There are many telling anecdotes about Raj Singh Dungarpur, who passed away yesterday, and many more that he could have told of India's cricketing greats. Clayton Murzello remembers the gentleman and his game
There are many telling anecdotes about Raj Singh Dungarpur, who passed away yesterday, and many more that he could have told of India's cricketing greats. Clayton Murzello remembers the gentleman and his game
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September used to be a busy month for Raj Singh Dungarpur when he was in the prime of his cricket administrative career. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) elections are usually held this time of the year and Raj Singh would be at his politicking best. The former Board chief chose to slip away quietly to Elysian fields this very month.
If Raj Singh were alive and kicking, he would have raised a toast to the Indian team for becoming No 1 in one-day cricket. To make India the best outfit in the world was a dream. Maybe a little angel conveyed the news through a whisper on Friday night. Maybe, it was an apt time to go.
Indian cricket has lost a true servant. In the late 1980s, when he was chief selector, he was convinced that youth would show the way in Indian cricket's testing years. It did.
Sachin Tendulkar would not have made his debut as a 16-year-old had it not been for Raj Singh's faith in the kid. He never tired of telling people the story of how there was a difference of opinion in the selection committee over Tendulkar's Test selection for the tour of Pakistan in 1989-90. "What if he fails?" some in the panel asked. When it came to decision time, the ball was thrown to senior selector Naren Tamhane, who said, 'gentlemen, Sachin Tendulkar never fails.' In November, the batting master completes 20 years of international cricket.
Just as he was convinced about young blood, Raj Singh also believed that Indian cricket would change for the better with foreign influences. As Board president, he roped in Bobby Simpson as consultant and got India its first fitness trainer Andrew Kokinos in 1998.
A couple of years later, he got John Wright to be India's first foreign coach. All what Raj Singh did didn't seem right though. On India's 2001-02 tour of Sri Lanka, after Ganguly's men lost the first Test in Colombo, Raj Singh, not even chief of the board, told a senior player to get ready to take over from Ganguly. It was not done quietly.
But Raj Singh continued pushing the envelope to make India a bigger force on the international scene. He was pained to see his Board not doing enough at the grassroots to find stars of the future. "Indian cricket's next star will come from the interiors and not the high rises," he often said.
He was so eloquent that he could reel off anecdotes relentlessly. His decline into Alzheimer's seems doubly tragic. When a cricket writer met him and reminisced about a tour of Pakistan when he was team manager, Raj Singh shot back: 'Why was I in Pakistan,' a question that was indicative of a fading memory.
That's why it is such a pity that this story-a-minute gentleman did not write a book on his cricketing experiences. A favourite was about India captain on the 1952 tour of England, Vijay Hazare, not having enough faith in Mankad before the Lord's Test where Mankad got 184 and picked up five wickets in the first innings. As the team walked back to the pavilion when England scored the winning runs, Mankad pulled off his sweater, threw the ball to his captain and said, "Sorry Vijay, I couldn't do much."
Raj Singh was never known to turn down a request from anyone. When a journalist was having problems securing a visa, Raj Singh offered to accompany him to the consulate and use his clout. And when he was in better physical condition, he used to wake up early and distribute five rupee coins to the beggars on Marine Drive.
One of Raj Singh's biggest regrets was being part of seven Ranji Trophy finals against Mumbai for Rajasthan and not winning even one.u00a0
One cannot forget how anguished he was in Dhaka, 2000 when the Hansie Cronje match fixing controversy broke out. At first, he was not willing to believe it. But as confirmation came through at the coffee shop where we both had a sandwich, you could see how sad he was to see his beloved sport tarnished. He insisted on picking up the tab. "I must pay. Nothing to celebrate, of course," he said.
After he paid the bill, he got chatting to a youngster about cricket. The kid spoke about how he wanted to make it to Lord's one day. And I heard this in the background: "Son, you can stay in my flat in London. It is right opposite Lord's." He had never met the boy before and the goodness of this prince came shining through.
Raj Singh didn't need alcohol to be in high spirits at a cricket function. Cricket was his oxygen, his drug. As Bishan Singh Bedi said on Saturday: "He just led a cricketing life. Cricket was all he had."
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