March 1967 ...." SAD " but " TRUE " :: Even Eighty Eight Percentage Of Runs Of The Opponent , By The Brothers Could Not Help Them Win Ranji Trophy ......
Pic :: March 27th 1967 , Hanumant Singh Drives Manohar Hardikar Through Covers To Reach His Double Century Against Bombay In The Ranji Trophy Finals
SINGH DUO Versus Bambay >>>>> Ranji Finals , March 1967
Indian Sports
Today is ONE of the most important day in the annals of Indian
sports and if it relates to cricket.Today is the day when Rajasthan even after
scoring 586 runs in their second innings lost to Bombay in their Ranji Trophy
finals.
Batting first, Rajasthan scored 287, and this was due to a
belligerent 79 by Suryaveer Singh and a 107 by Hanumant Singh.
Bombay replied it with a score of 600 plus with Dilip Sardesai
scoring 199, Bapu Nadkarni scoring 102 and Manohar Hardikar remaining unbeaten
with 103 . Chandrakant Joshi of Rajasthan claimed 6 for 83 even the fact that
Bombay had scored 600 plus.
Batting second, Rajasthan scored 587 for 6 before declaring. This
time Suryaveer Singh scored 132 and Hanumant Singh scored an unbeaten 213
before declaring. Bombay in the remaining time scored 21 for two with Joshi and
Durrani claiming a wicket each.
This MATCH in the ANNALS of Indian cricket history is known as
RANJI FINALS- SINGH DUO VERSUS BOMBAY. Out of the 874 runs scored by Rajasthan,
the Singh brothers scored 513 runs which is equilivalent to 60.75% of runs
scored by their team. On the contrary, the brothers had scored 88.50% of the
runs scored by the Bombay team in the entire match. So dominating were the
performance of the brothers
" NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF CRICKET A DUO OF BROTHER HAVE SCORED
88.50% OF RUNS TOGETHER THAT HAS BEEN AMMASSED BY THE OPPONENT ".
“ THAT IS THE HALLMARK OF THIS MATCH AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE
WORLDS CRICKET HISTORY ” .
Suryaveer Singh , the elder brother of Hanumant Singh , had also scored TWO centuries against the
visiting M C C, the first in 1964 when he got a hundred(124) in that match and
then in 1972 against M C C when he scored an 102 in that match. Yet he was not
considered to play for India beside the fact that he was an opener.
A wicket-keeper, he gave away keeping wicket and ro concentrate
purely as a opening bat for Rajasthan hoping that one day he will get to open
for India but inspite of many a heroics for Rajasthan and Central Zone as a
opener he did not get a chance to play for India
Hanumant Singh played in 14 test matches for India. He played
his last test against New Zealand at the Brabourne Stadium scoring 0 and 13 in
which India won the match. His place was taken by Eknath Solkar who started his
career by scoring 0 and an unbeaten 13 in the match against New Zealand at
Hyderabad.
In his last Test for India , Hanumant Singh while scoring that " 0 " spent exact 89 minutes at the crease and while scoring that 13 had spent about 76 minutes on the crease , while Eknath DSolkar who took the place of Hanumant Singh against New Zealand in the Second Test, faced 58 deliveries to score that 13 runs, unbeaten , and in the process he spent about 90 minutes at the crease to save that match for India, then, with Venkat giving him the support scoring six.
Hanumant Singh :: Only Player To Lose Always after his team scoring 500+ in the second innings
Pic - : Hanumant Singh Hooks A ball From Shuttleworth To The Leg Boundary scoring a " 75 "
In the entire annals of the game of cricket, ONLY HANUMANT SINGH has a record to finish as a loser always even after his team scored over 550 runs in the match that he played, either for India or Rajasthan.
The first of all such incident was in the Ranji Finals against Bombay in 1965-66 when Rajasthan scored about 250 runs in the first innings. Bombay replied it with over 550 runs before declaring and Rajasthan through FOUR centuries by Salim Durrani ( 119) , Vijay Manjerekar ( 117) , Hanumant Singh ( 116) and Vinoo Mankad ( 113) scored over 666 runs before saving that match.
