Mehallasha Pavri     

Indian cricket owes a deep sense of gratitude to two scholarly individuals. One was Mehallasha Edulji Pavri and the other, Dinkar Balwant Deodhar. Pavri was a doctor by profession; Deodhar a professor of Sanskrit. Although their high noon was separated by about three decades, they were the real pioneers of Indian cricket who paved the path for posterity.

 

Pavri belonged to the Parsee community. Born at Navsari in 1866, he was drawn into the vortex of cricket in Bombay at a time when the mercantile Parsees were more than eager to befriend the ruling British community. For them cricked provided an avenue to socialize with the colonial masters. Learning the rudiments of the game from watching the Britons at the Bombay maidans, the Parsees decided that they too would have their own teams and play against the white men on equal terms.

                                 

It was easier said than done. The Britons in India did play against the Parsees but they were sarcastic, condescending and downright insulting at times. The affronts made the Parsees more determined than ever. They made up their mind to learn the game and compete as quickly as possible.  

 

Even as early as 1886 the Parsees went across to England to adapt themselves to the varying conditions and pitches. Only the elder cricketers of the community, who could afford to pay their voyage fares, went. Obviously enough, the team fared disastrously against the English who, at the time were certainly the best in the business.

 

Young Pavri was not in that 1st Parsee team which went to England in 1886. But by the time the team for the next tour of 1888 was selected, Pavri was an automatic choice by virtue of his stupendous performances against the Europeans in the Presidency matches on the Bombay and Poona maidans.

 

On English wickets he was a man inspired. He unleashed his thunderbolts with nagging accuracy. Stumps cart-wheeled with monotonous regularity. A natural athlete, he kept his ears and eyes open as he picked up finer skills from the masters of seam and swing, especially Lockwood. He added the break-back to his repertoire and felt equally at ease with the old ball as with the new.

 

By dint of his outstanding personal success, the profile of his team improved by leaps. Whereas in 1886, the Parsees had won just one match, losing 19 out of 28; this time the equation read : 8 victories and 11 losses out of 31 matches. A remarkable progress by any yardstick.

 

For Pavri, England was a revelation. In India the Britons had scoffed at the Parsees’ efforts, but in England the Britishers were genuinely generous with praise and guidance.

 

Pavri's extraordinary performance of 170 wickets at only 11.66 earned respect and plaudits. In a particular encounter with the Gentlemen of England at Eastbourne the Parsees left the Englishmen with hardly 120  runs for victory after being forced to follow-on. But that small target was enough for Pavri. His whiplash action bundled the Gentlemen for only 56 runs, claiming 6 wickets in the process. This was the match that heralded the rise of this magnificent bowler, the embryo from which Mohammed Nissar, Kapil Dev and company were to flower in the following century.

 

Such was Pavri's domination over Vernon's 1890 team in India as well as over Lord Hawke's 1892 side that he was invited to play for Middlesex in the county championship in 1895. Thus Pavri became the first Indian cricketer to have played in the county championships in England.

 

Ranjitsinghji is excluded from this category as he learnt and played his cricket basically in England. But then Ranji too first played county cricket for Sussex in the same year as Pavri, although Ranji had got his Cambridge 'Blue' in 1895.

 

Pavri played serious cricket till 1912 and then concentrated on his medical profession. Meticulous and methodical as befits his profession, he was a rare deity in the pantheon of Indian cricket. He authored an excellent book on cricket in India at the time.

 

His deeds heralded to the world that the Indians could well learn the game of cricket on their own and be as good as any in the world of men.