He came, he saw, he conquered

HAD AMAR Singh been alive today, he would have turned 90 on Monday (Dec. 4). But he died young and tragically. He was only 29, and at the height of his cricketing prowess, typhoid took him away. It was a crushing blow to our ambitions and aspirations because India was still in its infancy with regard to Test cricket and Amar Singh was undoubtedly one of the kingpins in the national team.

But even in his brief career Amar Singh left behind a legacy rich enough to inspire generations of cricketers. With due respect to his first captain C. K. Nayudu, it must be said Amar Singh was India's first `world-class' allrounder, all factors considered. Although a batting allrounder, Amar Singh had the honour to score India's maiden fifty in the heavyweight division of cricket. And for good measure he achieved the feat in the country's first ever Test at Lord's.

With Mohammed Nissar, this lion-hearted cricketer from Saurashtra had formed India's finest fast bowling pair. The two complemented each other very well. Not only that, like all true pace bowlers, they enjoyed hunting in pair. It was sheer good luck that India had such class bowlers in its ranks from the beginning. Their presence made the Indian team look formidable. And the two hardly or never disappointed. It was only the batsmen who let the team down more often than not. Several other pace bowlers played for India later on but they were nowhere near Amar Singh and Nissar.

Dattu Phadkar and Ramakant Desai immediately come to mind. While they were good, and also fairly successful in their own limited ways, they were not more than medium-pacers. Kapil Dev came much later, as late as in 1978. While there is no doubt about Kapil Dev's greatness, success and international reputation, it is debatable whether he was as quick as Nissar or Amar Singh.

Of course, Amar Singh's older brother L. Ramji was a high quality speedster. But he was in his early 30s when India got the Test status in 1932. Worse still, he became a victim of the dirty politics rampant in Indian cricket since time immemorial. Poor Ramji! Even in his 30s he was quite fit and frightening and deserved a fair treatment from the national selectors. Ramji played only one Test for the country. The Maharaja of Patiala was said to have played a key role in spoiling Ramji's international career. Incidentally, Ramji's birth centenary is being celebrated this year.

Kapil Dev's mercurial presence in the national side did inspire many budding cricketers to take up pace bowling. They burst upon the scene like leaves on a tree. For Kapil Dev was like a role- model for them. Even though they lacked in class and quality, India played many of them in the 1980s and 1990s. It was the need of the hour and also the demand of the time. But the fact remains that apart from Javagal Srinath, no other bowler could approach Kapil Dev in terms of success, strike rate and star value. The point is that despite Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Venkat Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and others of their ilk, Indian cricket is yet to come across genuine fast bowlers like Nissar and Amar Singh.

Tall and well-built, Amar Singh bowled of a comparatively short run-up which was climaxed with a sudden, almost ``frenzied'' action. A master of cut and swing, Amar Singh relished bowling in the heavier atmosphere, particularly of England. His pace off the pitch had to be seen to be believed. ``Amar Singh came off the pitch like the crack of doom,'' said Wally Hammond.

So much has been said, more written, about how Amar Singh and Nissar made inroads into the strong England batting line-up in India's maiden Test, at Lord's in 1932, before the inexperienced Nayudu and company let the golden opportunity slip away. The two proved just too good even for the star English batsmen who, probably a bit complacent, did not know what hit them.

The 21-year-old Amar Singh in particular really enjoyed the tour and bagged 111 first-class wickets at 20.78.

Even Wisdenhad to note: ``Better bowling than his in the second innings of the Test match had not been seen for a long time, and more than one famous old cricketer said afterwards that Amar Singh was the best bowler seen in England since the war.''

You do not have to play a number of Tests to prove your worth or to make the world sit and take notice. If you are good enough, and really talented, you could do the same even in the fewest number of matches. And this is what distinguishes champions from the also-rans. In spite of his very short international career, Amar Singh's figures make it abundantly clear that he was head and shoulders above many of his seemingly great and glorified Indian contemporaries.

He took 28 Test wickets at 30.64 and made 292 Test runs at 22.46. His first-class record is also quite impressive: 484 wickets at 18.63 and 3241 runs at 24.18, including 5 centuries. In almost each of his seven Tests he did something remarkable on the field. For he was not only a top notch bowler but also a brilliant attacking batsman who fielded like a tiger and ran after the ball as if his life depended on it. It was not without reasons that many in England compared him with that marvellous West Indian allrounder Learie Constantine.

Against England at Chennai in 1933-34, Amar Singh scored 48 in the second essay after taking 7 for 86 off 44.4 overs in the visitors' first innings total of 335. At Lord's (where else?) in 1936 he claimed 4 for 10 in his first nine overs and overall 6 for 35 from his 25.1 overs. In the very next Test at Old Trafford he hit 48 not out to save India from an innings defeat. In the ``unofficial'' five-Test series against Lord Tennyson's star- studded MCC team of 1937-38 he captured 36 wickets at 16.66.

It is possible that Amar Singh's statistics would have been more attractive but for the sloppy Indian fielding in those days. The Indian catching, especially close to the wicket, left a lot to be desired even though the pick-up and throwing had been of high order at times. The story goes that one Indian player of that era had the habit of often standing in the slips with his hands behind his back! Not surprisingly, it took India 20 long years to register its maiden Test triumph.

Amar Singh was not only the first to take 100 wickets in the Ranji Trophy but also the first Indian to become a star in the Lancashire League. Playing for Colne and Burnley he mesmerised the English with his exploits with bat and ball and attracted rave reviews from representatives of the Fleet Street.

It may be interesting to recall how he dominated the Lancashire League in 1939. Amar Singh had already scored many triumphs while with Colne. Inspired mainly by the Indian, Burnley now won the first four matches quite convincingly. But then came two shock defeats: one at Turf Moor by Accrington in a midweek tie, the other on the following Saturday at Colne. But there was a remarkable recovery as five successive wins followed.

Much to the delight of the Burnley supporters, Amar Singh scored two centuries and six half-centuries. There was a magnificent 167 against Rishton, followed by a power-packed 112 versus East Lancashire, both at Turf Moore. Amar Singh was on top of the totem-pole of the batting and bowling aggregates as well as averages. In all, he took 101 wickets at 12.11 in 360 overs; and scored 806 runs at 39.38 in 23 innings. It was super stuff, to say the least, considering the competition and class of the players in the Lancashire League in those years.

Amar Singh was a natural cricketer. Though he had been coached by Velji Master and also by Frank Tarrant (when the Australian was in India, that is), it was obvious that a player of his ability did not need any sort of coaching. Fortunately for Amar Singh, and subsequently for India, no one ever advised him to curb his natural game, both as a bowler and as a batsman. Unlike many other Indian players of the time, Amar Singh always paid serious attention to his fielding also. He was outstanding in the outfield and very few in Indian cricket have matched Amar Singh in this respect, before or since.

He was a blue-eyed boy of the then Jam Saheb of Nawanagar even though he was born in Rajkot. The Jam Saheb saw to it that Amar Singh, who hailed from a poor family, had no problems whatsoever pursuing his cricket. The royal figure always encouraged and supported Amar Singh in every possible way, including financially, and till his last breath the cricketer remained grateful to his ``master''. The two grew into very close friends. When Amar Singh passed into ages on May 21, 1940, the Jam Saheb was very much near him.

HARESH PANDYA

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