His second instance was this Ranji Finals which I have described above. Here in the picture above, he is cover driving a ball to the cover boundary of Manohar Hardikar to reach to his double century in the finals. He scored a 107 in the first innings and he became the FIRST ever Ranji Trophy batsman to score century in both the innings and a century as well as a double century in any kind of a game for India .Later Sunil Gavaskar scoring a 124 and 220 against the West Indies in 1791 became the second player in the annals of Indian cricket history and the FIRST ever Indian to score a century and a double century of the same Test.
The third instance for Hanumant Singh to be in a team which scored over 550 runs in their innings and yet to lose that match was the Test against England at Leeds in 1967. Having conceded a lead of about 420 runs to England in that Test in the first innings, India through a knopck of 89 by Farokh Engineer , 91 by Ajit wadekar, 75 by Hanumant Singh, 148 by Nawab Of Pataudi and a 67 by Chandu Borde had scored about 535 runs in the 2nd innings.England scored the required runs losing five wickets with B.S.Chandrashekar claiming all the five to lose that Test.
The last of the match where Hanumant Singh lost even while his team scoring over 600 runs was in the year 1069-70 or it could be 1970-71 as my memory just fails me, when Maharashtra had scored 616 for four declared with Chetan Chauhan scoring a 147 and Hemant Kanitkar scoring an unbeaten 172 for Maharashtra .Rajasthan finished losing the match scoring 614, being all out and Hanumant Singh remained unbeaten scoring a 214 in that match. .
Well coming to that match in which Hanumant Singh had scored a 107 and an unbeaten 213 in the finals of the Ranji Trophy that record of scoring 88.50% of runs, of the entire total of the opponent, by the brothers, against the opponent for their team in a match still remains unbeaten as a record by any means in the annals of World’s cricket till his day.
“ EVEN AFTER SCORING 88.50% of runs of the opponenet by a set of
brothers still their team could not win the ranji trophy finals- that is
another set of record”
Some of the GREAT Test innings by Hanumant Singh
Hanumant Singh in fact was the HIGHEST runs aggregator as well as the highest century scorer in the annals of Ranji Trophy before Ashok Malhotra and Arun lal , both former Test players with 7 and 16 Tests , broke that record . Hanumant Singh played only 14 Test matches for India but some of the knock that he played were simply a MAGIC in terms of World Class . I would like to specially mention some of the MAGICAL-MEMORABLE knocks that he played for India and those were really the JOY-OF-HEAVEN for them to watch who watched him batting .
In 1966-67, when Garfield Sobers’ invincible West Indies
team visited India, the 2nd Test match at the Eden Gardens was marred by the
unprecedented riot between the spectators and the police, the pitch
invaded by hoodlums, and the pavilion set on fire on the 2nd day, the 1st
of January 1967. The match was about to be abandoned since the safety and
security of the players were at stake and only after pertinacious
persuasion from Sir Frank Worrell, who had been visiting India at that
time, did the West Indians agree to take the field.
The wicket was badly damaged by the stampeding crowd and was
virtually unplayable. There, Hanumant Singh’s classic display of
negotiating the legendary off spinner, Lance Gibbs and Garfield Sobers by
going on to the back-foot and pushing the ball towards mid-wicket or
lifting it over mid-on was a treat to watch and his 37 runs on this treacherous
track impressed everybody.
Hanumant Singh scored an invaluable 94 runs out of a total
of 193 when Manjrekar played the role of the sheet anchor at the other end and
scored a patient 40. Once again this innings was studded with scintillating
strokes played with effortless fluidity. It is on record that he rated
this innings ahead of his century on debut. He told Raju Bharatan, the noted
cricket writer, ‘ May be the century on my debut Test match gave me immense
personal satisfaction, especially as, in that knock, I found my stroking rhythm
from the word go. Still it was, after all, a hundred made on a Kotla wicket
that was a sleeping beauty. Whereas this 94 at Madras had
dared me to carry the war into the opposite camp at a time when Simpson
and his men were bowling with their tails up. On cricketing balance, therefore,
this 94 must rate way above that 105, even if that century was on my Test
debut.’
