The team knew his value!

Aunshuman Gaekwad in the nets during the 1984-85 season. Pic/mid-day archives

The number of genuine heartfelt messages that have come from across the world at the passing away of Anshuman Gaekwad indicated what a well-loved and admired cricketer he was. When it was discovered that he had contracted the dreaded ailment everybody around knew that it was only a matter of time and because he was so well-liked, there were prayers and good wishes galore that somehow he would get through and survive. God almighty has His own plans and so he was taken away from our midst when we were still praying and hoping he would come through like he did innumerable times against the most hostile of bowling.

First choice for WI tour

Yes, when it came to opening the batting against the West Indies, the first name put down by the selectors of those days was Anshuman Gaekwad. They knew that he won't flinch nor would he give his wicket away cheaply. The Windies quicks would have to work hard to remove him. He didn't always get big scores against them, but what he did was stay at the crease and tire the fast bowlers out so the middle order would flourish.

There being no restrictions on the number of bouncers in an over then, the opportunity to score runs were limited. There was hardly any delivery pitched up for the drive. In fact, if you practised the drive at the non-striker's end there would be someone from the crowd saying, "Maan, if you wanna drive, buy a car. You ain't getting anything there."

This was followed by several from the crowd screaming, "Hey Mikey/ Macko, bowl him a bouncer, give him da perfume ball."

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To add to that, Viv would chip from his position in second slip "past the nose Aandy." No wonder for players of that era, ‘English leather' was a favourite After Shave because at least in England you could stretch forward, while in the West Indies, moving forward was like waving a red rag to a bull and you smelt the leather of the ball whizzing past your nose.

Admiration was universal

After a series against Windies was done, the selectors would say that he batted long, but didn't score runs so he would be left out of the team. That he had taken all the blows and hung in there and tired the bowlers so that the other batters could get on the front foot was hardly ever appreciated. The team of course knew his value and so never went by the number of runs he scored. The admiration for him was thus universal as every player knew that he was taking the blows for them to do well.

After his playing days, he was a selector and then coach too. All those who played under his guidance have nothing but the nicest things to say about him as can be seen by the tributes from some of the biggest names in Indian cricket.

The BCCI also recognised his contribution and so despite there being a limit on the amount that a former player could get, Jay Shah prompted by Roger Binny ensured that Aunshuman got more than the amount specified for former players. His contribution will be written in letters of gold when the history of Indian cricket is written.

I said earlier that he was among the three bravest Indian players I had the privilege of playing with. Eknath Solkar standing at forward short-leg without even shin pads, leave aside any helmet, was incredibly brave, what with all overseas players who could not read the spinners resorting to the sweep shot now and again.

Then Mohinder ‘Jimmy' Amarnath who like Anshuman, copped plenty of blows, but never took a backward step. When he scored almost 600 runs in the series against the Windies in 1983, that was the finest exhibition of playing fast bowling that I had seen. And then there was Aunshu. Three brave players who put their bodies on the line for Indian cricket. What a privilege to have shared the same change room with them.

Ekki left us far too soon and Anshu has just gone too, but Jimmy, the unsung hero of the 1983 World Cup and many other heroics, is still with us and may he stay well as he is now, always.

Indian cricket sadly didn't make as much use of him as they should have but there you are. May Anshuman's soul rest in eternal peace.

Professional Management Group