BackThe best ODI team that never was
The best ODI team that never was
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The writer J.M. Barrie is well-known as the author of Peter Pan. He was also an avid amateur cricketer. Barrie had once put together an eccentric team composed of some of the greatest English writers of his times, including Arthur Conan Doyle, Jerome K. Jerome, A.A. Milne, P.G. Wodehouse, H.G. Wells and G.K. Chesterton.
The name of the team was suitably eccentric as well. The Allahakbarries Cricket Club does not seem to have met with much success between 1887 and 1913, but many of the team members were proficient cricketers. Doyle had famously got the great W.G. Grace out in a first-class match.
THE TEAM
Mushtaq Ali
Farokh Engineer
Vijay Hazare
C.K. Nayudu
M.A.K. Pataudi (captain)
Vinoo Mankad
Eknath Solkar/Salim Durrani
Dattu Phadkar
Amar Singh
Ramakant Desai
S. Venkataraghavan
Mushtaq Ali
Arguably the most dashing Indian opening batsman before the age of One Day cricket. My father would tell me how Ali would advance down the wicket to even the fastest bowlers to unsettle them.
Farokh Engineer
A good wicketkeeper and bustling batsman, Engineer also had some One Day experience thanks to his long stint in English county cricket. He once scored 93 before lunch in a Test match against the West Indians led by Gary Sobers.
Vinoo Mankad
The greatest Indian all-rounder before Kapil Dev, Mankad was a superb left-arm spinner and attacking batsman. His most famous performance was in a Test at Lord’s in 1952, when he scored 72 and 184, and took five wickets in 73 overs. Also, a good fielder off his own bowling.
Vijay Hazare
Not exactly known as an aggressive batsman, but possibly the classiest middle-order Indian batsman before the 1980s, with Vijay Manjrekar and G.R. Vishwanath running close behind. Hazare at one down would have anchored the innings.
CK Nayudu
A hard-hitting batsman and inspirational leader, he once scored 153 in 116 frenetic minutes against a team of visiting Englishmen in 1927. There were 11 sixes in that knock. But he would have to leave the captainship to the next man on the list.
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi
A dashing and fearless batsman, it boggles the mind to think what he could have achieved if he had two healthy eyes. Pataudi did much to transform Indian cricket in the 1960s, setting the stage for the successes of the 1970s. A tiger in the field at cover point.
Eknath Solkar
A useful lower-order batsman as well as a bowler who could seam and spin the ball. But, most importantly, Solkar was the sort of cricketer who could walk into a team on the strength of his fielding alone. His fielding would give him an edge over the supremely talented Salim Durrani, a complete lost cause as a fielder.
Dattu Phadkar
A genuine all-rounder, Phadkar was a quick bowler and hard-hitting batsman in the lower order. One of the few successes during the 1947 tour of Australia, when the hosts, led by Don Bradman, crushed the Indian team.
Amar Singh
One part of the famous duo with Mohammad Nissar in the 1930s, Singh was rated as one of the best swing bowlers in the world. English captain Wally Hammond famously said that Singh was “as dangerous an opening bowler as I have ever seen, coming off the pitch like the crack of doom". A proficient batsman as well.
Ramakant Desai
The third pace bowler in the team, Desai could extract pace off the wicket despite his tiny frame. He also had a potent bouncer. Old timers in Mumbai cricket have told me that his run-up was so smooth that it was like watching poetry in motion, each step taken with beauty and precision.
S Venkataraghavan
Though he was the least celebrated of the famed quartet of spinners, Venkat had unabashed admirers such as Sobers. His flat trajectory was suitable to One Day cricket and the presence of Mankad would anyway keep the great Bishan Singh Bedi out. Venkat was also a brilliant fielder.
niranjan.r@livemint.com
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