Ajit Wadekar                              

Only thrice has India won a Test series on English soil. The captains were Ajit Wadekar (1-0 in 1971), Kapil Dev (2-0 in 1986) and Rahul Dravid (1-0 in 2007). Ironically not one of the above three has ever been rated very highly as a captain in India.

Captains who lost or drew the series in England have been eulogized in the Indian media!  Cricket history reveals that the England tour is always the most difficult for most teams including India. Because of the varying climatic conditions and the nature of the pitches. Since 1932 India has played 19 Test series on English soil and lost 14 of those. Most of the Indians captains, who lost or drew, have been those who were supposed to possess exceptional cricket brains.

Yet the exceptional achievements of the three successful Indian captains in England have not received their due recognition. Capable captains like Ajit Wadekar, Kapil Dev and Rahul Dravid never received any acclaim for their leadership qualities. Very strange, indeed. Very unfortunate.

Wadekar’s captaincy career has been a giant-wheel in motion. For a period of three years from 1971 he was right on top, having won every series that came his way.  Then in a matter of weeks in 1974 he came crashing down. Became a villain whom everybody wanted to curse and kick.

People forgot that he had won a series against Gary Sobers’ West Indies in their own backyard in 1971. Repeated his success on English soil against a very strong England team led by Ray Illingworth in 1971. The following season his team beat Tony Lewis’ England in India in 1972-73. Australia had just beaten England. So if there was system of ranking at the time, India would have been the top cricketing nation in the world in the early 1970s. Yes, whether one admits it or not, India was number one in world cricket between 1971 and 1973.

Thus Wadekar won three series in succession, a feat which no other Indian captain has ever been able to replicate. He was indeed unlucky that he never had New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the opposition to inflate his ‘win’ record as is the trend with our contemporary captains.

Ajit Wadekar received almost no credit for his team’s success. It was always claimed that he won with “Tiger Pataudi’s men”! Ajit Wadekar could have easily maintained, “If that be the issue, then why did Tiger not win with his own men?” Absolutely to the point, he would have been. But Wadekar never did.

However in 1974 Wadekar’s team lost all its 3 Tests in England. It was a disastrous tour for India with all the top stars available. The moment that happened, his house in Mumbai became the target of stones and bricks. Ajit Wadekar actually had almost the same players as he did in 1971. Yet the media forgot all about “Tiger Pataudi’s men” and laid all the blame on Wadekar’s captaincy! Wadekar, disappointed and upset, retired immediately from all forms of cricket on his return from England in 1974.

There is a notion in India that Indian cricket came of age in 1983 when the Prudential World Cup was won in England. Actually huge amounts of money began to flow into Indian cricket since 1983 on account of the great achievement of Kapil Dev and his men.

But in reality Indian cricket began to get respect of international oppositions actually from 1971. This particular year was the turning point of Indian cricket in more ways than one.

In 1968-69 Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi’s men won a series abroad for the first time. The opponents were the New Zealanders. No one took the Kiwis seriously at the time. In fact along with New Zealand, teams from India and Pakistan were considered to be weak oppositions away from home.

After having experimented with a host of potential talents for about two years, in 1971 the chairman of the national selection committee, Vijay Merchant – among the best-ever openers – omitted Pataudi from the captaincy saddle. This was major ‘news’ at the time. The obvious choice was his deputy, Chandu Borde. He too was dropped from the touring party. A studious, reticent young man by the name of Ajit Laxman Wadekar was elevated to the post amid much accusation of provincial bias.

But Vijay Merchant stuck to his ideas. He brought in young people with outstanding performances in domestic cricket. Merchant had no time for ‘fancy players’ with supposed potential and no performance. All those who were tried and had failed to perform during those two seasons were gently sidelined.

Thus Ajit Wadekar was fortunate that he had the ‘grey matter’ of Merchant to guide him. Wadekar was selected as captain because he had led Bombay and West Zone to innumerable victories in domestic cricket. Wadekar knew what leadership was all about and, very importantly, knew how to win.

Surprisingly Ajit Wadekar never played serious cricket while at school. He was a very bright student and had once even ‘maxed’ his algebra paper.   While a school student his cricket was restricted to casual matches with his neighbourhood peers. In college his cricket suddenly flowered and he became a regular in the strong Bombay University side.

At the time he was a fluent player of exceptional elegance. His stylish stroke-play was a connoisseur’s delight. Drives and cuts came naturally to him. On the maidans of Mumbai, he honed his skills under the careful guidance of various former cricketers as is the custom in Mumbai even today.

