IT WAS A FLUKE!
An underdog’s tale always makes an interesting sports story. This one’s my favourite. The hero and the underdog involved here is my uncle, my ‘Chhotokaka’, Mukul. It still fascinates me as it did the first time when chhotokaka narrated it to us, all the dreamy eyed kids in the house. Even now I’m smiling as I’m penning it down for the amusement of all my readers.
Chhotokaka was a decent club level cricketer. But he was just that, a club level cricketer, who realized it early in his cricketing career that he cannot make a career out of cricket. Hence he played, day in and day out, but only just for the sake of it. He was one of those guys to fill up the numbers. Guys, who prepare the Gavaskars and the Tendulkars in their formative years. Not that he was a poor cricketer, but it’s just that he understood, and rightly so, that he didn’t have enough talent or enough backing from his family to seriously pursue cricket. And in any case cricketers from a backward state like
Still he was regarded as a good leg-spinner by those who had played with him. But this story is not about his bowling exploits. It’s about his best batting performance. He maintains it was a fluke. Sheer luck! But those who witnessed it that day didn’t think so. Definitely not the visiting team, least their premiere fast bowler Debu, already a sensation in the club circuit and someone who was taken seriously as a Ranji prospect. His coach even believed he had it in him, to go all the way to the test team.
Chhotokaka’s batting made him the perfect bunny and the most common butt of all jokes at their club. He was the typical no. 11, holding the bat just to get knocked over by the wicket-hungry bowler. Once he was bowled by a flighted full toss from a part-timer and his friends always made sure that it was mentioned every time he held a bat. But not anymore after the evening of 11th November 1975. That day his score was the highest on his team’s scoreboard.
His team, YMCC (Young Men’s Cricket Club), a lower rung side in Patna’s club circuit was expected to lose easily against the perennial champions Patna University, the visiting side. What with two Ranji players already in their ranks and couple others ready to make the grade, including Debu (Debendra Banarjee), the fastest bowler around. The game was played at YMCC’s home ground. But since both the teams belonged to Patna and players from both sides regularly played with each other at unofficial tournaments, hence there was no home advantage as such. It was just a routine game and YMCC was filling up the numbers. The
Chhotokaka was definitely not among those. He was just there to enjoy himself. And enjoy he did, but with the bat this time!
PU won the toss and on a pretty hard pitch, chose to bowl first so that their star bowler could have a go at the hapless YMCC batsmen. Even their other pacers, Jyotindra and Mahesh were pretty handful. YMCC seriously stood no chance. Still their openers, Sudhendu (Sudhu-da to all his team mates), a veteran and Manoj, the Ravi Shashtri clone (those days, that was the name given to any batsman whose sole aim with the bat was to block and block every delivery), had surprisingly seen off the first 7 overs pretty quietly. Never mind that they had scored only 8 runs off those. PU, for some reason had decided not to hand over the new ball to Debu. May be they wanted the selectors to settle down and relax so that they could have a proper look at Debu. YMCC were aware that there was a storm about to come their way.
And a storm it was, when Debu started his run-up from the Ganga end. The first ball to Sudhu-da was a clear indication, that the YMCC guys had never quite faced something like this. YMCC’s most experienced batsman lost his middle stump and his balance as well, as he fell down, unable to dig out the vicious in-dipping yorker. In fact, he had just started to bring his bat down and it was only 30% down the arc before the red missile brushed his toes and sent the middle-stump on a wild juggle. Debu was not going to play around with the babies of the club-circuit. The choice to bowl a yorker first up, was a clear display of his blinding speed and accuracy, also it underlined that he is a thinking bowler. He observed Sudhu-da had a high back-lift and a yorker would be a good first up delivery, especially a swinging one delivered at high speed. The message to the selectors was loud and clear – look guys I’m fast, I’m accurate and I’m smart too. And the fear on YMCC batsmen’s face was clear, painted in red on their pale faces. They were not eager for their turns.
