One of India’s two double internationals, both from Madras of yore, M J Gopalan, died on 21st December 2003, after a brief illness. At 94, he had been the oldest Test cricketer in the world and the lone survivor from the Madras team that played the first Ranji Trophy match. He it was who bowled the opening delivery in the national championship.
Gopalan achieved excellence in cricket and hockey, but it was never an easy path for him. Hailing from a family of modest means, Gopalan had to fight his way up the sporting ladder, but he took good care of his health and fitness, and, naturally well endowed with strong bones and sinews, he was able to devote all his time to the pursuit of excellence on a cricket or hockey ground.
In 1926, Gopalan played for the Indians for the first time against the Europeans in the Presidency Match the greatest cricketing event in Madras before the advent of Test matches. In 1927-1928, when the first MCC team visited Madras, Gopalan captured four wickets for 87 for the Indians and three for 108 for Madras in the two matches the tourists played in the city. He also had a fine all round performance against West Indies, playing for South Zone.
It was C P Johnstone, the Kent, England-born Madras captain, who, instrumental in securing him a job with Burmah Shell, introduced the first element of security in the young all rounder’s life. Another Englishman, R C Summerhayes provided the inspiration for Gopalan to achieve excellence in hockey. On any match day, young Gopalan would cycle to Chepauk after finishing his daily rounds visiting Shell petrol stations, enter the arena just before the start of the match, change into his hockey shorts and run on to the field, accompanied by the roars of a cheering crowd.
Forsaking hockey and a chance to be selected for the Olympics, in favour of playing Test cricket, Gopalan was chosen to tour England in 1936, but was given few opportunities. Earlier, a fine piece of bowling for an All-India XI in Calcutta against Jack Ryder’s Australian XI had won him a place in the Indian team for the second ‘Test’ in that series.
“On figures alone Gopalan is entitled to an honoured place in the history of the game, but his greatness can never be measured by the yardstick. If only he had wanted he could have hit more centuries, but Gopalan never stays at the crease unless he must. To him the game alone is all that matters and nothing else. He approaches it in a cavalier spirit and bats and bowls with a freshness and vigour that fill the field and heighten the game”, wrote P N Sundaresan, a cricket writer, during Gopalan’s silver jubilee year in cricket.
Gopalan was a spontaneous strokemaker, who breathed aggression all the time he was at the crease. As a bowler, he began his career trying to bowl fast and short, but with experience, especially after his 1936 tour of England, he concentrated on length and movement. His subtle variations and control made him a feared bowler even in his forties. He might have been capped more often for India but for the presence of a galaxy of fast bowlers during his period, like Nissar, Amar Singh, Jehangir Khan, and Nazir Ali.
Gopalan served the game of cricket for long after his career was over. As a national selector, he was responsible for Tamil Nadu cricketers of the calibre of A G Kripal Singh, A G Milkha Singh and V V Kumar playing for India.
Of all Tamil Nadu’s cricket greats of the past, there was one man cricketers knew personally and loved and respected, one man all of them owed at least a small debt of gratitude — for a kind word at the right time, a vital piece of advice when things were going wrong with their cricket, or just his strong, quiet presence in the sidelines at important games. Amritsar Govindsingh Ram Singh, with his gentle smile of encouragement, coached the state’s young cricketers for over two generations.
Ram Singh was the chief destroyer of Mysore in the inaugural Ranji Trophy match at Chepauk in December 1934, taking eleven wickets in the match. For years after that, he not only repeated that kind of bowling performance many times, he was also the team’s most consistent batsman, a perpetual thorn in the flesh of opponents.
Before his father moved to Madras, young Ram Singh lived just a huge six away from the scene of the Jallian Wala Bagh massacre in Amritsar. “He and other members of the family were locked in a small room and they could hear the gunshots and the shrieks of the people,” wrote K Sunder Rajan, Sports Editor, The Hindu, in 1980. In the first Ranji Trophy season, Ram Singh took 6 for 19 and 5 for 16 against Mysore, scoring 14 in a total of 130. Against Hyderabad, he scored 74 and 70, and had bowling figures of 5 for 88 and 6 for 71.
In the second season, 1935-1936, he made 25 and zero versus Mysore, but took one for 63 and 5 for 55. Against Hyderabad, he claimed 2 for 77 and 6 for 32, besides remaining unbeaten in both innings with 121 and 57. In the semifinal, which Madras won by 91 runs, he made 9 and 11, while capturing 4 for 43 and 4 for 30 against Bengal. In the final that Madras lost to Bombay, the sardar scored 32 and 3 while returning figures of one for 77 and 5 for 92.
Despite these extraordinary achievements in the Ranji Trophy, Ram Singh was overlooked when the Indian team to tour England was chosen in 1936. Ten years later, he once again missed the boat despite a brilliant century in a trial match prior to the tour of England.
Madras, or for that matter, Tamil Nadu later, has not produced many genuine left arm all rounders. Ram Singh was certainly the only one in that category to show equal prowess in both batting and bowling. A keen student of the game who came under the influence of the Sussex professional A F Wensley, Ram Singh eschewed all frills in his batting and believed in spending long hours at the nets. He was a strong hooker of anything pitched short, but generally waited for the bad ball, rather than try to play extravagant strokes. He played long innings and revelled in crisis situations.
Starting out as a quickish bowler in his youth, Ram Singh developed “a tantalising flight” in his mature years. His accuracy was proverbial and ‘never say die’ his philosophy as a bowler. On a rain affected wicket or a turner, he was virtually unplayable.
After his playing years, Ram Singh took to coaching, serving in the National Institute of Sports and under the Rajkumari Amrit Kaur scheme, preparing countless youngsters for the sterner battles ahead. He coached well into his eighties and was much beloved in the Venkata Subba Rao school where he continued his work after his retirement from official duties at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
Arguably the greatest cricketer never to have played for his country, Ram Singh had the satisfaction of watching two of his sons become Test players. His grandsons who still play good cricket, are living testimony to the Ram Singh heritage. They, like hundreds of other Tamil Nadu cricketers, learnt their cricket at his knee.