Wadekar was not satisfied in being a stylish only. He developed a gluttony for runs and more runs. No amount of high scores would satisfy his appetite. This approach stayed with him in every domestic championship. He would ‘murder’ spin bowling under any conditions. High rising deliveries of extreme pace troubled him. But then who did not have problems against such deliveries? As the great Rohan Kanhai, among the greatest of ‘hookers’, once said, “None of us likes 90mph deliveries coming to our face; it is only that some play it better than others.” Absolute truth: bull’s-eye comment.

Unfortunately Wadekar was ignored for a long time by the national selectors. Finally when he could not be neglected any more by the sheer weight of his performances, he made his debut in 1967 in his late 20s. But by then his style had changed beyond belief. He was no longer the fluid stroke-maker of yore. His approach was of a man who had come to make the most of his limited opportunities. He was very effective, no doubt, but no longer the graceful striker that he was.

He led from the front.  He taught us Indians that we were good enough to beat the best in the world by our own methods. He did not copy others. Did not bother to find out what Australia, England and West Indies were doing. He concentrated on India’s strength. He relied on spin bowling and on close-in catching to win matches for India.

Wadekar selected his XI on the basis of ‘horses for courses’. The moment the genius of Salim Durani gave India the victory at Port of Spain as early as the 2^nd Test match of the 5-match series, skipper Wadekar’s total concentration was to hold on to the lead till the last day of the series. No respite did he allow himself or his mates from the job. He did not take any more chances to win but simply closed the gates. The greatest-ever Gary Sobers and his men tasted their first series defeat to India. That too on Caribbean soil. Yes, West Indies had a very weak bowling attack, but surely that cannot be held against Wadekar or India.

In England, too, at the final Test at Oval Ajit Wadekar realized that if anybody could give India a victory it would be Bhagawat Chandrasekhar. He had Chandra to plunge the dagger in and held on till the opposition submitted. Wadekar had a set of most brilliant foursome around the batters to accept even catches which could hardly be rated as ‘chances’. Men like Eknath Solkar, Venkataraghavan, Abid Ali and he himself formed a quartet which was the best-ever quartet of close-in cordon that the world had ever seen.

People who criticize Wadekar conveniently forget that he did not possess a single pace bowler worth mentioning. He had a wicket-keeper who was more of a show-man. Apart from the awesome talents of two youngsters Viswanath and the debutant Gavaskar, skipper Ajit Wadekar never possessed another batter of world renown. He fought the best with the talent available. But the brilliant man got his mix in the right proportion. Men like Dilip Sardesai (a most lucky selection), Salim Durani, Eknath Solkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Bishan Bedi, Venkataraghavan, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna made all Indians walk ten feet tall between 1971 and 1973.

Ajit Wadekar taught India that we could beat the best in their own back-yard. Back in the 1970s it was a yeoman effort. None quite thought it could be achieved. When it did happen, some sections of our media instead of praising Wadekar and his boys insisted that the opposition was weak. Yes, West Indies’ pace attack was their weakest ever, but what about their batting strength which had Kanhai, Sobers, Lloyd and Fredericks? Moreover, Ray Illingworth’s team and Tony Lewis’ side were as strong as any. 

Wadekar never played to the gallery. He made no friends with the media for support. Never compromised on his tough, no-nonsense approach. He kept his wit for his after-dinner speeches. He preferred the company of books to the company of flatterers at the bar.

An ever-lasting memory of Ajit Wadekar was at the Moin-ud-Dowlah Trophy championship at Hyderabad in the early 1970s. While most players would be at the lounge on the first-floor of the Fateh Maidan’s Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, nursing their ‘drinks’, the current India skipper would be seen in his room with a book and beer for company. He evinced a keen interest in the book I was reading. Borrowed it and returned it within two days mentioning, “I am a fan of Che Guevara as well.”

Next time, after more than a decade, I met him in his chamber at a nationalized bank in Mumbai. He was the Sports Convener of the Banks’ Sports Board. As the representative from Calcutta, I asked him if it would be possible to have observers sent to the neglected north-east India to unearth sports talents. Wadekar kept his ears open and gave his assent.

Ajit Wadekar guided his employer State Bank of India very diligently. One of the discoveries happened to be a teenager from Sikkim, Bhaichung Bhutia. Actually it was a former international football player from Wadekar’s bank who can be given the credit for the discovery, Bhaskar Ganguly.

Wadekar had a very successful career as a banker. He represented various organizations and contributed immensely. Was a delightful speaker, when he wanted to be. He was a perfectionist in whatever he did.

Diffident by nature, he was a difficult man to understand. His whole life has been full of peculiar contradictions. Misunderstood and misjudged, the soft-spoken, academically brilliant man always remained a soft target. I guess the intelligent individual preferred to remain an enigma till his last day.