In the following eight overs, YMCC batsmen were like the meek lambs going under a mad butcher’s knife. The butcher being Debu, who showed his full range: mean bouncers, sleek outswingers, cunning off-cutters and of course the ferocious in-swinging yorker that got rid-off Sudhu-da and broke the toes of two other batsmen. All delivered with geometric accuracy and genuine pace. YMCC had scored 15 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 15 overs. Debu’s figures: 4 overs, 2 maidens, 4 runs and six wickets. Even the other three wickets, 2 of which went to Jyotindra and 1 to Mahesh, could be credited to Debu because of the pressure created by him from the other side.
So, finally my Chhotokaka started his walk to the middle, a moment he was already dreading from the time he saw Sudhu-da fall. His arm pits producing so much sweat, he could sense it dripping all the way through to his groin. Or was it something produced down there? He walked to the crease to face the last delivery of the 15th over bowled by Mahesh and tried his best to get out by going for a wild heave across the line of a good length delivery bowled just out-side the line of off-stump with a hint of away movement, bowled just for this kind of a shot. A man terrified to the core of his heart always goes on the offensive, with the hope that either he’ll destroy his aggressor or it’ll force the opponent to hit you harder so that your end is hastened and the pain shortened. But, somehow the ball just missed the outside edge bringing out sighs from the PU players and a burst of laughter from the spectators, and from the selectors as well.
The funny twist to the tale was to arrive in the next over. Debu went briskly to the top of his run-up, clearly he was charged up and wanted to finish it with the first ball of his 5th over. That, in some way, was a relieving thought for Chhotokaka. Standing at the non-striker’s end he was hoping along with the PU guys that Debu may end the YMCC innings, the same way he started his spell. A fast, full in-swinging yorker. And that’s exactly what he served. But unfortunately for my uncle, Manoj somehow managed to get his toes between the stumps and the ball. The umpire thought it was moving too much and would rather miss the leg-stump. For once my uncle cursed the umpire for not giving out to a batsman from his own side. Manoj was still there, somehow his trademark block was the only saving grace for the YMCC boys. So what if he had scored only 3, he safely blocked 43 deliveries, 13 of them bowled by Debu. But to Chhotokaka’s horror, Manoj decided to take a leg-bye and let Chhotokaka face the music. In fact, Chhotokaka was so stunned with Manoj’s decision to steal a run via leg-bye, that he was still standing only a couple of feet outside his crease when Manoj ran passed him. It was a sure run out opportunity. But somehow, Chhotokaka survived it as the PU wicketkeeper took ages to collect the ball from the short fine-leg area and have a go at the striker’s end. He missed and the backup was not there to collect the throw properly. May be PU didn’t want to take a wicket via a comic run-out courtesy a stunned no. 11. May be they wanted Debu to get another one. Hesitantly, Chhotokaka reached the striker’s end.
