Chetan “ Parshuram ” Singh Chauhan :: A cricketer “ PHSYPHOMOPSIS-ED " By Sunil Gavaskar & Indian cricket

Pic - : Chetan Chauhan Drives Wayne Clarke  Straight and Hard in his innings of 88 

Chetan “ Parshuram ” Singh Chauhan :: A cricketer “ PHSYPHOMOPSIS"-ED" By Sunil Gavaskar & Indian cricket

Lord Parshuram was a BRAHMIN and was a re-incarnation of Lord Vishnu who thrice in his entire life LOST his COOL and went on to kill by slitting and chopping off the throats of all the warriors that we would call them the “ CHATTRI’S ”  to completely paint the soil and the earth RED. This was the TEMPER and the AFTERMATH that his temper had !!

Indian cricket had several WARRIORS and the TWO were came out of the LINEAGE and the CLAN of the name PASHURAM were Chetan Chauhan and Brijesh Patel. Both the warriors had their reverred and respected Father by the name of PARSHURAM  and both were the ACTS of the same when they played the game for India. Absolutely in their full gear and the game that they possessed , they would make one to feel that the BLOOD of the LORD which resembled and similised in terms of the Fathers owning that name ran through their veins and they played the game in that manner. 

Before I start let me make it very clear that asking somebody his Father's name is NOT the culture of a PURE Hindu to ask anybody his Father's name. WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN THOSE KIND OF AN ASK- but I did read his Father's name in a newspaper some three decades ago and hence I write this name . Some had said me that his Father's name was Pratap ie Mr Pratap Singh Chauhan.

 PARSHURAM OR PRATAP - THIS MAN WAS A  " PRATAPI " and now everything I write here is all about a Test  CRICKETER who was a PRATAPI by every means and by every standard.

Unfortunately yesterday when I heard the news that Chetan Chauhan was NO MORE I was somewhat LOW and HIT badly that might have hit them many a times when they would take on those DEMONS of the West-Indies or maybe the one’s who were as same as the  Carribeans but playing for the other nation namely ……. Well there were and they were EIGHT nations then playing the game and the       West- Indians were the BLOODIEST of them all with their venom……

Chetan- His First Foray In The Game Of Cricket

It was the start of the season 1969 and the month was September. COME SEPTEMBER as they call it in Indian cricket and there are many a FOLKLORE of it…. But for now it is only CHETAN of the CHAUHAN’S family.

Buddhi Kunderan had announced that he would SHIFT his base to Scotland and that he would NOT play in the local tourney’s of Indian cricket anymore. However the Captain of the Indian cricket then, Mr Pataudi requested Kunderan to play in the Moin-Ud-Dowlah cricket tourney for once before he embarks for the NEIGHBOUR OF THE BLIGHTY. Kunderan accepted that offer from Pataudi.

It was Chandu Borde who was the captain of the Maharashtra Ranji team. He watched a local cricket match played between the Wadia College and the Fergusson College. Chetan Bhai then was a final Pre-Final year student of the Wadia College at Pune and he was leading the Wadia College .  He opened the innings for Wadia and scored a PAINFUL but a very GRITTY 40. The worth of that was which Chandu Borde saw was that Chetan Bhai would NOT run away from the wicket to face the ast bowling and he would stand his ground as if a rock is fixed to the sand. That impressed Chandu Borde. The other factor was Chetan Bhai would stand hours together without being petrubed by anything on the wicket.

His strokes were the push and the nudges but in between he would hit the drives on the either side of the wicket with TREMENDOUS power and with a STRAIGHT bat always . His shots had the TIMINGS and the PLACEMENTS of the HIGHEST order That was impressive about him. A few days later it was Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi who was to visit Pune and pick up some lads for the Vazir Sultan Colts for them to play in the Moin-Ud-Dowlah Cricket tourney

It maybe made here for the people who are reading this article that the Moin-Ud-Dowlah  tourney  was a tournament that was held at Hyderabad every year during the month of September and it was a PRE-WARM-UP- SEASON- TOURNEY for the cricketers during those days and it was held under the agesis of the JUNG family who were the IN-LAWS of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi as  one of the two sisters of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was married to the Jung Family and that family produced two sons, Saad Bin Jung and Amir Bin Jung of which Saad representing the Under 22 team in 1978 hit a CENTURY against the West Indies which toured India under Alvin Kallicahharn in 1978-79.

