‘Cricketers of the earlier era were nicer’

Subhash Rajta

HAVE you ever wondered how the Indian cricket players spent their evenings on a tour of West Indies in 1962? Rajdeep Sardesai, a noted television journalist, did and hurled the question at Chandu Borde, the roommate of his father Dilip Sardesai on that tour. “By applying Amrutanjan balm on our thighs, legs and wherever else it hurt,” the veteran all-rounder told the curious son of his teammate, leaving him amused and bemused. “It's one of my favourite cricket stories from that era,” says Sardesai. “West Indies had a terrific pace attack... And the pads and thigh pads our players had were so loose, of such poor quality that they would come apart and their legs would hurt. And, of course, there were no doctors travelling with the team.”

For the generation that grew up watching MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli and saw our cricketers rolling in cash and getting the best possible facilities and support staff, this anecdote would sound incredible. 

And there are several such anecdotes, hilarious yet indicative of the times gone by, littered in our cricketing history. One such tale was shared by former India wicketkeeper-batsman Farokh Engineer at The Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi Memorial Lecture earlier this year. “We used to get Rs 250 for a five-day Test match, Rs 50 for each day. Did you hear that, Virat?” Engineer reminisced at the event. “I remember during a match against Sri Lanka, Sunil Gavaskar and I were finishing the game on the fourth day itself, and there were all sorts of messages coming from the dressing room: 'Arre, pagal ho kya? Last din tak le ke jao, nahin toh kal ke pachaas rupaay jayenge'!” (Have you gone mad? Drag it to the last day or we will lose tomorrow's Rs 50).

It's stories such as these and the desire to share them with today's youngsters that made Sardesai pen down Democracy's XI: The Great Indian Cricket Story. “My father told me a lot of stories and I needed to share these with the current generation, to link the India of scarcity with the India of plenty through them,” says Sardesai.

The book, though, is not limited to just sharing the memories and anecdotes from the past. The author says it is an attempt to document the evolution of cricket since the late 1950s, and mirror the simultaneous changes in the country and society through it. “I've used the cricketers and the sport as a metaphor to see how India has changed over the years, how cricket has changed from the time of my father and how it became an abiding passion for millions...,” says Sardesai.

He has tried to achieve this objective by talking about the lives and times of 11 different cricketers from different eras, starting with his father, in the late 1950s, and ending with Virat Kohli, with each sportsperson reflecting the values of his time and country in general. 

For a casual observer, the presence of his father among the chosen 11 may look like nepotism because the other 10 names — MAK Pataudi, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli — are much bigger than Dilip Sardesai. The author, however, has his explanation ready. “I am looking at cricket from a personal perspective, which is why it had to start with my father,” reasons Sardesai. “Also, the book is not about India's best all-time XI, it's an attempt to see how India was changing, through cricket. I know quite clearly that my father would not have fitted into any all-time XI, nor would have my father said that he was a great player.”

Having met and known cricketers across generations, first through his father, then as a player himself (he played up to under-19 in India and then featured in seven first-class games for Oxford University), and later as a journalist, what's the marked difference he finds between the modern and older cricketers?  “The previous cricketers were nicer people,” Sardesai says point-blank. “You see, a lot of money has come in the sport, and with that has come agents and sponsors. With earlier cricketers, you could just pick your phone and call them up. I once called up the legendary Gundappa Viswanath and told him that I wanted to come and see him. But the great man said he would come and see me, and he actually drove down to meet me. Can you imagine any of the modern cricketers doing that?”

Among the modern cricketers, Sardesai sounds quite impressed with Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni. “One may ask why include both Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in the book, with both belonging to the same period? But I couldn't have left Dravid out, he's one star who has not been touched at all by the glitz and glamour, his success story is a message that nice guys can also win, you don't necessarily have to be brash to succeed in modern India,” says Sardesai. As for Dhoni, according to Sardesai, his story is a “life lesson”. “He came from nowhere and went on to achieve extraordinary feats. His story stands out.” 

It surely does. Dhoni's story reflects the evolution of cricket and the country, the basic idea of Democracy's XI.