Yashpal Sharma –
He Didn’t Quite Get What He Deserved
Again the same story- it was the Vizzy Trophy Finals of the year 1975-76 when I was listening to the running commentary that was played between the West Zone and North Zone. That was the first occasion I had heard about Haseen Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh who later joined the Indian Railways, Ashok Malhotra, Surinder Khanna and Yashpal Sharma . He had in that tournament in a match had scored a 187 for the North Zone University.
Pic - :: A Jubiliant Yashpal Sharma Lofting The World Cup 1983 Along With His Teammate
It was again the year
1977 when the Duleep Trophy match was played between the South Zone and the
North Zone. It was again this man who in that semis against the South facing
the STRONGEST spin attack of Prasanna, Chandra and Venkat had scored an 189. He
and Kapil Dev were inspite of their very good performance were not included in
the Indian bound Australian team to Australia.
Ultimately it was the
Pakistan sojoun that he made under Bishen Singh Bedi to Pakistan where India
lost the series- A “ CHEAT ” one, to Pakistan by 2-0 . The West Indies and
the Australian team were here theareafterbut it was theEngland tour of India in
the early part of 1979 where he made his Test debut at the LORDS, the MECCA of
cricket .This match was and is very famous for India being bowled out for 96 in
the first and after conceding a lead of 250 runs plus, India saved that match
through Test centuries from Gundappa Vishvanath ( 113) and Dilip Vengsarkar who
scored that 104.They added an invaluable 213 runs to save India from that ignominious
and a possible defeat then.
Soon afterwards that
series the Aussies under Kim Hughes were at india and it was again he got a
chance to represent India . His dastard act was at Kanpur when he bagged a pair
in both the innings of that series , but as India had won that Test, he was NOT
droped and in the next Test he scored a scintillating century reaching his
hundred by hitting three sixes .He was unbeaten on 100 and that prolonged his
Test career.
Yashpal then was in the squad against the West-Indies as
well and his performance was such that he booked a ticket for England in 1981.
The period between 1981 to 1983 saw him contributing STOLIDLY and not SOLIDLY
for India. He would contribute in between very solidly with the bat and his
contribution would make and bring some differences.
Even against the Asif Iqbal led Pakistan team in India in
1979, he made and he played some very useful knock especially his knock at the Edens
Gardens which went a long way for India to save that match. However as said
that the period between 1981 and 1983 saw the best coming out of him in the
Test match.
In the 1981 series against England , against them at Madras,
then , he came to the wicket when the score board read 135 for two.It was then
when a DASTARD bouncer hit Dilip Vengsarkar on the face and he did not take
part in the match thereafter, retiring at his individual score of 70. Yashpal
was to join Gundappa Vishvanath.
Yashpal Creates A
World record For The Most Runs For The Wicket -:
It was at that Test when he joined Gundappa Vishvanath and
on the day as well as in the next he continued batting with Vishvanath. The
next day there was a RECORD that he set with Vishvanath which is UNIQUE in the
annals of Indian cricket.
IT WAS SUCH THAT ON THAT DAY , IE , ON THE SECOND DAY OF THAT MATCH
INDIA DID NOT LOOSE ANY WICKET. This was for the FIRST time in the
annals of Indian cricket that the entire day’s play saw India NOT losing even a
single wicket.
NEXT – Again he got his century and he helped Gundappa
Vishvanath to reach his first DOUBLE – CENTURY of the Test match and his FIRST
in his entire career. WHAT WAS MORE-::
YASHPAL AND GUNDAPPA
VISHVANATH ADDED 316 FOR THIS WICKET AND WITH DILIP VENGSARKAR ADDING 136 WITH
VISHVANATH FOR THAT WICKET- A TOTAL OF 451 RUNS WERE ADDED FOR THE THIRD WICKET
AND THIS WAS A UNUSIAL BUT AN UNIQUE WORLD RECOD SET , THEN , FOR THE THIRD
WICKET. THAT WAS THE HIGHEST PARTNERSHIP IN TERMS OF RUNS SCORED AND SET BY ANY
CRICKETING PAIR IN TEST CRICKET…..
Though it took THREE batsman for a SINGLE wicket to
accumulate that partnership OFICIALLY it was not added to the books of record
but UNOFICIALLY it was a WORLD RECORD set for that wicket and for the runs in
terms of the HIGHEST NUMBERS that was scored and set by India for the THIRD
WICKET though THREE different batsman had to bat for the same. Yashpal had
scored an 140 and that remains his HIGHEST
score in Test cricket .
