Mumbai: The sixties meant the period of counterculture, social revolution and The Beatles. But in India, cricket — the Englishman’s sport — did not pass through the renaissance channel. Instead of staying abroad for club cricket opportunities, Indian cricketers left their fish-and-chip suppers in England to return to their roots and padded up for the Duleep Trophy, a first-class tournament — the gateway to the Indian Test team.
The tournament (named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji of Nawanagar) that started in 1961 could not retain its place in the BCCI calendar (in 2015) for the first time in five decades. Though the board declared it has not been abolished and will be a part of its logbook for the next season, the decision turned heads.
The Duleep Trophy made several careers and broke a few. Mostly, it helped young cricketers tread the tough path with head held high.
“There weren’t many games for youngsters those days and based on the performance in Duleep and Ranji Trophy, players were selected for the national team. It holds more importance than Ranji as it was played on zonal basis and the best are chosen,” said former India all-rounder Salim Durani (1960-73), who played for the Central Zone.
Durani also shared his favourite Duleep Trophy moment.
“My most memorable season was 1971/72. Though we won the final against West Zone, I treasure the victory against South. They were one of the strongest teams with ML Jaisimha, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Gundappa Viswanath amongst others,” recalled Durani, who scored 1202 runs and picked up 75 wickets in 29 Tests for India.
Durani, one of the engineers of slow left-arm orthodox bowling, added that now he misses his old friends.
“I really miss Jaisimha, Dileep (Sardesai) a lot these days. I feel lonely when I think about the time spent with them. Dileep was a very jolly fellow and was once my room partner in West Indies. Even Chandu (Borde) was very dedicated. Early in the morning, after taking a shower, he used to pray and I remember once I told him ‘please pray for me, let me also get 40-50 runs’,’’ said Durani.
Former India cricketer Salim Durani. (Photo: Facebook)
In those days, Indian cricketers were no less than soldiers in an army cantonment. There were no helmets and the leather — released from ferocious fast bowlers — went like a bullet.
Former India Test captain Nari Contractor dealt with cruelty twice in his career. In 1959, England bowler Brian Statham broke his ribs and in 1962, Charlie Griffith (West Indies) hit his skull, an injury that would almost have ended his life. He was out of the Test team and took the Duleep Trophy route to make a comeback.
The 81-year-old shared an incident that occurred during the 1963 final between West Zone and South Zone at Feroz Shah Kotla (New Delhi).
“South scored 331 runs in their first innings. We went in to bat an hour before close of play and scored 47 runs. From that night, it started raining heavily and there was no play on the subsequent days. While people contemplated whether the match will be on, Ghulam Ahmed — the selector — rang me up and asked why didn’t I stop playing cricket for I had a major injury the year before. He had seen me getting hurt and he didn’t want that to happen to me again. I told him it was a stupid question because one doesn’t get hit every day and I was playing to get back to the Test team.
He even came to my house and asked my wife how come she doesn’t have an objection? After an hour, Bechu Dutta Roy, the chairman that time, told me the same thing. Then, Hemu Adhikari also asked me not to play. I had so many first class appearances after my injury and nobody had doubts but suddenly during Duleep Trophy, everybody started questioning me,” said Contractor.
“I told them ‘if you don’t want to select me, don’t select me but don’t ask me why am I playing’. It all happened during those three days when rain washed out the final. I was not selected after that and Farokh Engineer was the opener,” said Contractor, who scored 1611 runs for India in 31 Tests.
Madan Lal, from Kapil Dev’s class of 1983, praised the tournament for producing good Test cricketers.
“You could produce a good Test player through Duleep and Ranji. That cannot happen through T20. A Duleep player can alter his game anytime, he can play T20 as well as One Day International,” he said.
Former India cricketer Madan Lal. (Photo: AFP)
In a release, BCCI said: “Due to extreme weather conditions that are prevalent in North India and parts of East India during winter, BCCI wanted to ensure that Ranji Trophy matches were not affected. All the zonal tournaments have been planned in that interim period.”
However, Lal said the organisers could have very well accommodated it. He believed the tournament could have been taken to a region where there is no rain.
“It doesn’t matter if it is North or East. We all know it was a difficult year, World Cup is fine, but people are playing IPL too. If a young cricketer wants to play for the country, he has to excel in Ranji and Duleep,” added Lal, who took three wickets in the 1983 World Cup final against West Indies.
"We connected more to Duleep Trophy than Tests. Those days, there weren’t much coverage on television. Hence, sitting on the stand and watching it was an experience. It was like a comic book, a story in reality. Due to the quantum of cricket now, it gets difficult to accommodate everything. Somebody has to take the whip, Duleep Trophy has taken it. But the tournament inspired us to play cricket. Romantically, I feel sad because I belong to the era but pragmatically, I do agree that the fixtures have become difficult.”
Former Mumbai cricketer Shishir Hattangadi. (Photo: Facebook)
— Shishir Hattangadi (Bombay, 1981-1991)
"I was recognised as an off-spinner through Duleep Trophy. Look, Duleep Trophy is an important tournament for domestic talent to surface and I gave my example. I’m just trying to say it can help cricketers to show their talent and come under the purview of the selectors. I am dejected it is being ruled out this year."
Former India spinner Erapalli Prasanna. (Photo: AFP)
— Erapalli Prasanna (India, 1962-1978)