Chetan Chosen For Vazir Sultan Colt’s Senior Team To Play Ion The Moin-Ud-Dowlah

It was when Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi who met Chandu Borde then, got to learn and know about Chetan Bhai.  Pataudi listened and gave all the ears to Chandu Borde when he spoke about Chetan Chauhan and took him to play in the Moin-Ud-Dowlah for the Vazir Sultan Sr Colts. During those days the Vazir Sultan would make TWO teams to play in that tourney- one would be the mix of School cricketers and the College cricketers who would make the Vazir Sultan Colts Junior and the other would be the crciketers who would be passing out the Colleges and some really promsing youngsters playing in the Rohingtan Baria trophy and the Vizzy trophy and they would be playing for the Vazir Sultan Seniors and Chetan was in the Senior team.

It was Buddhi Kunderan  who was leading the Senior team of the Vazir Sultan and Chetan Chauhan was picked to open the innings for that team along with Kunderan. Just before the match pataudi said to Kunderan- Buddhi watch this lad very carefully and give him the necessary tips for playing the game whenever necessary so that he gains in confidence and plays bright. Help him out whenever in trouble.

Kunderan did likewise and one saw Chauhan scoring a 44 in that game. What was more he batted for almost 127 minutes to compile those score . He was very limited when it came to hit the strokes but he kept on nuding and pushing to accumulate those runs but he would step out of the  crease to hit the boundaries with tremendous power. That impressed Pataudi. When he came back to the pavilion Pataudi just asked him- WHERE DO YOU FIELD and he answered at any point in the short backward and the backward region of the leg, at any place in the on and the off and even at the backward short leg.

Chetan Chauhan picked up against the Kiwis for the Bombay test in 1969.

In 1969 the cricketing fraternity of India witnessed EIGHT Test matches that India played against  New-Zealand ie the Kiwis and the Australian ie the Kangaroos.  Chauhan ws selected for the Board president XI to play against the Kiwis as did the other PANTHEON of Indian cricket Gavaskar was for the Indian Universities against them, and also Gundappa Vishvanath when he played against them for the Board President XI. Well more about it later.

Chauhan scored a PAINSTAKING and an PAIN ENDURING 26 against them.He was HIT once in the rib cage region by an express from Dayle Hadllee , the elder brother of Richard, and then on the cheek by a rising one from Bob Cunis but he continued in that fashion to bat for about 140 minutes to score those 26 runs.

OPENERS’ A PERENIAL PROBLEM FOR INDIAN CRICKET

 During those days the Indian cricket faced a kind of a CRICKETING DROUGHT that it NEVER had the pace. After Lodha Amar Singh who lost his life to pneumonia in the late thirtees and with Mohammed Nissar migrating to Pakistan in and during the start of 1940,  the land of India just did not get any PACER-THE-WORTH to play for it in the Test cricket. Over it after the retirement of Pankaj Roy and after Nari Contractor was forced to retire from playing Test cricket …….. that Charlie Griffith folklore…… the Indian cricket was BEREFT of the openers and it continued and it went on to KILL and LYNCH  the Indian cricket like anything. There were many and many and many combination that was experimented with but NEVER came the final answer or any inference about it that one could draw the fact that India has solved it’s problems of the openers. The same continued with the pacers as well. Such was the pathetic condition of the Indian team that it  even opened with the middle order batsman when it came to openning the innings ,  and opened with WICKET-KEEPER opening the bowling for India and it happened in 1967 during the tour of England when Buddhi Kunderan opened with V Subramanyan and Kunderan’s analysis was 4-0-12-0 .That is how India would play cricket then to either open it’s bowling and it’s batting.  During those days in ONE of the YTest match ,   a number 11^th batsman CHANDU SARWATE opened with Vinoo Mankad in a Test against Australia in 1947-48 series against the Australian adding 124 runs for the first wicket . THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME IN THE ANNALS OF THE TEST CRICKET THAT A NUMBER 11^TH BATSMAN OPENED FOR HIS TEAM AS AN OPENER That should give you the idea about  " TALE-OF-THE- PROBLEMS - PERENNIALS ” of Indian cricket

In this condition those 26 runs of Chetan Chauhan was the answer to and for India to try out an opener and it was the Brabourne Stadium that saw this YOUNG LAD making his Test debut.