In the next season in 1965, the New
Zealand team under the leadership of John Reid visited India and Hanumant Singh
scored 75 not out and 82 in two consecutive Test matches at Bombay and
Delhi. He said, ‘... The 75 came when Dilip Sardesai had virtually saved the
Bombay Test match and was galloping towards his unbeaten 200. Against
that, the 82 by me in the Kotla Test where Sardesai had set the pace with 106
came on a pitch on which Richard Collinge bowled with rare devil, making me
earn every run. Pace never really worried me, but this was one time when I had
to watch out for the ones that Collinge, a hefty, lively left-armer, got to
buzz around my ears.....’
Raw Deal
When Hanumant Singh had been progressing in rapid strides and
cementing his place in the Indian team, he suddenly got an unexpected
raw deal, a bolt from the blue, from the Indian selectors six
months later on the eve of his cherished desire to visit Australia in the
summer of 1967-68.
In spite of the fact that he was enormously gifted, his batting
generally lacked in consistency, though studded with some
brilliant performances, particularly when they mattered most,
and thus in a way he was not doing justice to his abundant
talent. But everything gainsaid, there was no denying that he was the most
attractive stroke maker in the country.
His lithe footwork, consummate command over playing
of the back foot , particularly in the region between fine leg and long
on, marked him as a celestial star in the Indian batting line-up.
However, a recurring feature in his batting was his impetuosity which often
cost him his wicket and thus, in a way, he never did justice to his indubitable
natural capability and thus an element of unpredictability was soon evident in
his batting.
When the selectors gathered in order to select the squad to tour
Australia, everybody was startled to observe that his name was missing,
particularly at a time when in 1967, he enjoyed his halcyon days in
domestic cricket. He scored 109 and 213 not out in the final match in the Ranji
Trophy championship Trophy, thus earning the coveted distinction of being the
first batsman to achieve the rare feat of scoring a century and a double century
in a Ranji Trophy match and scored 869 runs in the series at an average
of 124.14 runs.
The reason given by the Board was that he failed to
pass the fitness test in spite of attending scrupulously the training
camps in Pune and Bombay and was instructed to undergo a
further trial. It is true that he had been suffering from a niggling
injury to his foot but he passed this test without any bother and yet
again he was asked to visit another specialist who pronounced the identical
judgment. An X-ray of the thighs revealed that the left one was more
bulky than the right one and he said that this difference was
noticeable since his childhood and he was never troubled by it.
As if this was not enough, he was then referred to an
orthopedic surgeon who suggested that he should rest for some time and keep
away from the tour to Australia since he had many years of cricket ahead of
him!
Hanumant Singh was shattered, though he continued to score
heavily in the domestic circuit. However, something had snapped inside and he
could not motivate himself to greater deeds. The trauma of missing the tour to
Australia rankled and the crestfallen batsman could not forget the
injustice meted out to him and he seemed to lose his zeal for
the game.
However, two years later, when some radical changes were taking
place in the selection process of the Indian team under the stewardship
of Vijay Merchant, he was recalled to play against the visiting New
Zealand team under the leadership of Graham Dowling in September, 1969. He was
out to Dayle Headley, the fast bowler, in both the innings for 1 and 13,
while batting for 44 and 92 minutes, a most uncharacteristically restrained
performance judging by his standards. And with that ended the Test career of this
exquisitely stylish batsman in a whimper.
He said, ‘ There couldn’t have been a worse moment for me to
stage a comeback. I was then going though some acute personal problems in my
family and my mind was just not on the game, leave alone the international game.
Not surprisingly, I fell cheaply to Dayle Hadlee in both innings. So, wretched
was my mental condition that I even had recourse, for the first time in my
life, in a " sleeping-pill " in the evening before that Bombay Test began. The pill
only served to slow my reflexes next morning ’.
Well , that is it and That sums it all.
Regards and Thanks
Pics
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 .
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