Raju Korti
In many ways the onset of 70s was responsible for the renaissance of Indian cricket. The man who brought about this resurgence was Ajit Wadekar who passed into eternity yesterday late night after a protracted illness.
Captaincy came to him in quite an unusual manner. In the clamor for change of guard, Wadekar pipped his predecessor Nawab of Pataudi to the post through the casting vote of then Chairman of Selectors Vijay Merchant.
There were quite a few eyebrows raised at the way he was elevated but Wadekar took the new responsibility with stoicism and composure. He was well aware that it was going to be baptism by fire since he was to lead the Indian side against the mighty West Indies led by the super mighty Gary Sobers.As expected a barrage of questions were thrown at him during his first press conference as the skipper. Asked how his team with a known weakness against the short-pitched stuff was going to face the prospect of negotiating Windies pace battery, an unruffled Wadekar said "good batsmen are never afraid of good bowlers." Wadekar was not letting off verbal steam. He made it happen through newbie Sunil Gavaskar who amassed 774 in his first series, veteran Dilip Sardesai making 642 runs at the fag end of his career and another rookie Eknath Solkar excelling in all departments of the game. Wadekar moulded the team into a fighting outfit as it unfolded later in that series.
Somewhat reticent, Wadekar opened up after I met him thrice at his residence. Unspooling memories of that epoch-making series, Wadekar recalled how there was a hushed silence in the West Indian dressing room when India asked the host team to follow on. "Winning was not on my mind then but there was enough gratification in asking them to follow on. Imagine asking West Indies to follow on with Sobers, Kanhai, Fredericks, Llyod in their team".
Wadekar led from the front and India won that series. That was no flash in the pan. Wadekar crowned himself with glory by winning the next series against the much stronger Englishmen who had the likes of Boycott, Edrich, Luckhurst and Illingworth. His main weapon was polio-affected Chandrashekhar, who if I remember correctly, was practically turning the ball at right angles at a pace that a traditional spinner rarely bowls. Wadekar brought in a revolution of sorts by throwing the ball at spinners to open the bowling with an occasional over to Solkar or Abid Ali merely as formality. That tactics worked wonders and the Englishmen didn't know what had hit them. Wadekar's popularity had reached such dizzy heights then that people believed he was Ajit (invincible) in the real sense of the word.
In 1972, Wadekar toyed with the Tony Lewis-led England team. Not only did he score heavily, he led the team exceptionally well. His record as a Test batsman belies the grandeur he brought on to the field. Stylish and elegant, his cover drives were sheer caresses and a sight for sore eyes. I think there were few fielders who were as good as he was in the slips. For someone whose body language was so languid Wadekar made slip catching look ridiculously easy. The only other slip catcher I can think of of that caliber at the time was Phil Sharpe of England.
He had this strange style of speaking through clenched teeth. So at times his team-mates did not quite get what he wanted to say. He remembered his contemporary, wicket-keeper Farrokh Engineer as a garrulous cricketer. "He would chat continuously behind the stumps and that would disturb me. At times I opted to field elsewhere just to escape his banter."
There was however other side to his serious personality that I discovered. Perhaps the only time he chuckled heartily was when he told me how in 1971 he had make a mickey out of English commentator Brian Johnston. "Brian was doing live on-field interviews for TV and as I got out and walked back to the pavilion, he came to me and asked me 'Wadders (as he called me while I called him Johnners) what went wrong?"
"Sorry Johnners, me no speak. I no give interview you." Brian's face turned red at this and the camera quickly panned on elsewhere to hide his embarrassment. Later, I told him it was a leg pull returned in kind since Brian himself was notorious for pulling leg.
Wadekar chose not to mince words at his rather unceremonious retirement. After that whistewash in England during the 1974 series, the same people who idolized him sky high, blackened the bat the Indian cricket Board had erected in honor of his achievements. "It was sad. It was proof that public memory is short. After that ignominious series dubbed as Summer of 42, I realized it was time to go. (In the last of the three Test series, India capitulated with mere 42. The previous two tests were also lost by a huge margin.) There was another blot on the team of which he was part against the New Zealanders led by Graham Dowling in 1969. Pataudi was the captain them and in the Nagpur Test, almost the entire team took to the field in a sozzled state. Wadekar himself dropped a skier from Dowling and the entire crowd saw his hands shaking while trying to catch. He dropped it and there was a big boo from the crowd. "We were not as fiercely competitive those days. We played more for the fun of the game because the money was peanuts compared to what cricketers get today," he told me. This was the same Wadekar who also told me that cricket should be made professional in India like it is in England. No one took him seriously including the BCCI always flush with funds.
Wadekar, however, owed much more to the Indian cricket. As coach he instilled confidence in each player. His very presence commanded respect. The first time I met him was in Mahabaleshwar in 1988 where he had come with his family for an outing. "Aala ki mala phone kar aani bhet (Call me once you come back), he told me and kept his promise. We met three times after that and each time he got nostalgic after a couple of pegs. While helping himself, he would also insist I accompany him which of course, I never did.
As Probationary Officer with the State Bank of India, the Ruia College alumni went out of the way to get new accounts. He would personally accept application forms and gift them plastic bats with his signature on them. He was a huge draw.