This TEST would always be remembers for too many a things. The Kiwis who came here under Graeme Dowling had practiced and were under the nets at New Zealand for FOUR month’s but  here at India Erapallli Prasanna was at England expediting his duty for his employer ITI .He was summoned to fly back as quickly as possible to reach Bombay then. Again it was Hanumant Singh who was busy doing his office work at Bombay for the State Bank Of India when Pataudi entered the State Bank premises and caught him to bring him to play in the Test at Bombay . There was a chance for Ajit Pai to make his debut if Prasanna did not arrive at all or would be late at all to report for the Test. It is so strange that the itinerary of the Kiwi Test series was fixed about many a months ago but the BCCI here did not inform any players about when to assemble at Bombay and who would play the Test.

They some three days before the Test match announced the team and the players as I have explained here were in such a kind of an precarious  situation to represent the country. Anyway Prasanna arrived when India while batting in the FIRST innings and  had LOST eight of it’s wicket. He played and he along with Bishen Bedi who claimed the SIX of the TEN wickets in the second to spin India to victory……. With Prasanna claiming the other four ……. For enabling India to win that match ….. but the focus now again in many a way is Chetan Chauhan.

Chetan Chauhan along with Ashok Mankad who also was making his debut opened with India. This was a very LOW scoring match and in the second Chauhan scored a pain staking 34 and Wadekar hit an enterprising 44 or maybe 67 which helped India to win the match. Chauhan while scoring those 34 batted for about 117 minutes and that is how he made his debut. While making it in the process he tagged himself as being ONE of those players to have won the MAIDEN DEBUT TEST appearance which stood as a record for many a years from 1969 to 1974 when it was broken by the duo of Anshuman Gaekwad and Karsan Ghavri who WON TWO CONSECUTIVELY against the West-Indies  at Calcutta and Madras then to sweep that record. That was the story of the BAPTISM of Chetan Chauhan in the Test match for India.

Well coming to the subject – India was looking for an opener who would bat for atleast 90 to 120 minutes staying at the crease and in that span of time would help add over 50 runs for the first wicket to give a good start was to some extent solved by Chetan Chauhan in this Test . However the find for the other opener was one as Ashok Mankad had failed in both the innings of this Test.

Chetan Chauhan besde this 34 runs did nothing of any note in the series in the remainder and he lost his place against the visiting Aussie’s thereafter when Bill Lawry brought his team here. However he once again came back in the last at Madrad and in the 2^nd innings then at Madras he scored a painstaking 19 which did not help India’s cause as India had ;lost that match by 77 runs to lose the series by 1-3 .

England Comes Here in 1972-73 and again Chetan Chauhan comes back to the India’s fold

Out from the Indian team after the 1969-70 series against the Auusies Chauhan did not paly for india until January 11^th 1973 when he was recalled for the madras Test against the visiting England side which was led  by Tony  Lewis . . That was the FIRST occasion he opened with Sunil Gavaskar to score again a PAIN  but a staking 26 for keeping the vigil at the wickets for 122 minutes adding a very valuable 86 runs with Gavaskar for the First wicket. That was the Test when the “ DIAMONDS ”  of Indian Test cricket as PURE as the HONEY which when if  put in the FORM-OF-A-DROP- in the  water in a glass, the HONEY cuts through the water to reach at the base of the glass, without touching the base to FLOW in the water without getting dissolved in it. The other players who played in this Testss wer,  were Ajit Wadekar, Salim Duranni, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Gundappa Vishvanath, Eknath Solkar, Farokh Engineer, Erapalli Prasanna, B S Bedi and B S Chandrashekar with S Venkatraghvan as the 12^thman for that Test.  This was the best ever Indian eleven as PURE as the HONEY ,  and the GREATEST EVER playing eleven ,  in the test and India had won that test to surge ahead to win the series by 2-1 . Chetan Chauhan after this, in the Kanpur Test did play once more to fail and to be dropped out of the Indian Test squad.

