Resignations in Indian Cricket

While on the issue of coach-captain relationship and the resignation that followed, let me highlight two very important resignation events in Indian cricket that have been buried for decades.

In 1958-59 West Indies under Franz Alexander, the last of the white West Indies captains, toured India. He had with him the fearsome fast bowling duo of Wesley Hall and Roy Gilchrist. Not used to such ferocious pace, most Indian batters were in no mood to occupy the crease and put up resistance. They succumbed, time and again, without any fight.

Such was the panic in the Indian camp that India had no less than 4 captains in the 5 Tests! Polly Umrigar led in the 1^st Test at Bombay; Ghulam Ahmed took over in the following two at Kanpur and Calcutta (both were lost) and Umrigar was brought back as captain for the 4^th Test at Madras.

Just before the start of the Test match, captain-elect Polly Umrigar wanted the Bombay all-rounder Monohar Hardikar to play. Hardikar had played in the first two Tests without inspiring confidence. In view of the batting collapses, the selectors – Amarnath, Jai, Ramaswamy and Dutta Ray –  decided to bolster India’s batting strength with a man who played fast bowling with courage. Amarnath, the chief selector, was not a man to be browbeaten by the captain he helped to select.

The national selection committee opted for opener Apurva Kumar Sengupta. They had very good reasons for selecting the 20 year-old Apu Sengupta because the fearless Services opener had just scored 32 and 100 not out against the same West Indies attack on his first-class debut. He batted with impeccable resolve and authority against the fury of Hall, Gilchrist, Jaswik Taylor and Garfield Sobers.  The young military-cadet AK Sengupta went on to become a very courageous lieutenant colonel with the Indian Army. Unfortunately Indian cricket had no time for the talented army man without any references.

On a point of principle, the chosen captain Polly Umrigar resigned from the captaincy on the morning of the Madras Test match as he felt that he was not being given the XI he wanted. His place as captain was taken by Vinoo Mankad, who also was sidelined for the next Test by Hemu Adhikari. India actually had four different captains in five Tests. It was the worst of times…, as Dickensians would understand,… in Indian cricket.

 Later in life, when he himself had become a national selector, my hero Polly Umrigar was matured and gracious enough to admit that instead of resigning he should have accepted the selectors’ role.

 This was the second significant instance of resignation that happened in Indian cricket.

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Earlier in 1951-52, India under Vijay Hazare defeated England at Madras for their first-ever Test match victory in 25 outings. The hero of the match was Vinoo Mankad, at the time among the premier all-rounders of the world. Mankad took 8 for 55 and 4 for 53 in the innings victory. Pankaj Roy and Polly Umrigar scored magnificent centuries. Later India was scheduled to tour England in May.

In April 1952 Mankad went over to England to keep his appointment as a professional cricketer in the Lancashire Leagues. The Indian selectors – CK Nayudu, HN Contractor and M Dutta Ray – informed Mankad that he had to come back to India to attend a trial match for the ensuing England tour in May! Mankad replied that he was involved with a cricket club in UK as a pro and would be penalized if he were to go back to India without fulfilling his contractual obligation. Later, he even agreed to attend the trial in India if he was assured of selection in the Indian team to England. CK was adamant that Mankad would have to attend the trial and no one would be assured of selection in the team. Both certainly had valid points.

But Mankad could not afford to come back and so was omitted from the team. India went to England in 1952 under Vijay Hazare with the best all-rounder in the world dropped from the team! India lost the first Test at Headingley, being 4 wickets down for zero run at one stage!

The manager of the team was Pankaj Gupta, a manager who was used to winning gold medals at the Olympics in the company Dhyan Chand, Rup Singh and the other top stars of Indian hockey of the 1920s and 1930s. Gupta was hailed by no less a persona than Don Bradman who affectionately called him Peter instead of Pankaj. Gupta had little time for personal ego clashes and petty squabbles. The educated, liberal soul thought of India as a nation and not a land of provinces and communities.

Without wasting any time to discuss with BCCI or with the selectors, manager Pankaj Gupta invited Vinoo Mankad to come from Lancashire and join the India team for the 2^nd Test at Lord’s. The India captain Vijay Hazare was sensible enough not to object. Mankad’s contributions in the Test were 72 and 184, highest scores in either innings. As if this was not enough, he took 5 wickets. The Test came to be known as “Mankad’s Test”. No one in the history of cricket has been able to replicate such an astounding feat for a losing team.

Chief selector CK Nayudu, in a fit of pique, resigned from the selection committee for manager Pankaj Gupta’s action. However after another season, CK Nayudu returned to the selection committee realizing that the decision taken by Gupta was in national interest.

The CK Nayudu incident happened to be the first significant resignation in Indian cricket. The tussle was between the manager and the selection committee chairman. The Umrigar issue was between the captain and the selection committee chairman Lala Amarnath. And now with the Kumble-Kohli feud the relationship between coach and captain has come to the forefront. In between Greg Chappel put in his papers after a golden handshake as the BCCI was not happy with his handling of senior cricketers.

Personally I stick my neck out and say that every man whether captain, coach, manager or selector has a distinct role to play and should try to stay within his orbit. But every man warming these responsible seats must be matured enough to think of national interest ahead of petty considerations. If the captain starts dictating terms in others roles, then why have coaches, managers and selectors at all?