Essentially a front foot player, my enduring memory of his is the way he just tapped the ball to the cover boundary and taking blinders in the slip before anyone realized he had caught the ball. That was the signature grace he left on Indian cricket. Tall and handsome, he truly epitomized handsome is what the handsome does.
Captaincy came to him in quite an unusual manner. In the clamor for change of guard, Wadekar pipped his predecessor Nawab of Pataudi to the post through the casting vote of then Chairman of Selectors Vijay Merchant.
There were quite a few eyebrows raised at the way he was elevated but Wadekar took the new responsibility with stoicism and composure. He was well aware that it was going to be baptism by fire since he was to lead the Indian side against the mighty West Indies led by the super mighty Gary Sobers.As expected a barrage of questions were thrown at him during his first press conference as the skipper. Asked how his team with a known weakness against the short-pitched stuff was going to face the prospect of negotiating Windies pace battery, an unruffled Wadekar said "good batsmen are never afraid of good bowlers." Wadekar was not letting off verbal steam. He made it happen through newbie Sunil Gavaskar who amassed 774 in his first series, veteran Dilip Sardesai making 642 runs at the fag end of his career and another rookie Eknath Solkar excelling in all departments of the game. Wadekar moulded the team into a fighting outfit as it unfolded later in that series.
Somewhat reticent, Wadekar opened up after I met him thrice at his residence. Unspooling memories of that epoch-making series, Wadekar recalled how there was a hushed silence in the West Indian dressing room when India asked the host team to follow on. "Winning was not on my mind then but there was enough gratification in asking them to follow on. Imagine asking West Indies to follow on with Sobers, Kanhai, Fredericks, Llyod in their team".
Wadekar led from the front and India won that series. That was no flash in the pan. Wadekar crowned himself with glory by winning the next series against the much stronger Englishmen who had the likes of Boycott, Edrich, Luckhurst and Illingworth. His main weapon was polio-affected Chandrashekhar, who if I remember correctly, was practically turning the ball at right angles at a pace that a traditional spinner rarely bowls. Wadekar brought in a revolution of sorts by throwing the ball at spinners to open the bowling with an occasional over to Solkar or Abid Ali merely as formality. That tactics worked wonders and the Englishmen didn't know what had hit them. Wadekar's popularity had reached such dizzy heights then that people believed he was Ajit (invincible) in the real sense of the word.
In 1972, Wadekar toyed with the Tony Lewis-led England team. Not only did he score heavily, he led the team exceptionally well. His record as a Test batsman belies the grandeur he brought on to the field. Stylish and elegant, his cover drives were sheer caresses and a sight for sore eyes. I think there were few fielders who were as good as he was in the slips. For someone whose body language was so languid Wadekar made slip catching look ridiculously easy. The only other slip catcher I can think of of that caliber at the time was Phil Sharpe of England.
He had this strange style of speaking through clenched teeth. So at times his team-mates did not quite get what he wanted to say. He remembered his contemporary, wicket-keeper Farrokh Engineer as a garrulous cricketer. "He would chat continuously behind the stumps and that would disturb me. At times I opted to field elsewhere just to escape his banter."
There was however other side to his serious personality that I discovered. Perhaps the only time he chuckled heartily was when he told me how in 1971 he had make a mickey out of English commentator Brian Johnston. "Brian was doing live on-field interviews for TV and as I got out and walked back to the pavilion, he came to me and asked me 'Wadders (as he called me while I called him Johnners) what went wrong?"
"Sorry Johnners, me no speak. I no give interview you." Brian's face turned red at this and the camera quickly panned on elsewhere to hide his embarrassment. Later, I told him it was a leg pull returned in kind since Brian himself was notorious for pulling leg.
Wadekar chose not to mince words at his rather unceremonious retirement. After that whistewash in England during the 1974 series, the same people who idolized him sky high, blackened the bat the Indian cricket Board had erected in honor of his achievements. "It was sad. It was proof that public memory is short. After that ignominious series dubbed as Summer of 42, I realized it was time to go. (In the last of the three Test series, India capitulated with mere 42. The previous two tests were also lost by a huge margin.) There was another blot on the team of which he was part against the New Zealanders led by Graham Dowling in 1969. Pataudi was the captain them and in the Nagpur Test, almost the entire team took to the field in a sozzled state. Wadekar himself dropped a skier from Dowling and the entire crowd saw his hands shaking while trying to catch. He dropped it and there was a big boo from the crowd. "We were not as fiercely competitive those days. We played more for the fun of the game because the money was peanuts compared to what cricketers get today," he told me. This was the same Wadekar who also told me that cricket should be made professional in India like it is in England. No one took him seriously including the BCCI always flush with funds.
As Probationary Officer with the State Bank of India, the Ruia College alumni went out of the way to get new accounts. He would personally accept application forms and gift them plastic bats with his signature on them. He was a huge draw.
Essentially a front foot player, my enduring memory of his is the way he just tapped the ball to the cover boundary and taking blinders in the slip before anyone realized he had caught the ball. That was the signature grace he left on Indian cricket. Tall and handsome, he truly epitomized handsome is what the handsome does.
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