Dena Bank Offers Chauhan AN OFFICER’S POST at New Delhi, Chauhan Mobes his base to New Delhi

It was the ranji Trophy match against Vidharbha in 1974, the quarter-finals played between Maharashtra and Vidharba. After getting out Vidharbha for a score of 268 with Anil Deshpande scoring a 68 and Murthy Rahan a 49, Maharshtra scored a hefty total with Chetan Chauhan and Madhu Gupte adding 405 runs for the first wicket against Vidharbha with both the batsman scoring a DOUBLE HUNDRED. That was the FIRST occasion in the annals of ranji Trophy and it’s history that an opening pair had put over 400 runs for the opening wicket and both the openers scoring a double ton.

Well after the season that year the Dena Bank a PUBLIC SECTOR UNDERTAKING BANK offered Chetan Chauhan a post of an Officer in the bank at New Delhi and he moved from Pune at Maharastra to New Delhi. He came across a Christian lady just before moving from Pune to New Delhi and that lady was to become Mrs Chetan Chauhan later . That is all about his story of cricket at Pune and for Maharashtra.

He was amongst the thicks at Delhi and made it thin when he was selected to play for the North Zone in the Duleep Trophy in 1976. Just before the very crucial match of the Duleep trophy, in a local macth facing Suresh Luthra on a matting wicket a REARING one from Luthra broke his jaw very badly where he was put into the INJECTION DIET for TWO months.With that kind of a situation and the condition of his health it was very hard for anyone to play any cricket match but he chose to play for the North Zone against the Central Zone. In that match the North Zone had scored 306 runs in which Chetan Chauhan had scored 150 exact, Surinder Amarnath had scored   67 and Vinay Lamba a 35 . All these THREE wickets were claimed by Salim Duranni who at the age of 42 then was trying to make a comeback to the Indian team. In reply Central scored a 304 with Parthasarathy Sharma scoring a 104, Salim Duranni a 73 and Anil Deshpande a 53 .That innings which Chetan Chauhan played against the Central Zone scoring a 150 with the jaw completely under the plaster and with him on the INJECTED-LIQUID-DIET for two months, the North Zone skipper Bishen Bedi when taking the Indian team for the tour of Australia in 1977-78 took two Indians along with him who were originally NOT considered for the selection and the names were Chetan Chauhan and Karsan Ghavri. The Board allowed them to fly with the Indian team with the context that if they failed in TWO Tests if at all they were given a chance to play, then , that they played they would be flown back and substituted with Gopal Bose and Barun Burman .These two played such a scintillating cricket that the question of coming back did not arise at all. However first all about the comeback of Chetan Chauhan in 1977. 

Chauhan Comes back Into the Indian Team

After being dropped from the Indian team in and after the Kanpur Test in 1973 Chauhan came back in the Indian team for the second Test match which was held at Perth at Australia in 1977 .

Missing all the India’s sojourn from 1973 Januray he was back into the Indian squad again on January 1977 after missing out four years of Indian Test cricket. He came to the team against the Aussies in the Perth, the second Test match. Facing none other than Jeff Thomson he received a ball from Thomson who was the MOST-DESTRUCTIVE-FAST-BOWLER and the FASTEST-EVER-TEST-CRICKET-BOWLER that the WORLD of cricket has ever produced .

Facing him and opening with Sunil Gavaskar again , he received a very nasty delivery from Jeff Thomson which brushed his lips and tore it. He just put a band- aid in that area and when Thomson to scare him bowled three most FASTEST DELIVERY that could be seen in the annals of the Test cricket he jumped out and hit THREE consecutive boundaries to score a 88 in that innings .It is this and it was that in terms of an occasion where he laid the foundation for his future and he went on to play and open with Gavaskar in another 35 Test innings.

