Heroic warrior-sportsman

A heroic Indian soldier created a world-wide sensation at cricket in 1963-64. On his Ranji Trophy debut for Services the right-arm pacer shot down 3 batters in 3 consecutive deliveries. Not satisfied enough, in the following match the army man’s deadly marksmanship targeted 7 batters, including two separate hat-tricks in the same innings!

Yes, you read right: 2 hat-tricks in 1 innings! 3 hat-tricks in 2 matches!

Decades ago a devotee-ashramite at Sai Baba’s Puttaparthi opened my eyes. Then the director of Chaitanya Jyothi Museum, Col Samir Bose asked, “Raju, have you heard of JS Rao, the hat-trick wonder?”

Bose-da – former civil engineer with the Indian army – went on to say that JS Rao was as well a heroic figure with gallantry awards in India’s victorious wars of 1965 and 1971. Major General JS Rao was Bose-da’s contemporary in the Indian Army.

Wisden – Cricketers’ Bible – of 1996 highlighted that JS Rao’s dual feats of debut hat-trick and 2 hat-tricks in the same innings of the next match ‘is not merely unequalled; it may never be equalled’.

Rao Joginder Singh (mistakenly recorded as Joginder Singh Rao while at NDA), born in 1938, belonged to the Services team comprising cricketers of the Indian armed forces.  An unfortunate ankle injury in a parachuting accident terminated his cricket career to just one season of 5 first-class matches.

JS Rao deviated to golf and represented India in France and Pakistan. The exceptional cricketer became an international golfer, no less. The heroic multi-dimensional achiever went on to become a Major General of the Indian army and sacrificed his life for our safety. But we, in turn, have totally forgotten him!  

Apart from one or two sincere journalists, the sports media has had no time for him. Nor do the administrators. The former cricketers in the ‘expert box’ have not even heard of him!  He was neither a sponsor nor a publicity agent. Not even an influential politician. So nobody actually needed him!

JS Rao’s amazing achievement no other cricketer in the world has ever been able to replicate. His prize? No rewards. No recognition. Not even a remembrance.

Such is the fate of a unique Indian warrior-cricketer-golfer, who actually lived and died for the nation! The superlative achiever bid adieu to our ungrateful selves at just 56 in 1994.

At a time when megalomaniacs are busy naming sports stadia in their own names, no one thought of naming at least a part of our numerous sports arenas or at least a stadium gate in his honour.

Brave warriors do not die, they merely sleep. Softly they tread in time to refresh our memories…