I
ndia’s second tour to england
in 1936 was marred by controversies.
the two men who were discriminated
against the most were two of the best
players in the team, Lala amarnath and
cK nayudu. amarnath was victimised
by none other than captain Viziana-
gram (Vizzy). despite being the man in
form, amarnath was sent home mid-way into the tour on charges of indiscipline. Labelled
a womaniser by Vizzy and discriminated against at every step, it was only a matter of time
before amarnath lost his mind. an outburst was enough for manager Britton Jones and Vizzy
to send him back. even after his return, the drama continued. the final act in the saga was
the most bizarre. despite the fact that the Board president (Maharaja of Bhopal) announcing
in the press that amarnath would rejoin the team in england and after his cricket kit had
boarded the ship, he was instructed not to travel. reeling under such internal strife, india lost
the series despite the heroics of Merchant and Mushtaq ali at old trafford.
D
uring the 1946 tour of england under the nawab
of Pataudi, the indians were confronted with a
bizarre problem. Most of the inconvenience stemmed
from food rationing, which in 1946 still wrecked the
lives of most in Britain. With insufficient food, many
starved on occasions. the touring indians however
fared better, though the kind of food on offer was very
basic and not often to their Oriental tastebuds. Overall,
the tour wasn’t great. Writing to CK nayudu, his mentee
Mushtaq ali describes his 1946 english outing:‘
... now sir, in my humble opinion, this tour is worse than
1936, the same old trouble: no teamwork at all. every
member of the team is for himself. no one cares for the
country at all...We collapsed because he (the indian
captain) sent in abdul hafeez at no 3 instead of going
in himself...’I
ndia’s tour of england
in 1952 will have to rank as
one of the worst the indians
have undertaken. With
freddie trueman bowling
at his best, it was on this tour
that the indians suffered the
ignominy of being reduced to
0/4 at Leeds in the first test. if
there was one bright spot, it
had to be Vinoo Mankad.
Vijay Hazare’s team faced
disaster at every step in
England and lost the first Test
match by seven wickets.
In the second Test, in his
first appearance, Mankad
was unbeaten on 72 in a score
of 118 for five.
Included in the team for
the second Test, Mankad was
at his best. The second Test,which India lost by eight
wickets, is still best known as
‘Mankad’s Test’. He scored 72
and 184, and also took five for
196 in the first innings. Even
after this performance, how-
ever, the BCCI did not honour
Mankad and he was forced to
return to play for Haslingden
Club, Lancashire, later on in
the month.I
N DI A ’S poor run con-
tinued in England with
the visiting team deeply
divided and the players
openly campaigning against
each other during their 1959
tour. This had become a
feature of Indian cricket of
the 1950s and many in the
team like opening batsman
Pankaj Roy felt victimised as
a result. Little cliques were
forever trying to win favours
with the BCCI and trying
to alienate players from
the rival camp. The result,
in such a scenario, was
expected and India ended
up getting whitewashed,
losing the series 5-0. There
was no acceptable leader in
the team and India ended up
with four different captains
leading the side in the series.
Coming at the back of a
poor series against the West
Indies at home, this could be
labelled as one of the worst
phases of Indian cricket. The
serious weakness against
quality seam bowling was
exposed yet again.heroics in Vain
captaincy
conundrumZero teamwork
Mankad’s test
The Indian team at Edgbastonhttp://www.openthemagazine.com 411936
1959
1946
Fred Trueman left India
reeling at 0/4 in Leeds1952
Scorecard from
the Lord’s Test6 august 2018