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Meeting CD Gopinath: India's oldest living Test cricketer and a hero of our first Test win

Meeting CD Gopinath: India's oldest living Test cricketer and a hero of our first Test win

But why did a cricketer reckoned by Worrell and other experts to be hugely gifted, the "best exponent of the square cut in the country" and whose hook shot was crowned the Shot of the month in an English daily, not score more runs or have a longer stint in Tests? Discrimination played its part as revealed in a story told with little rancour, but with an abiding hurt that slips through.
It happened when Gopinath was in England. The tour had begun on a disastrous note with India reduced for 0-4 in the first Test at Leeds. Seeing 000-4 on the scoreboard piqued the interest of the photographer in Gopi and in broad daylight, before the rest of the team, he snapped the "unique sight".
Then came the incident that made matters worse and which he recounted.
Vijay Hazare was the captain and ordered Gopi, who did not understand the language, to move in Hindi.
Gopinath remembers, "I was the only one in the 16-member squad who did not know Hindi. They all spoke Hindi. I rarely knew what they were speaking about during the tour. In the match, the captain asked me in Hindi to shift my position to a certain spot. He knew I couldn't understand. I managed only by asking one of my teammates and getting to know what was needed.
"But when we were back into the dressing room, Hazare was very angry at me. He told me to come and see him at the hotel. Once there, he asked me why I hadn't followed his instructions. I explained the difficulty I had and wondered why he couldn't have told me in English. His reply was that if he told me in English the batsman would know. I found his reasoning silly.
"Remember I was just 22 then. A little worked up, I told the captain 'I thought we were playing cricket. What is wrong in the batsman knowing where the fielder is. He has the right, does he not?'. Hazare got back by telling me "This is not 'Madhraas cricket'. I told him I didn't know it as Madras cricket or Indian cricket. I only knew it as cricket and stomped out of his room. Naturally, the captain didn't like me from then on."
This meant that for the duration of the England series, Gopi was forced to bat at No 8, and in one instance at No 9, despite being a specialist batsman. The only exception was when India encountered a wet wicket or sticky wicket as these were called.
A razor-sharp and compelling raconteur, Gopinath shares what followed when that happened.
"An exception was this match where it had rained and the wicket was wet. You must remember that those days the wickets were left uncovered and we also did not have helmets or the level of protective equipment that players now have. So, the captain told me to pad up to go in at No 4. He meant to offer me as one of the sacrificial wickets. But I was excited since I could at least bat up the order now. It was however not to be. By the time my turn came, the sun had come out and the wicket was drying up. I was told to wait. Those days Bombay dominated. He sent in a Bombay player. When that player got out and No 5's turn came, I was again held back. Nos 6 and 7 also went in and returned. I only got to bat at No 8 again.
"I was almost in tears. I was terribly upset. I went to Hazare after that and said, 'Skipper, I am sorry, but I won't take this from you again. Don't do what you did to me today. Don't do this ever again'. The spat didn't do me any good. It was unfortunate," Gopinath recalls.
He talks of how he and the great Hyderabad off-spinner Ghulam Ahmed, a fellow 'Madhraasi' in the days when the idea of India had not quite sunk in and when provincial mentality still ruled, "cried on each other's shoulders" for the almost six months the tour lasted.
The experience scarred both players. It left Gopinath "pretty frustrated and pessimistic about his immediate cricket prospects" as he has recalled in Beyond Cricket: A life in many Worlds. He applied and took up a position in the Chennai-based Gordon Woodroffe at his father's suggestion and would later rise to be the first Indian Chairman of the 100-year-old British company.
But cricket wasn't about to leave him alone this early. He was "unexpectedly" named in the squad to the West Indies. Gopinath was delighted at the prospect of going there. But a call from Ghulam Ahmed asking if "You are going? Are you sure?", while saying he himself had decided not to after what happened in England and what was likely to happen in the West Indies, led to Gopi also dropping out.
A wet patch in Pakistan and the 'patriotic umpires' there
India's first tour of Pakistan though was an entirely different proposition. Vinoo Mankad had taken over as the captain and that was a relief. Ghulam Ahmed was also selected and would be Gopi's roommate. This meant that Ghulam's relatives in Pakistan were always around to shower them with hospitality except on one occasion when, with no houses for the players to be put up in, they had to stay in the train compartment for a few days!
Gopi had a good overall tour ending up with an average of 58 in the first-class matches. But he got to bat in only three innings in the Test series. The one where he made his highest Test score of the tour, a 41, had a memorable story that would be passed down generations. A patch of the ground, a little ahead of the crease, was alone wet while the rest of the wicket and the ground was dry.
"When we protested, we were told that it was because of the rain. 'How could it have rained only here,' we wondered. The umpires (both Pakistanis of course, since it was a home series) were to be the final adjudicators. They agreed to delay the start by 15 minutes to help the very wet patch dry! I was left to counter the wet area by stepping out and standing on it," Gopinath remembers.
He talks of how the team was happy to have drawn the series against the Pakistan team, which had the original 'Little Master' Hanif Mohammad and bowling great Fazal Mahmood, among others, in its ranks. "The Pakistan umpires were patriotic. So, we were happy to return with the honours even," he recounts.
Friend named Sir Frank Worrell, and Sachin and Dhoni memories
Cricket gifted Gopinath many friendships. He remembers his comradeship with English great Denis Compton and with Ray Lindwall, the brief meeting with whom at Kolkata led to Gopi landing the Australian great's cap as a souvenir.
But his abiding trans-sea friendship was with Sir Frank Worrell, the West Indies captain in the first-ever tied Test, as recalled earlier.
Gopinath fondly recounted a hand-rickshaw ride the two of them took around Colombo after 10 in the night and how he attended Worrell's benefit match hosted by his club, Lancashire. "I insisted I will be the one collecting money from those in the stadium and I did."
He also remembered his last meeting with "Frank" when he came down to Madras and joined Gopi and his family for dinner. "It was not a party. Just him and my family. He told me then that he had not been feeling his usual self during the last few days. As he left, I insisted that he must get a check-up done. A few days later came the news from the West Indies that Frank was no more. Apparently he had leukemia. His death shattered me."
After his playing career, Gopinath went on to become a selector and played a significant part in unearthing the great Gundappa Viswanath, who holds the unique record of having ensured that India never lost a Test when he made a ton. "He was as good as Gavaskar (incidentally Vishy's brother-in-law). He had a lot of time to play his shots and that is always a true sign of class. And what a lovely human being to boot."
His all-time great, though, is not anyone from his eras as either player or selector or Indian manager, which he later became. It is Sachin Tendulkar, "the man who had the right shot for every ball."
Another favourite is MS Dhoni. "I remember saying at a felicitation function that the Chennai Super Kings is my favourite team and pointing to Dhoni who was in the front row as the reason." Gopinath says he told people there that this was because "Dhoni is never demonstrative; never puts down any player, even if they are from the opposition. It is simply because he is Captain and Player Cool" that he adored him.
That quality sums up Gopinath too at 95 and underlines why, as his son-in-law the renowned Supreme Court lawyer Aryama Sundaram observes, he was a legend all those years ago and continues to remain a legend. A truly well-played century beckons...
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