Rusi Framroz Surti

 

Rusi Surti was an amazing cricketer. Not because of his inherent talents, but because of the way he stood up to constant neglect. Many lesser cricketers have had more opportunities than he. And many cricketers of superior talents have faded away at far less disregard.

 

He must have gone through dungeons on being ignored time and again, but never once did he show any sign of compromise or procrastination to the petty powers which governed Indian cricket in his days.

 

The man was a natural athlete. The very sight of Surti’s jaunty walk revealed a character of courage and confidence. The kind of personality every captain would love to have in his line-up. But in Surti’s case, it seemed just the opposite was true. Never quite received the support that he most certainly deserved.

 

Attacking left-handed batsman, he would go on an all-out attack if the team needed that approach. He had the doggedness to drop the fastest of deliveries at his twinkling toes hour after hour if the occasion demanded it. If the captain needed a medium pacer, it was the left-arm of Surti that would volunteer. If the captain required a man to give the ball a tweak, again it was Surti who would be too willing to do the job.

 

Before the arrival of Tiger Pataudi, Rusi Surti was certainly India’s best out-fielder. His fielding ability matched anyone in international cricket, especially in the deep. He was India's answer to Sir Garfield Sobers as an all-rounder of multiple dimensions. No praise can be higher than this for an all-rounder.

 

Yet for all his gifted qualities, he never quite performed to his abilities. Or rather he never quite received the encouragement nor the environment to bloom. The cricket lovers of the 1960s would gape at his wonderful dexterity and at the same time wonder why the numerical advantage was not forthcoming, as expected from an outstanding talent.

 

He appeared distinctly unhappy in the Indian camp. The feline grace, the smart running, the clean one-handed pick-up, the unerring under-arm flick on top of the bails, the desire to attack whether batting or bowling had all the hallmarks of a typical Australian cricketer. He was as brusque as the best of Aussies. Could match them stroke for stroke, glare for glare, adjective for adjective. And he could add a few more Parsee slang for effect.

 

Little wonder that Rusi Framroz Surti would finally find himself at home in Australia. The season was 1967-68 when the Indian team under Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi set off to meet the might of the Aussies Down Under. At the time Indian cricket was in doldrums, having just tasted a bitter 0-3 pill in England. No Indian cricket enthusiast nurtured any optimistic dreams. So was the final series result Down Under: another crushing whitewash 0-4.

 

But one man stood head, shoulders and waist above the rest. He was not Pataudi, nor Prasanna, neither Jaisimha, although each of them had their moments of glory. The man was none other than the gutsy Rusi Surti. On the combined tour of Australia and New Zealand, he scored more runs than anybody else, 967 at 37.19 and for good measure captured 42 wickets. For a member of a team ravaged, this was remarkable consistency.

 

Rarely has a performer displayed such character as Surti did on this particular tour. In each and every Test with defeat staring prominently, one man simply refused to succumb to the onslaught. His scores were 70 and 53 at Adelaide, followed by 30 and 43 at Melbourne. At Brisbane he took the fight to the enemy camp with 52 and 64 and finally at Sydney, 29 and 26. As if this was not enough, he continued with his Sobers-like streak by claiming 15 wickets.

 

 It is indeed doubtful if ever any cricketer, Indian or otherwise, has ever displayed such consistent individual tenacity and courage for a team totally annihilated in the series. Probably the magnificent batsman George Headley, acclaimed as ‘Black Bradman’, is the only other person to have achieved something similar for West Indies in the 1920s and 1930s.

 

Unfortunately Surti's positive bearing of thought and action did not go down very well with the powers- that-be in Indian cricket. He played for Gujarat initially and later for Rajasthan. Never, not even once was he shown any consideration for his rare failures. Surti, who should have been India’s mainstay, invariably found himself cold shouldered at the slightest pretext.

 

Surti’s Test career began at 25 against Fazal Mahmood’s Pakistan in 1960-61 at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium. Similar to Garfield Sobers’ debut Surti’s too began as a left-arm bowler. Again like Sobers he was omitted in the following Test. Here the comparison could have ended, but it did not. Both were brought back as batsmen and both displayed enough class to have played Test cricket as genuine all-rounders.

 

Here the comparison ends and the contrast unfolds to reveal two diametrically opposite poles of attitude: the positive outlook of the West Indies cricket authorities and the mental block of the Indians.

 

Rusi Surti, the left-arm pacer, was brought back as the number 3 batsman in the next outing! Now Surti played a wonderful stroke-filled innings of 64 that brought forth some fresh air in a dungeon of a series of drawn encounters.

