By J Ramdas, Assistant General Manager - Finance, Sanmar Shipping
J Ramdas is a rare bird among cricketers. He combined cricket at a high level with a bright academic career, to qualify as a chartered accountant. Despite outstanding success as captain of India Under-19 and at every level of cricket he played, he was unlucky to be overlooked by the selectors at the senior level. He has been and still is a brilliant performer for Sanmar both on the cricket ground and in his professional duties.
India beat Pakistan for the first time in a Test series this year. It was indeed a great achievement. What many people do not know is that an India Under-19 side beat a Pakistan Under-19 side way back in 1989. At that time, if my memory serves me right, no country had beaten Pakistan in Pakistan in any grade of cricket. This was a few months before the Test series between India–led by Kris Srikkanth–and Pakistan in Pakistan, in which all the Tests were drawn. Scene: National Stadium, Karachi. Fourth and final Test between India and Pakistan Under-19 (The first three Tests were all drawn).
Pakistan, set a target of around 225 to win were nine down for around 150. Moin swings at an Ashish Winston Zaidi express and it goes high in the air, and Aashish Kapoor at point completes a simple catch. India Under-19 emerges victorious in the series. That was the last day of an absorbing series. There were four 4-day Tests, four side games (3-day matches) and a solitary one-day game on the tour. Apart from winning the Test series 1-0, India Under- 19 won one of the side games outright and drew the rest. It also won a oneday match against a provincial side.
I had the privilege of leading the India Under-19 team; here I share some of my experiences during that tour. The tour started on an eventful note. When we landed at Lahore on a cold January night, we were taken in a bus with a police jeep clearing the traffic for us. The pilot was there right through the tour and we had security wherever we went. Nayan Mongia, Ajay Jadeja and Aashish Kapoor went on to play for India. We also had Jatin Paranjpe, Ashish Winston Zaidi, Anand Deshpande and Ranjib Biswal all of whom performed exceedingly well later for their states and zones. Mr Hemant Kanitkar was our manager cum coach. The Pakistan team, captained by Basit Ali, included Waqar Younis, Inzamamul- haq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Moin Khan and Maqsood Rana, among others. Ardent followers of the game will recognize in these names players who have contributed significantly to Pakistan cricket in later years. Even at that time, you could see the promise of greater things to come. Haroon Rashid was their coach.
The India Under-19 team led by J Ramdas. Standing L to R: Ranjib Biswal, Piyush Pande, Aashish Kapoor, Gyanendra Pandey, J Ramdas, Hemant Kanitkar (Coach and Manager), Ashish Winston Zaidi, Sameer Mehra, Akram Qadri, J K Jatar (Assistant Manager) and Nayan Mongia.
Squatting from L to R: Bhupinder Singh, Ajay Jadeja, Kirti Patel, Mohan Chaturvedi and Jatin Paranjpe.
We played the first Test at Gujranwalah, near Lahore. This was a high-scoring game in which we made close to 400 and Pakistan replied with nearly 500. Sameer Mehra scored a century for us and Basit Ali scored 187. The bowlers found little to cheer them on a batsman friendly wicket. The second Test was at Faisalabad. All I remember of this game is that we set Pakistan a target of around 320 in about 70 overs. They played out the overs and the game ended in a draw. The wicket was a good one that provided the bowlers with adequate bounce but the batsmen prevailed.
The third Test was at Bahawalpur, on a soft wicket that started turning from the last session of the third day. However, the spinners on both sides were unable to capitalize on this and the match ended in a draw. Jatin Paranjpe scored a patient 96 for us in this game. The last Test at Karachi was on a seaming track, a real green top. We batted first scoring around 225. Pakistan’s reply was one run less. In the second innings, we scored around 225, with my contribution being 58.
Pakistan could not stand up to our bowling and we emerged victorious by 74 runs. The star performers of the match were the fast bowlers, with Sameer Mehra picking up ten wickets for the match and Zaidi five in the second innings. We were obviously thrilled at the end of the series. More than our victory, what stood out during the series was the fantastic treatment we received from the Pakistanis.
There were ‘Welcome’ signs at all the hotels we stayed in. Pakistanis were really crazy about Hindi cinema and people kept coming up to us and enquiring about the latest films. Gastronomically, the food was not too different from north Indian food.
Though there weren’t many people watching most of our games, the oneday game and the Bahawalpur Test attracted large crowds. The daily press and magazines devoted a lot of space for this tour. Live television coverage was extended to all the Test matches. A few cricket goods makers gifted the entire team cricket gear.
We were welcomed at all the shops we went to and in one clothing shop each of us was allowed to pick any two dresses of his choice free of cost. We were taken to Jinnah’s tomb in Karachi. We also made a trip to the Khyber Pass near Peshawar. We got to know the Pakistani players very well since we travelled together and stayed in the same hotels. On the field, there was sledging and Mushtaq Ahmed was the worst of the lot – I was his target since I would completely ignore him! But off the field we had a gala time together.
Some of us were able to collect video recordings of the Test matches from the Pakistani players. Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli and Sourav Ganguly were among those who played in the selection games prior to the tour in Mumbai. While Sachin opted out of the tour to play for Bombay in order to be considered for selection to the senior Indian team, Sourav and Vinod couldn’t find a place in the team selected to tour Pakistan! During a match I was playing for Alwarpet CC at Chepauk immediately after the tour, I had a surprise visitor to the dressing room – Kapil Dev. We all thought he was looking for Kris Srikkanth, our captain then, but he had actually come to congratulate the successful India Under-19 captain! I was already a great fan of Kapil’s but after this episode, my respect for him grew many fold. Fond memories of the trip still remain with me as I recollect the events.