When he hit that consecutive three boundaries the Hindi commentatror then, Mr Sushil Doshi has commentated that CHAUHAN KA RAJPUT KHOON BILKUL UBAL UBAL KAR APNA KAHANI BATAH RAHA HAI, which means that the Rajput BLOOD of Chauhan is telling all the tales bout the BLOOD and   it’s boiling point to Jeff Thomson. That is the way he hit Thomson that day and in that innings. That was Chetan Chauhan's TEMPER and it as if resembled to the Lord Parshuram's temper when he was all out to cut and throw the neck of those CHAATRIYAS ie the warrios .Chauhan that day CUT Jeff Thomson in the same vein and fashion. 

Thereafter Chauhan whenever he faced Thomson would raise his lips up and open to show Thomson that he is ready for the BLOOD and this confidence in him s w pairing Gavaskar for many many and many useful partnerhip for the first wicket.

In all he opened with Gavaskar in 36 Tests thereafter and he and Gavaskar an an opening pait scored a 3645 runs together for the first wicket averaging a HEALTHY 55 runs on an average for the first wickets for the thirty six Tests in whci they opened.

Thus Pataudi who was looking for an openers- a pair of the same to put on atleast a over 50 runs per innings in both the innings per  Test for the opening wicket and his experimentation to find that kind of an opener came true. That helped and served the Indian cricket for long. 

Chauhan dropped from the Indian team inspite of a GLORIOUS tour

It was the Indian tour of Australia in 1981 and then the New-Zealand tour immediately thereafter.  Chauhan scored and played and had a very SUCCESSFUL tour infact the BEST from the Indian side with success totally loaded in his favour. This tour saw the complete failure of the THREE MAINSTAY of Indian batting, Vengsdarkar, Vishvanath and Gavaskar except for the ONE OFF Test where they succeeded failing in the entire tour. The batting was held by Chetan Chauhan with the sundries coming from the likes of Yashpal Sharma and Sandeep Patil. An incident occurred which saw Chetan Chauhan losing his place for ever from the Indian team

That happened in the last and the final Test at Melbourne at Australia. In the second innings of that Test after India were facing a POSSIBLE DEFEAT , India in the second innings were placed at about 180 without LOSS. A delivery from Dennis Lillee hit the FAINT edge of the bat and hit Gavaskar on the front pad. Lilllee went in for a VOCIFEROUS LOUD appeal and Gavaskar raised his bat to the Umpire to show that he played with the bat before the ball played with his pad.

Vociferousness of Dennis Lille went to the NINTH SKY and the Indian batsman received a UNPRINTABLE-UNPARLIAMENTARY-WORD from Lillee. The Australian Umpire scared of Lillee’s action raised his finger . A NINTH SKY BLOOD BOILING SUNIL GAVASKAR went to Chauhan and said- CHALO, WAPIS CHALO, YEH MATCH AB NAHIN KHELNA HAI. In English it means GET BACK TO PAVILION, WE ARE NOT TO PLAY FURTHER IN THIS MATCH.

Listening to him Chauhan said- KYA KEH REHAY HOH. GARMA-GARMI KE IS  PAGALPANTI MAI YEH MATCH UNKO DE DIYA JAYEGA . It means what are you saying partner, craziness will see us conceding the match to them as the Umpires will rule this match in favour of the Aussies.

https://youtu.be/cngyQUMryN4

 Note - : Depicted above, One can click on https://youtu.be/cngyQUMryN4 on  this link to reach to that U Tube where Gavaskar is pulling Chauhan out of game

A fully  blood- boiled Gavaskar by then was in no sense to hear anything. He just  went to the Umpire and  said to him- WE WALK BACK and then came to Chauhan to say and said in a GROUCH voice- " CHALO " and he put his hand on the back of Chetan Chauhan to push him and drag him to the pavilion. From the pavilion the Indian team Manager Mr Shahid Durrani a Officer Of The Indian Air Force who was the Manager for this tour along with Mr Bapu Nadkarni came out to the ground as he a;so brought in Dilip Vengsarkar. No sooner that Gavaskar reached the boundary line along with Chetan Chauhan , Mr Durrani put his hand on Gavaskar’s back to calm him ,and turned Chetan Chauhan with Vengsarkar to play the game.

Pic :  Dennis Lille poimnting out as to where did the ball hit Gavaskar's pad .

