Mohinder Amarnath - Cricket's Frank Sinatra

 

 

He is Post Independent India's first captain's  worthy son. In an age when Maharaja of Vizianagram or Vizzy as he was popularly called was India's cricket captain and the norm was to select captaincy on wealth of an estate  and not on meritocracy , Lala Amarnath was one of the India's brightest shining star  post Independence . A prelude to Vinnu Mankad (who till one KAPIL DEV came along was India's greatest all rounder and master piece ) , Lala Amarnath was a man who defined Indian Cricket at its transition from childhood to semi adoloscence .

 

Little then would be surprising that a man of such SPINE and upright values would have an offspring who would go onto become Indian Cricket's main batting stay in early 80's inspite of  one Sunny Gavaskar being there. Mohinder " Jimmy " Amarnath has been and will remain a dark chapter in Indian Cricket and one of it's most loved & hated enigma .

He played 69 tests for India spanning 18 1/2 years (1969 Dec -1988 Jan ) in a time frame when India played 134 tests . Effectively Jimmy had missed 65 tests in between his first and last. Thats one of the highest % in terms of missing out in International cricket. Mohinder was 19 years and few months when he played first for India against Australia at Chennai.  His next test match was 6+ years later against the Kiwis in NZ. By that time he has missed 22 test matches. In Indian Cricket , politics and weird selection calls have been nothing new - many careers have finished much before they had started and seemingly felt that they could have gone for long but the selectors and the powers would be were never in same page with the fans' and the analysts. He didnt fair two badly in his debut  having taken 2 wickets with his dobbly pace but we will never know why it took him almost 6.5 years to make a comeback to the test team - whether he was not ready for Tests or whether it was the Amarnath Surname or there was something else. But one thing was for sure - controversy and comebacks became synonymous with MOHINDER AMARNATH. There were many players with far lesser credentials who played for India . God's cruel hand in his career was felt from day 1 !

Although his later exclusions were not for a long period , but he kept on getting in and out of the side and surprisingly inspite of not so poor performances , couldnt keep his place in the side consistently. 1976 and 1983 were the only years where he played allmost all test matches .  1977-1982 , Mohinder played only 16 test matches where as INDIA played 53 test matches during that time. He had missed 37 !!! No one had explained to him why he was not getting picked inspite of some robust performances in Domestic Cricket.  Effectively during the prime of his career he missed more than he played due to unknown circumstances . Between 1969-1982 he played 28 tests and missed 59 - thats more than double !!! 1983 was his defining year where he turned the whole world upside down . In the last phase of his career between 1984-1988, he only missed 6 tests while  he played 41 tests . Indian cricket is yet to know why he didnt play between 1970-75 and why he played only 16 tests between 1977-1982. Each time he made a gutsy comeback without being party to any Board lobby - may be the reason why he was never in good books ever of any selectors.

Amarnath's greatest phase in his career was when he came back to the side after 3 years in 1982-83.

The Magical Year

Thus began Amarnath’s dream phase. This was a period of 11 Tests against the scariest of adversaries, when he virtually ruled the world with his bat. Imran Khan terrorised the Indian batsmen, Sarfraz Nawaz joined in the tale of demolition in that tour to Pakistan. One by one the Indian batsmen surrendered. They were on the backfoot in the first Test and lost the second, third and fourth. Batting under a helmet for the first time, Amarnath got 109 at Lahore, 78 at Faisalabad, 61 and 64 at Hyderabad, 120 in the fifth Test again at Lahore again and 103 not out at Karachi. Imran proclaimed that he was the best player of fast bowling in contemporary cricket.

