbir Singh Senior from the first eleven from an Indian Ever Greatest Hockey team- but cannot HELP it if you have a plyer of a caliber of Roop Singh playing for India. Where is the place for Balbir Singh if you have a player of a caliber of Roop Singh playing for India.

Pic

Balbir Singh Senior 

The difference between the two players were Roop Singh was very accurate and very perfect  in that manner to open out and create the goals .He kept on changing his positions whenever he felt like to open and create the openings and he though scored many a goals for India but more than that he created many chanced for the othersto score

For example in the 1936 Olympics, Roop Singh in the finals could have easily scorted a hattrick but he preferred to create those many for Ali Ishtiaque Dara  to score and he made him to score.In the last four minutes of that game he made many openings for Dhyanchand to score and helped him score a hattrick in the finals.

Balbir Singh was a SCORER. He could not create that kind of an opening for the others to score because his job was to receive the ball and score . Roop Singh was very clinical within the striking circle and he could convert a clear chance for him to score to making it cock-sure by passing the ball and help the other to score.He was a player who could create an opening after the openings was made to score the goals. Balbir Singh in that manner was a FINISHER. That separates both of them and this is the reason Balbir Singh  Senior does not finds an opportunity to displace Roop Singh as a place for him to find a place ithe original FIRST ELEVEN of the All Greatest Indian XI team, else Balbir Singh and the types of  him are created and made ONCE in a life time of the entire history of Hockey.

Balbir Singh Senior in his entire life time participated in three Olympics and won the GOLD in all the three.Infact he was the Captain of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

He will always find a place amongst the reserves of the All Greatest Indian Hockey XI

Eighteenth Player-:

 I just could not select and find the 18^th player .Inspite of my best attempt I could not trace the 18^th player who could be so perfect, accurate and amongst the best to find his place in the All Greatest Ever Indian Hockey XI and hence I’m leaving out that place .

A Few Words About Jaipal Singh-:

India first participated in the 1928 Amsterdam Hockey . The first ever Captain of the Indian Olympic Hockey team was Jaipal Singh.He was a student of the Cambridge Unversity then . He was the legacy of Veer Kunwar Singh , who was infact the Maharaja of the tribals who fought a very valiant battle against the British before he was killed by the Britishers. Jaipal Singh was afterwards a British Administrative Service Ofiicer  and after India gained her Independence he was the I A S Officer .He worked very hard to popularize Hockey in the tribal areas of Orissa and Bihar and it was due to his effort that hockey as a game was made so popular in these tribal oriented area.

As a mark of respect I have placed his picture at the top odf everything for one to know that he was the FIRST CAPTAIN of the Indian Hockey team that participated at the Olympics.

 A few INTERESTING notes about Indian Hockey-:

There are a few interesting note about Indian Hockey.Those would make an interesting reading::

A ) > India versus USA, Finals 1932 , Los Angeles

Playing against the USA in the finals of the Round Robin League , India by the end of the 45^th minute had finished scoring 15 goals. It was at this time when Dhyanchand made an remark and passed a REQUEST-  WE SHALL NOT TAKE ANY PENALTY CORNERS AND WE WOULD NOT SCORE TOO MANY GOALS FURTHER TILL THE MATCH GETS OVER.

The Indian team thereafter did not take any penalty corners, there were atleast three penalty strokes that the Indian team forfeited them to take it, and the Indian tean would many a times go and reach the USA goals but from there they would back pass the ball for not scoring the goals.Even then thereafter the Indian team scored NINE more goals to win that match by 24-1 with Roop Singh scoring the HIGHEST, “ ELEVEN ” goals.

B ) >Dhyanchand answered in a different manner :“ HITLER-CONFUSED & BEMUSED”

In the 1932 Olympics in the finals againt the USA, the Indian goalkeeper started dribbling and he reached the centre of the field by dribbling when a ball was snatched by the US player. Looking this Dhyanchand went to the Indian goalkeeper and was a bit angry for playing that way.

The Goalkeeper replied-  EVEN I HAVE COME HERE TO PLAY AND SJOWCASE MY TALENT. THIS IS THE OLYMPICS. How to showcase my talent if the ball does not comes to me. Standing under the bar I FEEL DROWSY and to overcome it I had to dribble that far to drive away my drowsiness .

I have travelled so far a distance to play here on the field and NOT to sleep on the ground . listening to that Dhyanchand kept quiet and did not utter a single word.

1936 Olympics, Berlin-::

A ) > A German player lost the cool and he hit Dhyanchand. Dhyanchand was bleeding profoundly. He was subjected to the medical treatment and he came back. Once he came back he just asked- WHO WAS THE PLAYER WHO HIT ME THAT WAY. Getting to know him by face Dhyanchand as his BLOOD was BOILING played a kind of a game to score FOUR GOALS in FOUR MINUTES that Hitler stopped the game.

