CD Gopinath: Aristocratic and regal

CD Gopinath pictured in the 1970s. Pic/mid-day archives

My only encounter on the cricket field with CD Gopinath, former Test batsman, who turns 90 today (Baroda-based DK Gaekwad is the oldest living India Test player at 91) was way back in 1965 or so when, enjoying a huge slice or two of luck, I carted the Madras Cricket Club (MCC) pace bowlers all over the park to the huge amusement of Gopi and his friends in the slips.

I was still in my teens, quite beardless and a No. 10 to boot in a friendly game MCC treated with nonchalance. Upset at being laughed at, I aimed a few more hefty blows at Prabhakar Rao and Co, meeting with more surprising success, before I realised the joke was on the bowlers so cavalierly treated by someone clearly not in their league.

In the morning, I had bowled to Gopi (MCC always batted first in these practice games), and discovered none of his skill had left him, though he was by now essentially a Sunday cricketer, having played his last Test match in the 1959-60 season.

Gopinath was the aristocrat of the Madras team of the 1950s. Not only was he from an elite social background - his father CP Doraikannu was general manager of Indian Overseas Bank - his cricket too was quite regal. A tall, sinewy man with an erect stance and polished strokeplay, he seemed to have the kind of time to play his shots that tends to invest batting with an air of majesty. He averaged over 50 in Ranji Trophy cricket during an era of uncovered turf pitches and matting wickets.

Gopinath scored two brilliant hundreds in the year Madras won the Ranji Trophy for the first time under Balu Alaganan's stewardship, sharing the batting honours with his younger teammate AG Kripal Singh. He scored 122 against Bengal in the semifinal and 133 against Holkar in the final. Remarkably, those were the only two Ranji matches he played that season, and they also happened to be his first two hundreds in the championship. Alaganan who lauded Gopinath's role in that success - along with those played by Kripal Singh, indubitably the star of the season, MK Murugesh, AK Sarangapani and others - also credited Gopinath with vital tactical inputs. He said, "In the semi-final, CD Gopinath plotted Pankaj Roy's dismissal on the hook shot off the bowling of BC Alva with his fastish off-breaks. We had a fielder about halfway to the boundary, Alva bowled short and Roy could not resist the temptation." Gopinath had made his first-class debut in the 1949-50 season, starting inauspiciously with a pair. He made 74 and 53' against Mysore at Bangalore next year, and never looked back.

Gopinath who became State captain following Alaganan's retirement, came to be known for his capable leadership, but could not repeat Alaganan's title success, though he continued in his role till 1963. He had been much more successful as captain of the Madras Cricket Club in the local league, leading the team to the Palayampatti Shield four times. As a batsman, Gopinath scored nine first-class hundreds including 234 against Mysore and 175 versus the touring New Zealand team in 1955.

He made an impressive Test debut in 1951-52, playing two lovely innings of 50 not out and 42 against England at Bombay. It must have been a daunting experience for the young man to bat at No. 8 in a line-up that had Roy, Mantri, Umrigar, Hazare, Amarnath and Sarwate and Adhikari bat ahead of him in the order and Vinoo Mankad after him! He scored a fluent half-century in a first innings total of 485. In the second innings, India were 77 for 6 when Gopinath went in, and soon 88 for 7, before he and Mankad put on 71 for the eighth wicket. He made 35 in the final Test at Madras, which India won, its first Test victory over England.

Cricketers then did not always accept the selectors' invitation to play for India, and Gopinath skipped a tour of the West Indies! He fared quite well in an unofficial Test series against the touring Commonwealth team and made a few runs in the limited opportunities that came his way in Pakistan in 1954-55. In the Calcutta Test against Australia next season, he played a fighting knock of 39, top-scoring as India collapsed, but made no run in the second innings. He never played for India again.

After his playing days, Gopinath became a national selector and toured England in 1979 as the manager of the Indian team. When approached for his views, he comes across as a thoughtful commentator on the game. At a function some years ago, he gave the audience amusing glimpses into the past by recalling the infinitesimal "smoke allowance" Test players received in his days, and the nature of the accommodation they enjoyed in Pakistan: a railway compartment!

Today Gopinath and his wife Comala, a champion golfer in her day, live at their hillside residence at Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. His cheerful demeanour and the spring in his step belie his years.

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