 

When the team travelled to West Indies, this saga of brilliance continued. Against a rampaging attack of Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Joel Garner, Amarnath scored 58 and 117 at Port of Spain, 90 and 81 at Bridgetown, and 54 and 116 at St John’s. India lost the series 2-0, but there was only one man fitting the image of a hero. It is the second innings effort at Bridgetown that has down the years become part of folklore. It was Marshall who struck him this time, the sequence of events by now predictable. The ball was a scorching bouncer, Amarnath shaped for the hook and missed. Some teeth were knocked out. Blood trickled down onto his shirt. He retired hurt, and as he recovered, he supposedly washed the stains of blood from his shirt. And then he returned to play many more of the fearless hook shots. Such was the appeal of the spectacular counter attack that even a chronicler of Gideon Haigh’s stature, writing for The Age, was moved to pen the legend of his hooking the first ball from Holding for six after resumption. As ever so often happens with romantic cricketing tales, the scoreboard, the ass according to Neville Cardus, is a spoilsport. In the second innings, Amarnath did not hit a six either before or after his injury. But the valour is not reduced by this factual accuracy. It remains a sterling effort. 

 Amarnath’s phenomenal scoring earned the ultimate praise when Viv Richards remarked: “I have not seen anyone play the Windies pace quartet with the mastery Amarnath demonstrated.” Michael Holding analysed his success as: “What separated Jimmy from the others was his great ability to withstand pain … A fast bowler knows when a batsman is in pain. But Jimmy would stand up and continue.” This after he had bounced him on numerous occasions in the series.

  Amarnath, the all-rounder, emerged the hero of India’s finest hour in cricket – the 1983 World Cup triumph. With his resolute batting at number three and his almost self-effacing bowling, he played pivotal roles in both the semi-final and final. His unplayable delivery to Mike Gatting was as important as his 46 when India chased a modest England total. In the final he took 80 balls to score his 26, but was a calming influence at the wicket which allowed Krishnamachari Srikkanth to go for his shots. And then with his amiable medium pace, delivered almost as an afterthought after half-stopping on the way, he picked up three of the last four wickets for just 12 runs. Kapil Dev raised the cup and Mohinder Amarnath was on the top of the cricket world.

Crash landing

And then the world collapsed, bringing him down to earth in a cruel fall from seventh heaven. Amarnath managed 11 runs in the two innings against the visiting Pakistan, and then Marshall and the others blasted him out for a sordid sequence of 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0. A few mere months after his greatest triumph, Amarnath lost his place in the side yet again. Even as he was being named one of the five Wisden cricketers of 1984, the editor was lamenting his loss of form on return to India. According to Gideon Haigh, “having scaled Olympian heights, he shrank to the level of the most inept park bumbler.”

Amarnath’s career can be grouped into these three phases:

A tale of two peaks 

 Seldom is a stalwart career so weighted in favour of one solitary season. The courage and class are unquestionable, but when the checks and balances of greatness are evaluated, Amarnath does fall quite some distance short of consistency. It was a very short peak during which Amarnath brushed shoulders with the greats. The rest of his career does not measure up to the highest standards.

As mentioned earlier, he did get back in the team, pulling off the Sinatra act yet again.  It was in late 1984 that India toured Pakistan. And Mohinder Amarnath stood rock solid against probing bowling and dreadful umpiring to score 101 not out in just over 400 minutes to save India from defeat at Lahore. This knock also saw him perform the feat of scoring three hundreds on the same ground in three consecutive years. He had scored centuries at the Gaddafi Stadium in late 1982 and early 1983 during the previous tour. In the following match at Faisalabad, he was out to another hit wicket dismissal while hooking. But this time it was because he slipped on his rubber soles and fell on the pitch, his feet striking the stumps.

This tour also saw him leading India for the only time in his career, in a One-Day International in Sialkot. Amaranth did not get to bat in the game because Vengsarkar with 94 and Patil with 59 occupied the crease for most of the 40 overs. With the news of the assassination of Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi filtering into the neighbouring country, the match was called off after the Indian innings.

Last days

Amarnath enjoyed an excellent series against England at home. And touring Sri Lanka in 1986, he scored 116 at Kandy that very nearly won India the match. The innings took 395 minutes, but it was largely due to the ridiculous over rate of the Lankans who took nearly eight hours to bowl 84 overs.