He ordered to check whether the stick of Dhyanchand had a MAGNET in it. When the MOUTHS told Hitler that  THE MAGNET ATTRCATS THE IRON AND NOT THE HOCKEY BALL, HITLER GAINED HIS SENCE AND WENT BACK TO HIS PLACE WHERE HE WAS SEATED TO WATCH THE GAME.

B ) > Everybody knows that Roop Singh was Dhyanchand’s younger brother.In the finals of the 1936 Olympics just before the game Dhyanchand went to Roop and said him- I DO NOT WANT YOU TO SCORE MORE THAN A GOAL TODAY AGAINST GERMANY

Hearing to it Roop Singh was SURPRISED. He replied- ARE YOU JOKING.

Pat came the reply- NO, NOT JOKING. I have made you famous at the Los Angeles .I’m THE CAPTAIN who has to make the entire team and it’s player famous . Today I shall lay passes for my other team mates who also have the right to be famous.Today you will NOT score more than ONE goal and the others would.This is a way to make them famous as well.

Well in that finals Roop Singh obeyed his brother and the Captain’s order and scored only ONE. He was in a position to score another THREE but he back passed twice to Ali Ishtiaque Dara to score twice and ONCE to his brother for him to complete his HATTRICK.That was Dhyanchand

 HE ALWAYS KEPT THE OTHER’S ABOVE HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY FOR THEM TO BE RICHER IN ACCOLADES AND LAUREL

K D Singh Babu and Dhyanchand

A)>. K D Singh Babu was initially a Inside Right player. He created such a stir in 1948 playing this game that when Dhyanchand saw him playing, he just went upto him and said-:

 GET READY FOR THE AFRICAN AND THE ESAT AFRICAN TOUR. YOU WILL BE PLAYING BESIDE ME AT THE OUTSIDE RIGHT POSITION AS THE INSIDE RIGHT IS MY POSITION

Not believing these words coming out from the mouth of the WIZARD of HOCKEY- Babu did not take these words seriously. However Babu was in the team for the sojourn . Dhyanchand had by that time developed a very kind of a LIKING for Babu and he kept on feeding Babu to score goals after goals in that sojourn. In all Babu had scored 90 goals in the matches he played there. Dhyanchand had scored 72.

“ BABU IS THE ONLY PLAYER IN THE ANNALS OF INDIAN HOCKEY HISTORY WHO COULD BEAT DHYANCHAND ATLEAST IN ONE TOUR THAT THE INDIAN TEAM TOOK THAT ERA TO BEAT DHYANCHAND IN THE MATTER OF SCORING THE GOALS ” .

Yet Babu was very skeptical about his chance for the Indian team. One evening the two were talking to each other with the tea that  the two were sipping . Casually Babu told him- DADDA, YOU ARE ABOUT 43 YEARS OF AGE . I’M SURE YOU MUST BE HAVING A FAMILY . WHY IS THAT YOU ARE NEGLECTING YOUR FAMILY SO MUCH FOR HOCKEY. I’M SURE BHABIJI WOULD LIKE TO BE WITH YOU AS SHE MIGHT NEED YOU FOR HELPING HER AT TIMES . Your game is keeping you away from her.

It was THAT in terms of the OCCASION that Dhyanchand felt that YES , HE SHOULD DEVOTE HIS TIME TO HIS FAMILY

The Indian team for the 1948 Olympics were to be declared and  it was in the AIR that Dhyanchand would again lead the team for the 1948 Olympics that was to be held at London after 1936 .The World war took away the 1940 and the1944 Olympics.

Babu actually was  CRACKING and CUTTING a JOKE to Dhyanchand when he spoke about it. Babu infact was so UNSURE about his selection in the Indian team for the Olympics in 1948 even after being considered as the XEROX COPY of Dhyanchand in the game of Hockey that he felt that if he tries to wean Dhyanchand’s attention to his family and if Dhyanchand that way leaves the game that atleast babu felt that he would be amongst the reserves for the 1948 Olympic games. Babu as said was infact PULLING Dhyanchand’s leg

Back home when the team landed here- an informal announcement was made by the IHF that it would be Dhyanchand who would lead the Indian Hockey team for the 1948 Olympics but Dhyanchand made it CLEAR- NO MORE HOCKEY FOR ME.

If K D Singh Babu had not played that PRANK on Dhyanchand, perhaps Dhyanchand would have led the Indian team in the 1948 Olympcs . He would have been the ONLY player in HOCKEY then  TO WIN FOUR GOLDS IN FOUR OLYMPICS.

1964: Olympic Team selection:: Dhyanchand Versus Shankar Laxman

The kind of RESPECT that Dhyanchand had mustered within the circle of the Indian and the WORLD hockey, the IHF always used to invite him as an OBSERVER when the final selection of the  Indian Hockey squad would be selected . That happened in 1948 and it went uptil 1968……. Well more about it later.

