Square pegs in round holes on cricket stage

TWO HYDERABAD cricketers had an outstanding 1999-2000 season, though their efforts could not win their team the Ranji Trophy. Both Kanwaljit Singh and V. V. S. Laxman showed up the cruel contradictions of Indian cricket, a megalithic national system that has no mechanism of accessing talent submerged by competition at the State level, and consistently places square pegs in round holes on the world stage.

Kanwaljit Singh's 62 wickets in the season must have laid to rest any doubts in the minds of sceptics who question the assertion that spinners of the last generation were superior to today's slow men.

In fact, despite rarely bowling with the sting that was part of his early career, the Sardar established standards through the season that younger bowlers could not match.

The young Kanwaljit Singh, who replaced this writer in the Hyderabad squad twenty years ago, was a delight to watch, a genuine spinner of the ball, whose classical arc, sharp turn and disconcerting bounce made him a formidable bowler. His elder brother was an equally impressive young off spinner who gave substance to the Nizam College attack in the local league before Kanwaljit took over. What became of the senior Singh we do not know; he was hardly seen on a cricket field afterwards.

Perhaps he gave up trying to dislodge Hyderabad's established off spinners of the day. The younger brother was only marginally luckier. He made his Ranji Trophy debut early enough but had to wait for a very long time to seal his place in the side, which had two senior off spinners who played for India at different times in Shivlal Yadav and Arshad Ayub.

Many felt that Kanwaljit Singh was the best of those three Hyderabad off spinners, though he was the only one not to play for India for the simple reason that the other two kept him out of the South Zone side and often from the State team. By the time the other two were out of the way and Kanwaljit became the no.1 off spinner in the Hyderabad eleven, he was in true Indian style considered too old to be awarded a Test cap. But like the bumblebee which does not know its unsuitability for flight, the Sardar went on bowling well into his thirties and now his forties, lacking the good sense to give in to age.

Kanwal's was not the first instance of an Indian cricketer not attracting the national selectors attention despite being at the height of his powers. It is easy for such a conspiracy of silence to be enacted, wittingly or unwittingly, denying meritorious players the chance to impress national selectors, by simply excluding them from zone or State teams, with no one noticing or giving it publicity. But his is certainly a rare instance of a bowler so denied going on regardless for over a decade much like Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar did in the Seventies.

To give 100 per cent every time you step on to a cricket field unmindful of the lack of reward is to play cricket in the true spirit of the game and Kanwaljit Singh has set an inspiring example for other cricketers to follow.

Laxman's tragedy is no less poignant than Kanwaljit Singh's even though he cannot complain of lack of opportunity. It is common knowledge by now that the Hyderabad batsman has often been forced to open the innings in Test cricket, playing a role for which he is technically and temperamentally not suited. There have been other such sacrificial lambs in Indian Test cricket history, but Laxman has, through his extraordinary innings in Adelaide and his wonderful exploits in the Ranji Trophy, proved that he is someone special, a gifted batsman Indian cricket has led astray.

The less discussed aspect of Laxman's disappointing Test record is the technical deficiency in his batting that has caused his repeated downfall. He has so often been out bowled or leg before, leaving a huge gap between bat and pad or bringing an angled bat down too late. There is certainly something wrong with the Indian support system if a batsman of Laxman's calibre cannot find the help necessary to correct the flaws in his batting after being dismissed frequently in similar fashion.

Careful study of videotapes of his innings would surely have showed what was wrong with Laxman's batting, and caring colleagues, coaches and administrators should have helped him find a proper way of making the necessary technical adjustments.

Ironically, despite the millions of cricket enthusiasts in India, it is often claimed that there is a shortage of genuine talent. If that were true, we have no business not to ensure that the Kanwaljit Singhs and Laxmans of India are spotted at the right time, given opportunities and encouragement at the highest level and provided appropriate coaching and correctional advice at every stage so that fewer good players will fall by the wayside.

V. RAMNARAYAN

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