The good form continued in Australia, although he was criticised for scoring just three runs in 40 minutes at Melbourne when India needed quick runs to beat the weather and win the Test match. And finally, in late 1986, he scored his first hundred in a winning cause — 131 against Sri Lanka at Nagpur. It was also to be his final century in Test cricket.

After 89 on a Madras featherbed against Pakistan in 1986-87, Amarnath lost his Test form. Through eight more Tests played against his favourite opponents Pakistan and West Indies he could not manage another half century. For Pakistan, Wasim Akram made him hurry and look extremely uncomfortable. His final series against West Indies saw him struggle pitifully against pace, yielding scores of one, eight, 43, three and one. The 64 minute struggle for eight measly runs at Bombay was a sad display of the waning powers of someone hailed as the best player of pace bowling not too long ago. Pat Patterson and Courtney Walsh kept coming at him and Amarnath laboured to middle the ball, spending a nightmarish hour at the crease.

Yet, he did have a memorable moment that winter when he scored exactly 100 at Faridabad to notch his first hundred in his 64th ODI. It was an answer to the selectors who had not included him in the One Day side for the Reliance World Cup of 1987, opting for a more youthful middle order.

A bunch of jokers

It was in November 1988 that trouble erupted. The selectors — chaired by Raj Singh Dungarpur — announced that they were resting him for the home series against New Zealand. The furious batsman called a few members of the media, assembled them in the room of Srikkanth in the team hotel, and gave vent to his feelings in a vicious one hour interview by calling the selectors a “bunch or jokers”. He went on to say that Ravi Shastri was a living example of favouritism by the board, just like Gavaskar had been earlier. When the comments were made public, the selectors were obviously not amused. Amarnath did not play Test cricket again.

In the gamut of rumours that made rounds following his outburst, it was also heard that he would be leading a rebel side to South Africa. However, Amarnath rubbished the story and the tour, even if one was planned, never took place.

It is perhaps a bit unfair to say that his career hastened to an end because of his comments. As stated earlier, he had not been in the best of form for the past two series. While he was walking back after being dismissed in the 1988 Madras Test against West Indies, a small section of the crowd had even cheered loudly, anticipating that it would be the last time one saw him in a Test match.

In the end, Amarnath played just three more First-Class matches. He did appear in two One-Day tournaments — a three-nation affair in Sharjah and the Nehru Cup in 1989. In the last tournament, he did not really get too many runs, but managed to add ‘obstructing the field’ to his many methods of getting out. Along with numerous hit wicket dismissals, he had added ‘handling the ball’ in the Benson and Hedges three nation tournament in 1985-86. He remains the only international cricketer to have been dismissed both handling the ball and obstructing the field.

Amarnath ended his career with 4378 runs in 69 Tests at 42.50. Incredibly, he scored 3008 abroad at 51.86 with nine hundreds while managing just 1370 at 30.44 with two centuries at home. For someone largely considered as one of the best against West Indian pace, he strangely averaged just 38.42 against them, scoring 1076 in 17 matches. However, in the Caribbean, his collection of 877 runs at 54.81 in nine Tests remains one of the very best. With 14 hundreds, Allan Lamb is the only batsman to have scored more centuries without ever crossing 150. His medium pace, used less and less with time, got him 32 wickets at 55.68 apiece.

In ODIs, Amarnath scored 1924 runs at 30.53 with a strike rate of a rather unremarkable 57.70. He also claimed 46 wickets at 42.84.

  

In the end , Mohinder Amarnath is a name which will continue to haunt Indian cricket fans and pundits alike for ever - the inexplicable lows and the dizzy heights one never could fathom nor judge. But one was put to dismay the amazing no. of times he made a comeback , each time when we all thought it was his last. In the end all that can be said is , it would have been justified if he played 100 test matches which was never meant to be , but Indian cricket lovers would never forget the year 1982 ..