In 1964 it was assumed that Shankar Laxman would be the AUTOMATIC CHOICE as the goalkeeper and it would be he who WOULD lead the side. When Dhyanchand came to know about  that he just asked- WHY IS THAT THE SELECTORS TAKE IT THAT A PLAYER WHOM THEY CONSIDER AS THE BEST SHOULD BE AN AUTOMATIC CHOICE BOTH FOR HIS PLACE IN THE TEAM AND AS A CAPTAIN

The answer that the selectors gave was- THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR LAXMAN AND THAT HE IS THE WORLD’S BEST . Hearing to that Dhyanchand said to Laxman-:

 LAXMAN , AAA AA JAA , DEKHTA HOON TU KITNA BADA GOALKEEPER HAI

Shankar Laxman took the challenge and Dhyanchand hit as many as ONE-HUNDRED-SHOTS at the GOAL from the TOP-OF-THE-“D” and  ALL THE SHOTS BEAT LAXMAN TO ENTER INTO THE GOAL

When Dhyanchand was getting ready to take the 101^st shot Laxman came out of the goal and  said- BUS DADDA , BUS , IS TARAH TOH MERA OLYMPIC KA TICKET KUT JAYEGAA. Hearing to that Dhyanchand said him- SIRF ITNA YAAD RAKHNAA , KISI KAY KEHNAY SAY KOI WORLD BEST NAHIN HOH JATAH HAI . KARKAY DIKHANA PADTAH HAI

For the beneifits of the readers abroad I write it in English ::

Listenning to the COCK-SURE words of the Indian selectors,  Dhyanchand called Laxman to make him stand under the bar and he took one after one a HUNDRED shots at the goal from the TOP-OF-THE-“D” and all the shots beat Laxman to enter the goal.

When Dhyanchand was about to take the 101^st shot Laxman came out of the goal and said to Dhyanchand- STOP IT. This way my ticket to the Olympics 1964 will get cancelled. Hearing to that Dhanyanchand replied to Laxman-:

“ Simply the MOUTH does not makes anyone the WORLD champion. One has to PROVE it by his performances and by the work. That piece of adivise thereafter made Laxman to work very hard to win the 1964 Tokyo Olympic’s Gold and the 1966 Asian Games Gold at Bangkok and win the WORLD BEST GOALKEEPER TITLE from the “ FIH ” .

Dhyanchand “NO” to the IHF

As usual the IHF in 1968 had invited Dhyanchand as an observer for the team selection for the 1968 Olympics for Mexico . When Shahid Noor was dropped from the team Dhyanchand simple and simply walked out of the proceeding saying that-:

“ IF THE IHF HAS DECIDED TO INSULT A GEM OF A PLAYER LIKE SHAHID NOOR BY NOT INCLUDING PLAYERS LIKE HIM IN THE TEAM FOR OLYMPICS THEN FROM TODAY I MIGHT NOT BE INVITED AS AN OBSERVER ANY MORE” .

From that day Dhyanchand did not accept any invitation of the IHF for anything.

Why Did I Mention About The Word “ RAAT ”

In  my article I have chosen the title WHO RAAT ……….

The reason actually is that night of 1980 ……

It was about 10.00 PM when the final hooter was blown and India had beaten Spain by 4-3 in an absorbing finals in the Olympics to win her EIGHT GOLD medal.

Surinder Singh Sodhi (2) , Merwyn Fernandes and Mohammed Shahid scored in that manner . Spain through the HATTRICK of Juan Amat reduced the margin by THREE by lost in the final analysis by ONE goal.

Juan Amat became the THIRD player in the HISTORY of OLYMPIC Hockey to score a HATTRICK in the finals of a Hockey event of Olympics which were played in the and on the basis of the ROUND-ROBIN-LEAGUE after Roop Singh and Dhyanchand, as the 1932 Olympic Hockey was played on the basis of the ROUND-ROBIN-LEAGUE.

Well coming to the subject – That was thre LAST  of the NIGHT when we heard through the VOICE of Jasdev Singh that INDIA HAD WON THE OLYMPIC GOLD .

Since then it has been FOURTY YEARS that we are only a PARTICIPATOR to FILL-IN-THE-BLANK.

That is why the lines-:

Yehi Par Wafa Ka Naya Rung Bharkar,

Banayee Thi Chhahhat Ka\i Tasveer Tumnay,

Yahan Kay Baharon Say Phoolon Koh Chunkar

Sawari Thi Ulfat Ki Taqdeer Tumnay….

Who Din Aapkoh Yaad Kaisay Dilaye……..
Those who understand HINDI " FLUENTLY " will only understand the real            " GIST " of these lines.....

Really-  THOSE GOLDEN DAYS OF INDIAN HOCKEY …… HOW TO MEMORISE THEM AND MAKE THEM TO BELIEVE IN REALITY FOR THE MODERN GENRATION…….

Regards

Pic

Shyamal Bhattacharjee

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 .

Signature of Shyamal Bhattacharjee