WORLD CUP 1983 :: Yashpal Is The HIGHEST Runs Aggregator Of India-::
It was Pakistan 1982-83 where he was a success with his bat
though India had lost , again a CHEAT SERIES to Pakistan by 3-0, and again his
sojourn at the West-Indies where India lost that series by 2-0 and the One
Dayers by 2-1 but his performance won him the ticket to the WORLD CUP – III and
what a MAGIC it was.
INDIA NOT ONLY WON THE WORLD
CUP BUT HE WAS THE HIGHEST RUN AGGREGATOR IN THAT TOURNEY WITH OVER “ 289 ”
RUNS FOR INDIA.
His very FIRST knock
in the World Cup proper was an 89 against the previous winner of the first two
edition of the World Cup, the West-Indies. He came into bat when the score was
135 for 6 and he added a 73 runs with Roger Binny ( 26) and took India to past
200 and when India were all out for 267 , they bowled out the Windies for 219
with Shashtri and Binny claiming three wickets apiece . He had set the tone
with his batting and India had set the tone with that VICTORY – THE REST IS A HISTORY.
He had his share in the semis when he stroked a eventual
winning 62 hitting two sixes of Bob Willis.The second one, STROLLING LAZILY ON
THE OFF STUMP TO PICK A YORKER AND FLICK IT WITH THE WRIST TO WIDISH LOG ON
FENCE FOR A SIX…… That was th MAJESTIC shot which had rattled the English….
HISTORY REPEATS
ITSELF - ::
The same kind of a shot was played off the last ball of the
innings by Viv Richard of Willis in 1979 . The DIFFERENCE was Richard was MAGIC
and MAJESTIC and Yashpal was DELICATE and HOLISTIC. Richard was BRUTE and
PERSONIFIED, Yashpal was SOFT and AMPLIFIED ……. However that shot in 1979 made
the EWindies to win that Cup and this shot took the Indians to the finals and
there again……. HISTORY NEVER REWRITES ITSELF AS IT REPEATS ITSELF……
Badluck “ BECONS ”
Him - ::
After the 1983 sojourn one by one bad luck visited him and
he did not live upto the reputation that he had showed and on which his cricketing
career was flowering. He ultimately lost his place in the Indian team…..
He took upto umpiring and again he was in thepanel of
selection committee. There also LUCK crucified him.When he was the CHAIRMAN
of the selection committee, he DID NOT toe down to the WHIMS of the Indian
captain to give him the team he needed and he stood his ground.The REWSULT was
Mr Jagmohan Dalmia shunted him OUT of his job. Yet he was that man who selected
that team of India in 2011 , which won the World Cup at Indis on the FOOLS DAY
OF APRIL, in 2011,…..
Employed with the State bank of India under the Sports Quote
he served the State Bank from 1978 to 2015 and he retired from the institution.
He leaves behind his wife, two daughters and a son – and a host of relatives
and friends – CHETAN SHARMA being his nephew from the fraternity of cricket….
Not that correct in TECHNIQUE, he has a HUGE BIG HEART of a LION
and that LIONISM was all about Yashpal and his performance on the
field.
He played in 37 Test for India scoring 1606 runs with TWO
centuries and NINE half centuries and also 42 One Dayers. He
has a wicket each in the Test and the One dayers. ….. A simple man, a complete TEA-TOTALLER and a man with so much of undoubted INTEGRITY ..... hard to get these kind of SOUL here on the earth .....
People talk so much about the world Cup 1983 talking all
about Kapil’s 175 unbeaten against Zimbabwe and Roger Binny’s 18 wicket- the
HIGHEST in that tournament . Nobody talk about him being the HIGHEST rungetter
for India in that tourney…..
UNDOUBTEDLY- he would always say to his CONFIDANTE – MY WORLD
CUP CONTRIBUTION DID NOT GIVE ME EITHER AN ARJUNA OR A PADMA
….. the CONSOLATION would come from Binny who would console him saying that – YASH,
WE HAD BEING MADE THE “ ASH ” , as I TOO HAPPEN TO SAILON THE DSAME BOAT AS YOU
…….
The “ LIFETIME ” Arjuna
POUSHTHOMOUSLY at some certain points for some , is the need of the HOUR , but who cares and
who listens…..
QUIET, HUMBLE and NO SHOW OFF , THIS MAN MAKES HIS JOURNEY
TO A DIFFERENT LIFE AND THE WORLD AT A DIFFERENT PLANET …….
“ REST-IN-PEACE ”-THE-LION-FROM
PUNJAB OF INDIAN CRICKET ……
That is it……
That sums up it and that is 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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