Ultimately Karsan Ghavri’s two wicket that he got to oust Johhny Dyson and Greg Chappel- the FIRST BALL DUCK and with Dilip Doshi breaking their middle order , came Kapil Dev the next day with  an injection taken to thrawt the pain on his toe to bowl one of the MOST DEVASTATING SPELL that was seen at Australia for many a years to claim 5-26 and send the Aussies reeling at 86 and then breaking Dennis Lille’s wicket to bundle them out for 86 to win the match by 57 runs for India to level the series.

Pic :: Clipping Of Karsan Ghavri sending Greg Chappel for a " BLOB " ,Melbourne Test 1981

This TOM-TOM and the COSY- SLINGING words of Chetan Chauhan to Sunil Gavaskar- PAGLA PANTI MAI MATCH UNKO DE DIYA JAYEGA  was it seeems, too much thereafter for a man like Sunil Gavaskar to bear with him and then from there, Chetan Chauhan was NO MORE a part and the parcel of Indian cricket.

Openers like Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Arun Lal, Gulam parkar, Anshuman Gaekwad thereafter , and some more like Raman Lamba ,  came and went and went passed about and by ,  passed everything – NEVER TO PRODUCE THAT KIND OF A STAND WITH GAVASKAR that Chetan Chauhan produced.

GAVASKAR  - CHAUHAN THE “ BEST ” OPENING PAIR FROM 1932 To 1981 IN INDIAN TEST CRICKET

India played her FIRST Test on June 25^th 1932. From then till 1981 this pair of Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan had produced TWELVE Century partnwership.

Of these TWELVE there were eleven that came in as an openers. The BEST was the 213 runs that they produced at the Oval in 1979 when India chasing a total of 437 to win finished with 430 for eight with Gavaskar scoring an 221.

There were THREE partnership that produced a plus of 190 runs for the first wickets and three other saw then adding between 140 to 180 runs for the first wicket . There was ONE between them for the FOURTH wicket at the Wankhede Stadium , a 104 runs then, against the visiting Kallicharran’s West-Indies team in 1978-79.

As said earlier for the 36 Test that they opened after that Perth match against the Australian in which Chauhan hit a 88, these two opened for 36 Tests as an opener and added 3600 plus runs . With it as written they added a ELEVEN partnership of plus 100 runs for the opening wicket. THAT MADE THEM AS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL OPENING PARTNERS OF TEST CRCIKET. The only other opening pair to beat them in this regard from 1877 when the inaugural Test was played till then was the opening pair of Sir Jack Hoobs and Bert Suttcliffe who between them has FIFTEEN different century partnership for the First wicket. It was assumed that this pair of Gavaskar and Suttcliffe would break that record but that was never to be.

Why Did Gavaskar Act In That Manner - :

It started from the Pakistan tour of  1978. The Indian team after finishing the First Test on an even keel were palying the second Test. Pakistan had taken a huge lead of 350 runs plus in that Test with Zaheer Abbas scoring a 235 unbeaten and Miandad scoring a 166 . India were fighting with their backs against the wall to save the Test.

In the second innings of that Test at one stage India were placed at about 193 for no loss or maybe 183. The first thing that the Pakistanis did was GULP Gavaskar LBW out for 97. Then they did the same with Chetan Chauhan for 93. BOTH THE BATSMAN WERE " NOT-OUT " but ruled out. 

Kapil Dev with 43, Vishvanath with 83 and Surinder Amarnath with a 60 stemmed the undoings but when Vishvanath was BOWLED by Imram for 83 just a ball befote the lunch the others cracked and wilted to the Pakistani’s pace and India lost the match by about seven wickets then.

Then came the English tour of 1979 after the World Cup. In the World Cup in a group match against the Lankans which India lost by some 27 runs , Gundappa Vishvanath was ruled out run out and India immediately lot that match to Sri-Lanka.

Came the Test series. Chasing a total of 437 to win and with India placed so well at 386 for two, Gundappa Vishvanath was ruled out of a BUMP CATCH by Brearley for 15 and from 386 for two India wer down at 430 for eight . Till the moment Vishvanath was there it seemed to one and sundry that India would win but that LOOSE decision to rule Vishvanath out made all the difference at last.

