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Legends from the South |
| M J Gopalan and A G Ram Singh |
| M J Gopalan |
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 One
of India’s two double internationals, both from Madras of yore,
M J Gopalan, died on 21st December 2003, after a brief illness.
At 94, he had been the oldest Test cricketer in the world and the
lone survivor from the Madras team that played the first Ranji Trophy
match. He it was who bowled the opening delivery in the national
championship.
Gopalan achieved excellence in cricket and hockey, but it was never
an easy path for him. Hailing from a family of modest means, Gopalan
had to fight his way up the sporting ladder, but he took good care
of his health and fitness, and, naturally well endowed with strong
bones and sinews, he was able to devote all his time to the pursuit
of excellence on a cricket or hockey ground.
In 1926, Gopalan played for the Indians for the first time against
the Europeans in the Presidency Match the greatest cricketing event
in Madras before the advent of Test matches. In 1927-1928, when
the first MCC team visited Madras, Gopalan captured four wickets
for 87 for the Indians and three for 108 for Madras in the two matches
the tourists played in the city. He also had a fine all round performance
against West Indies, playing for South Zone.
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| It was C P Johnstone, the Kent, England-born Madras
captain, who, instrumental in securing him a job with Burmah Shell,
introduced the first element of security in the young all rounder’s
life. Another Englishman, R C Summerhayes provided the inspiration
for Gopalan to achieve excellence in hockey. On any match day, young
Gopalan would cycle to Chepauk after finishing his daily rounds visiting
Shell petrol stations, enter the arena just before the start of the
match, change into his hockey shorts and run on to the field, accompanied
by the roars of a cheering crowd. |
| Forsaking hockey and a chance to be selected for
the Olympics, in favour of playing Test cricket, Gopalan was chosen
to tour England in 1936, but was given few opportunities. Earlier,
a fine piece of bowling for an All-India XI in Calcutta against Jack
Ryder’s Australian XI had won him a place in the Indian team for the
second ‘Test’ in that series. |
| “On figures alone Gopalan is entitled to an honoured
place in the history of the game, but his greatness can never be measured
by the yardstick. If only he had wanted he could have hit more centuries,
but Gopalan never stays at the crease unless he must. To him the game
alone is all that matters and nothing else. He approaches it in a
cavalier spirit and bats and bowls with a freshness and vigour that
fill the field and heighten the game”, wrote P N Sundaresan, a cricket
writer, during Gopalan’s silver jubilee year in cricket. |
| Gopalan was a spontaneous strokemaker, who breathed
aggression all the time he was at the crease. As a bowler, he began
his career trying to bowl fast and short, but with experience, especially
after his 1936 tour of England, he concentrated on length and movement.
His subtle variations and control made him a feared bowler even in
his forties. He might have been capped more often for India but for
the presence of a galaxy of fast bowlers during his period, like Nissar,
Amar Singh, Jehangir Khan, and Nazir Ali. |
| Gopalan served the game of cricket for long after
his career was over. As a national selector, he was responsible for
Tamil Nadu cricketers of the calibre of A G Kripal Singh, A G Milkha
Singh and V V Kumar playing for India. |
| A G Ram Singh |
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 Of
all Tamil Nadu’s cricket greats of the past, there was one man cricketers
knew personally and loved and respected, one man all of them owed
at least a small debt of gratitude — for a kind word at the right
time, a vital piece of advice when things were going wrong with
their cricket, or just his strong, quiet presence in the sidelines
at important games. Amritsar Govindsingh Ram Singh, with his gentle
smile of encouragement, coached the state’s young cricketers for
over two generations.
Ram Singh was the chief destroyer of Mysore in the inaugural Ranji
Trophy match at Chepauk in December 1934, taking eleven wickets
in the match. For years after that, he not only repeated that kind
of bowling performance many times, he was also the team’s most consistent
batsman, a perpetual thorn in the flesh of opponents.
Before his father moved to Madras, young Ram Singh lived just a
huge six away from the scene of the Jallian Wala Bagh massacre in
Amritsar. “He and other members of the family were locked in a small
room and they could hear the gunshots and the shrieks of the people,”
wrote K Sunder Rajan, Sports Editor, The Hindu, in 1980. In the
first Ranji Trophy season, Ram Singh took 6 for 19 and 5 for 16
against Mysore, scoring 14 in a total of 130. Against Hyderabad,
he scored 74 and 70, and had bowling figures of 5 for 88 and 6 for
71.
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| In the second season, 1935-1936, he made 25 and
zero versus Mysore, but took one for 63 and 5 for 55. Against Hyderabad,
he claimed 2 for 77 and 6 for 32, besides remaining unbeaten in both
innings with 121 and 57. In the semifinal, which Madras won by 91
runs, he made 9 and 11, while capturing 4 for 43 and 4 for 30 against
Bengal. In the final that Madras lost to Bombay, the sardar scored
32 and 3 while returning figures of one for 77 and 5 for 92. |
| Despite these extraordinary achievements in the
Ranji Trophy, Ram Singh was overlooked when the Indian team to tour
England was chosen in 1936. Ten years later, he once again missed
the boat despite a brilliant century in a trial match prior to the
tour of England. |
| Madras, or for that matter, Tamil Nadu later, has
not produced many genuine left arm all rounders. Ram Singh was certainly
the only one in that category to show equal prowess in both batting
and bowling. A keen student of the game who came under the influence
of the Sussex professional A F Wensley, Ram Singh eschewed all frills
in his batting and believed in spending long hours at the nets. He
was a strong hooker of anything pitched short, but generally waited
for the bad ball, rather than try to play extravagant strokes. He
played long innings and revelled in crisis situations. |
| Starting out as a quickish bowler in his youth,
Ram Singh developed “a tantalising flight” in his mature years. His
accuracy was proverbial and ‘never say die’ his philosophy as a bowler.
On a rain affected wicket or a turner, he was virtually unplayable. |
| After his playing years, Ram Singh took to coaching,
serving in the National Institute of Sports and under the Rajkumari
Amrit Kaur scheme, preparing countless youngsters for the sterner
battles ahead. He coached well into his eighties and was much beloved
in the Venkata Subba Rao school where he continued his work after
his retirement from official duties at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
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| Arguably the greatest cricketer never to have played
for his country, Ram Singh had the satisfaction of watching two of
his sons become Test players. His grandsons who still play good cricket,
are living testimony to the Ram Singh heritage. They, like hundreds
of other Tamil Nadu cricketers, learnt their cricket at his knee.
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