Eleven doughty protagonists to champion the minority
For the first time in India an intriguing contest between left andright-handers gets underway in the Timex Challenge at the WankhedeStadium on Sunday. The teams appear to be closely matched but theleft-handers are a trifle top-heavy with batsmen. With just threebowlers and no specialist keeper there are definite chinks in theirarmour. One wonders why Delhi tearaway Ashish Nehra wasn’t invited toshare the new ball with Zaheer Khan. But then again one-day cricket,and especially a festival game of this nature, is unabashedly abatsman’s game.Left-handers are a hopeless minority, albeit a rather distinguishedone, in the game but in recent years their numbers have been creepingup steadily. There is something to be said for the grace and eleganceof left-handers, especially when they play the drive, and JackFingleton once floated the theory that many left-handers are actuallystronger in their right hand which is the top or guiding hand, andhence the rudder, when it comes to the drive. The classing of lefthanders is a difficult proposition since many of them do only certainskills with their left hand and others with the right. In Indiancricket left-handed bowlers are fairly common (both spinners and to alesser extent medium pacers) but left-handed batsmen have been at apremium. It is only lately that this historical imbalance is beingrighted.The first Indian lefthander was PE Palia who played in the country’sinaugural Test against England at Lord’s in 1932. Palia was primarilya middle order batsman who was also a left arm orthodox spinner, aftera fashion. But the honour of being India’s first specialist left armbowler went to Palia’s fellow Parsi, RJD Jamshedji at Bombay in1933/34. Indeed Jamshedji was India’s first specialist slow bowler,right or left. The bowlers poured forth steadily since, from VinooMankad downwards, but the batsmen dried up to a trickle. The longesthiatus was from 1978/79, when Surinder Amarnath played his last Testagainst Pakistan in Karachi, until 1987/88 when Woorkheri Ramandebuted against West Indies.If one could go back into time and pick an all time Indian eleven oflefthanders, what would it look like? It’s not easy to find eleven menwho both batted and bowled left handed, so the rules will be amendedto seek players who performed their core skill with the left hand.Here again, a difficulty arises about Vinoo Mankad who bowled lefthanded and batted right: which did he do better? Rather than debatethat ticklish point, the simpler option is to disqualify him.Saurav Ganguly who already lays claim, at 28 years of age, to beingIndia’s greatest lefthander ever, can be pencilled in right away atNo.1. Finding his partner is also not too complicated. Indeed,incredible as it may seem, just three lefthanders have opened thebatting for India in Test cricket: Nari Contractor, Woorkheri Ramanand Sadagopan Ramesh. Contractor made his debut at No.7 butleapfrogged to the opener’s spot in his very next game. An obduratebatsman who offered a reassuring presence upfront, he will lend acalming influence to the host of strokemakers to follow.Vinod Kambli follows at No.3. The dream start to his Test career (hebecame the fastest Indian to reach 1000 runs) soured as he wrestledwith the twin foibles of suspect technique and temperament. Droppedfor the England tour of 1996 on patently non-cricketing grounds,Kambli never seemed to recover from the resulting dent to hisconfidence. After several failed comebacks, he remains one of thebiggest enigmas in Indian cricket.Next in line is Ajit Wadekar. Leader of sides that won back-to-backseries in West Indies and England in 1971, his claim to being skipperis unrivalled. He had the frustrating inability to convert his fiftiesinto three figures, making just a solitary Test century in Wellington.Salim Durani, that ‘wayward genius’, is a cinch as the first allrounder in the team at No.5. As a crowd puller, he was perhapsunsurpassed and his uncanny knack of offering the spectators a six ondemand was legendary. His slow left arm stuff was perhaps underratedbut it was Durrani who delivered the crucial break for India in thePort of Spain Test of 1971 by dismissing Lloyd and Sobers in one over.Another surprising statistic is India’s inability to produce a singleleft-handed wicket keeper in its Test history. The shortage of such aspecies necessitates the selection of a nonspecialist keeper. GulMahomed who kept wickets in three tour games on the 1946 tour ofEngland deputising for DD Hindlekar is probably best suited to fit thebill. Besides being a pugnacious batsman – he had a half share in theworld partnership record of 577 with Vijay Hazare – Gul also displayedquicksilver reflexes in the field, which would doubtless serve in goodstead behind the wickets too.Following in his footsteps, I propose AG Ram Singh, perhaps the finestplayer never to don the flannels for India in an official Test. Itstill remains a mystery how he missed out on the 1936 tour of Englandafter a stellar role in the first two editions in the Ranji Trophy. Adangerous customer with both bat and ball, Ram Singh is succeeded by athird spinning all-rounder in Bapu Nadkarni. The meanest bowler of histime and perhaps of all time – Gary Sobers said he was the only bowlerhe ever saw who sprinted down the wicket to prevent a single after hisdelivery stride – Nadkarni was also good enough to strike one Testcentury.As for left arm seamers, India have had a fair share of them beginningwith Mumbai policeman Ghulam Mustafa Guard in 1958/59, down to ZaheerKhan. The two best were inarguably Rusi Surti and Karsan Ghavri, bothhandy batsmen to boot, the latter having the additional asset ofbowling left arm spin when required. With three left arm spinnersalready in the basket, the team is completed by a fourth, Bishen Bedithe only member of the XI to bat right handed; also the only playerwith minimal batting pretensions. The twelfth man could be EknathSolkar, one of the finest close-in catchers who played for India. Hisprehensile hands grabbed 53 catches in 27 Tests, averaging almost twoper match, one of the highest proportions in Test history.That then is the XI: Saurav Ganguly, Nari Contractor, Vinod Kambli,Ajit Wadekar (captain), Salim Durrani, Gul Mahomed (wicket keeper), AGRam Singh, Bapu Nadkarni, Rusi Surti, Karsan Ghavri and Bishen Bedi.12th man: Eknath Solkar.