So that was the moment. The moment my Chhotokaka was dreading from the day when he had heard that Debu would play against them. He had already witnessed two of Debu’s finest performance that season, as a spectator of course. Both 7-wicket hauls against two of the top teams in the league. He thoroughly enjoyed watching those games. He was not enjoying it anymore as he took guard, remembering his gods, preparing to be a part of another 7-wicket haul for Debu. He had made his mind, as he asked for a leg-stump guard from the umpire. He would give a clear view of all the three stumps, in a way as if he was pleading Debu to knock them over. But Debu had other ideas. Chhotokaka felt the final thump in his chest as he saw Debu start his run-up. He couldn’t remember seeing the ball when it left Debu’s hand. Not even when it surprisingly landed short of a length. He just closed his eyes, as if he was going in a trance and waived the bat in front of his face as furiously as he could. He played the shot to protect his face rather than hit the ball. But he hit it. He connected so well that the ball sailed over the square leg boundary, a six! The first boundary of the innings! The first shot of intent! The spectators thought so. My uncle was still in a daze when an equally bemused Manoj came over to him and patted his back. Other YMCC players cheered from the boundary. Only to frighten my uncle even more. As he realized, now Debu would get nastier. Another bouncer, another blind folded hook and another six! This time Manoj strode confidently upto a still stunned Chhotokaka, who wished that Manoj would punch him hard to get him out of this dream. A dream which could turn out into a nightmare anytime and he would end up with a broken jaw or few crushed toes. But somewhere deep inside his heart, a lion roared. Even though the roar was feeble, it certainly was the roar of confidence that said ‘hang on friend, this guy’s no devil, you can face him. If you can hit him for back to back sixes, you need not fear him. Instead he should be afraid of you’. Debu though, was not afraid of Chhotokaka. He was enraged, like a mad bull about to nail his victim with its sharp horns. Debu’s horns were his yorkers. And Chhotokaka was smart enough to guess that. But he was now confident enough to ask for a middleS stump guard and think of attempting a genuine shot. This way he had a fair chance of protecting his toes as, a part of his mind warned him that Debu might aim for his toes anyways, never mind where he stood. So, the yorker arrived and again to his surprise Chhotokaka’s blindfolded off-drive helped the ball sail over the extra cover boundary, dropping a good 10 meters beyond the boundary. Three sixes off three balls had suddenly breathed fire in a dead club match. Debu’s next two deliveries, regular good length stuff, were scored for two singles each by Chhotokaka and Manoj. YMCC ended the 16th over with 36 runs on the board for the loss of 9 wickets. Chhotokaka’s score was 19 runs from 5 deliveries. The next one bowled by Mahesh, produced two sixes and a four from Chhotokaka as Manoj handed over the strike to him in the very first delivery by taking a neat single. The PU players started to wonder, why YMCC sent their best batsman at the no. 11 slot. They would hardly keep track of the strength of a weak side like YMCC. In Debu’s next over Chhotokaka milked three crisp boundaries on the off-side and for a surprising change to himself, he did so with complete conviction. This got the worried PU skipper make a hasty bowling change. He brought in his off-spinner Vikrant to bowl the 19th over, which was quietly played out by Manoj. The damage was ascertained when the PU captain forbade an anxious and eager Debu from bowling the 20th over. The impression Debu made on the selectors in the first four overs was in risk of being lost completely because of the last two he bowled. In an anticlimax, YMCC’s innings ended in the 20th over itself as Manoj chopped onto his stumps, the 3rd delivery of the over bowled by Ramnath.
So, now my Chhotokaka was retreading the same path as he was going back to the pavilion, which only 4 overs ago, he had started with dread and fear in his heart. This time his heart was filled with pride, but the sense of surprise had not left him. His team mates hailed him and the scant crowd was chanting his name. He says, the shouts of ‘Mukul – Mukul’ still rings in his ears. His captain Varun gave him a big hug as he said to him ‘well played brother. Where have you hidden your talents? Why don’t you take your batting seriously? I’ll make sure, from now on, you get a good knock in the nets every day’.
Ironically, he ended up one short of his fifty as his final score read 49 runs off 17 balls with the help of 5 sixes, 4 fours and 3 singles. But his was comfortably the highest score in a team total of 67. PU didn’t drop much sweat in chasing down the target as they scored the necessary runs in the first twelve overs for the loss of only one wicket. My uncle didn’t get the chance to bowl. Though, some of his team mates did try to convince Varun to hand him the ball to deliver the 11th over as the confidence gained from his batting may spill into his bowling. But, Varun decided not to do so as PU was already so close to their target. The selectors had left the ground when the 9th over of the PU was going. Before that they had waived at my uncle fielding at deep mid-on, two of them showing him the thumbs-up sign. That day everybody raved about his batting. Even Debu came to him at the end of the match to congratulate him for his outstanding innings. Only Chhotokaka still maintains it was all a fluke, most of it, the first three sixes.
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