Then came this Aussie and the Kiwis tour and it was “ COMIC OF UMPIRINGS ”  which could easily be termed as “  LAUGHTER MEDICINE- THE UMPIRINGS OF TEST CRICKET/ CRICKET ”

Here in this picture you can plainly see that Gavaskar is raising his right hand to Mr Shahid Durrani not visible in the picture asking him WHY YOU ARE HERE IN THE GROUND !!!!! …..

On every occasion the Indians were the MINCING VICTIMS  grounded to the dust then , then of the umpiring. That Aussie series really was TOO MUCH for the Indians to bear and unless and until Greg Chappel would score heavily they would not rule him out. But for that FIRST-BALL-BOWLED by Ghavri which saw  India claiming Greg Chappel for NOUGHT, India would not have won that Test. The umpiring was at the lowest ebbs that was seen for so many and for so long in the annals of Test cricket. In that series Greg Chappel was OUT for FIVE times- all the time Ghavri claimedhis wickets, but the FIFTH was the TOWERING-IN-FERNO for them to digest and for the Indians to show them to see .

Over it Gavaskar in an attempt to raise the salary  of the Indian Test cricketer, and raise his voice against the BCCI then was chooped out of the captaincy for the England sojourn of 1979 which also saw the World Cup Test cricket being played at England then. This all went and went to the hilt when Dennis Lillee used that UNPARLIAMENTARY WORDS and when he did use that, it was Gavaskar who lost all his COOL and that was that. Somehow Shahid Durrani saved the day but Chetan Chauhan’s Test career came to an end after that incident and when he was in the PEAK and the PINK of his FORM of his cricketing career he was dropped NOT to be considered again to open with Gavaskar and for India at all.

Coming back to Gavaskar. He during his time was the GUREILLA of Indian cricket and there was NO ONE to challenge him or to drop him inspite of having a very poor string of score from 1983 to the start of the Indo-Australia series in 1985. He would do and act in the manner in which he felt was right for him without anybody challenging him for anything. One of his act was to drop Kapil Dev for a Test inspite of Kapil Dev doing so well in that Test ( 66 Runs and Three wickets) against England.In one of the Ranji Trophy match the semis against Karnataks, he batted at the lower order to save Bombay, then, and he batted as a Left hander to thrawt Raghuram Bhat  and Karnataka scoring an outright win, which saw him scoring an unbeaten 13. One might NOT believe that but here is the picture of him batting Left-Handed . He started batting right hand in that innings and all of a sudden he shifted to batting Left handed . The proof and the picture of it is here for the readers to read and see it. 

Pics- : Gavaskar Batting Left handed with Syed Kirmani as the Wicket-keeper 

Chetan Chauhan In Test Cricket

This is what his Test career has been - :

Name	Test	Innings	Not Out	Runs	Century	Fifties	Catches	Batting Ave
C P S Chauhan	40	80	16	2084	NIL	16	38	31.57
Bowling	Overs	Runs	Wicket	Average	B B
C P S Chauhan	29	106	2	53	1for4

 Record : A QUIRKY and of  it's own kind 

" He is the ONLY Test cricketer who purely played as a batsman to score over 200 Test runs without getting a CENTURY to his credit. His Highest Test Score remains 97 which he scored against Australia in 1981 " . 

A man whose father was an Army Officer , he was a STRICT disciplinarian and a man who always kept himself very FIT when it came to it.

Chetan Chauhan as a politician

He plunged into politics when Shri Atal Behari Vajapayee brought him to the fore of it and he contested from the Amroha Assembly of Uttar Pradesh from where he was twice a winner and was elected as the Member of Parliament  and his last sojourn saw him  being elected as the Member of Legislative Assembly at Uttar Pradesh.

At Amroha he had opened a thick paper manufacturing factory which he ran it for several years and managed it well.

Well REST-IN-PEACE the ever reliable WARRIOR and one of the BEST opening batsman of Indian cricket and UNDOUBTEDLY one of the BEST OPENER of the World Of Cricket in Test matches 

That is it and Regards

Thanks

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