 

In the following series against Dexter’s MCC no position could be found for him! In a series where batters of every hue made merry, Surti was left to rue his luck.

 

 But when India was billed to face the blistering fury of Wes Hall on the lightning fast wickets of the Caribbean, Surti became an automatic choice! And sure enough the gutsy Parsee lad did not disappoint.

 

In the 1^st innings his 57 was the highest score. With the regular batsmen backpedalling in the batting-order, Surti found himself at number 3 in the next Test where he scored 35 and 26. Then 7 and 36 at Barbados. Failure at Trinidad, 0 and 2, was followed by defiant knocks of 41 and 42 at Kingston, where he also scalped Hunte, Sobers and Solomon for just 56 off 18 overs. In this series India was laid low 0-5 by sheer pace and power. Yet the perpetual reserve Rusi Surti’s fortitude was a revelation.

 

On returning to India again no place could be found for him against Mike Smith’s MCC. Amazing indeed for a person of proven class and courage was always omitted against weaker sides. When the going got difficult abroad, he was always an automatic choice! Otherwise on the friendly Indian pitches he usually did the 12^th man’s job.

 

Against Bobby Simpson’s side in India he was brought in for the 2^nd Test, where he took 2 wickets and had modest scores of 21 and 10. However, he contributed by taking two brilliant catches to ensure Australia’s collapse and to aid India record a fantastic victory. At Eden he proved his class once again claiming 3 for 38 and 1 for 37, but could not beyond 9 in India’s only innings.

 

Later that year against New Zealand he got just one opportunity, no more. He was unbeaten in both innings on 9 and 17, and also took 1 wicket. But when Gary Sobers’ strong West Indies outfit arrived, once again the call for Surti was loud and clear.

 

As usual he was in his elements. Took 2 wickets and although scored 16 and 31 at Calcutta and followed this with 3 for 68 as well as an unbeaten 50 at Chennai. Surely he had proved his all-round potential, but still never was he a certainty in the team. Forever he seemed to be ‘on trial’!

Being perpetually on the periphery of the first XI must have affected his morale and confidence. If only some saner elements had shown more faith in him, he would have emerged as one of the prominent all-rounders in international cricket of the 1960s.

 

On the following tour of England in 1967, he did play in the first 2 Tests, and achieved nothing of note. At the same time it must be readily admitted that nor did the others. India was drubbed 3-0 in the 3-match series and Surti’s performance was in no way inferior to the ‘regulars’ of the team.

 

Then came the series in Australia in 1967-68. On those fast, bouncy pitches not many Indians showed the gumption to fight as the team succumbed to a 0-4 defeat in the 4-Test series.

 

 However the warrior in Rusi Surti rose to the occasion. He chose this difficult series to prove to the world his actual worth as a player. No bouncer, no sledging could upset him. The Aussies, tough opponents as they are, are also the first to acknowledge the truly deserving rival. To a man they applauded his courage, his character and his capabilities.

 

And his fate too seemed to agree. Not only plaudits and platitudes came to him, but genuine respect in the form of offers to play Sheffield Shield cricket in Australia. Queensland realized his undoubted class and approached him. And Surti nodded assent.

 

Never before has an Indian Test cricketer been invited to play in the toughest of all first-class championship, the inter-State championship in Australia. Surti was a most deserving pioneer among cricketers of the sub-continent when he joined a very select band of eminent cricketers like Rohan Kanhai, Sir Gary Sobers, Barry Richards and Wesley Hall to play Sheffield Shield. Surti went over, bowled them over and stayed on for good. At last the tough man seemed to have found the tough, no-nonsense scenario that he needed to burst forth.

 

Back home the Indian cricket administrators far being elated at the eminence achieved by one of their players, actually did not take too kindly to the turn of events. They could not fathom as to the reason why Surti should be rubbing shoulders in the company of the best cricketers in the world.

 

 True to fashion the daggers were brought out. After just a couple of failures at home, the cricketing obituary of Rusi Surti stared at him. Dejected and frustrated the super all-rounder found no backers at home and immediately set off for Australia to settle down for good.

 

Ironically Rusi Surti’s best achievements as a Test cricketer became an object of jealousy, a target to shoot down. Indian cricket could never quite fathom the real worth of the man. Nor could we accept our short-sightedness when the tough Aussies revealed it to us.

 

Far from being elated at the revelation we decided to murder the deserving man’s career! Thus another victim was laid low by the quixotic logic that still persists in our mind-set. The gutsy Rusi Surti, who had taken on the world on the playing arena, had no answer to the Brutuses off it.

 

Rusi Surti (1936 – 2013) remains one of those forgotten heroes of Indian cricket.