'Peter Pan' Of Indian Cricket

It is a pity that on the heels of the death of Morappakam Gopalan, yetanother stalwart of Indian cricket, Chandrasekhar Trimbak Sarwate, passed awayon December 23 in Indore. An all-rounder who was a kingpin in the great Holkarside that won the Ranji Trophy on four occasions, Sarwate will always beremembered, more than anything, for his 249-run last wicket stand with ShuteBanerjee against Surrey on India's tour of England in 1946.

A leggie and an offie rolled into one, Sarwate was also a forceful batsman,good enough to open the Indian innings, albeit with little success, in all thefive Tests against Don Bradman's all-conquering team in Australia in 1947-48. Hebowled leg-break with a generally low trajectory. Though he did not turn theball much, he obtained surprising lift from hard wickets or on matting. But hismost potent weapon was a whipping off-break with which he had bamboozled many abatsman.

Sarwate, who claimed 5 for 33 for Central Provinces and Berar againstHyderabad on first-class debut at the age of 16 and went on to score 4923 runs(including nine centuries and three double hundreds) and take 281 wickets in theRanji Trophy alone, had a bizarre Test career. He was chosen primarily as abowler on the 1946 tour of England. But his solitary appearance in theManchester Test brought him 0 and 12 runs and no wicket at all. Although hisaction was a bit peculiar, it was perfectly fair and legitimate. But hiscaptain, Iftiqar Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, was afraid of using him forfear of being no-balled.

Not surprisingly, he played only a few matches on the tour, bagged 37 wicketsat 25.37, including a hattrick against Scotland, batted usually at No. 10 andscored 382 runs at 23.87. But he did leave his all-round imprint in the matchagainst Surrey at The Oval despite being ill-treated by the team management onthe tour.

The peerless Alec Bedser was still about one and half month away from makinghis Test debut but he was breathing fire in India's first innings. He did notallow Vijay Hazare and Rusi Modi to open their accounts and, after somerearguard action from Vijay Merchant (53) and Gul Mahomed (89), the visitorswere tottering at 205 for 9. It was then that Sarwate was joined by Banerjee.

Sure of removing the Indian tail in a jiffy, the Surrey skipper not onlydelayed the tea break but was also seen informing the groundsman what roller hewould require before the start of the hosts' innings. But Sarwate and Banerjeehad different ideas. Batting on, the two added a record 249 runs for the lastwicket in three hours and 10 minutes before Banerjee was bowled by J.F. Parkerfor 121, leaving Sarwate unconquered on 124. Neither before nor since have boththe No. 10 and No. 11 batsmen scored a century each in a first-class match.

In reply to India's 454, Surrey was bundled out for a paltry 135 thanks tosome superb leg-spin bowling by C.S. Nayudu, who performed a hattrick. Followingon, the hosts fared slightly better in the second innings and made 338 withSarwate taking 5 for 54 with his curious mix of leg-breaks and off-breaks. Indiaeventually romped home by nine wickets.

Strangely enough, when India embarked on her maiden tour of Australia underLala Amarnath in 1947-48, this bowling all-rounder opened the innings with VinooMankad in all the five Tests and hardly bowled! Howsoever hard he tried to hangin there, Sarwate was palpably ill-equipped to face the likes of Ray Lindwalland Keith Miller.

So short was the team of openers that Sarwate could not be replaced despitehis string of low scores. Except once, the Mankad-Sarwate opening partnershipsin 10 innings were 0, 14, 2, 17, 124, 10, 6, 0, 3, 0. In the 124-run stand inthe third Test at Melbourne, the make-shift opener's contribution was a gutsy36, his highest score in the rubber. In many ways it was a disastrous series forSarwate -- 100 runs in 10 innings and two wickets for 276 runs in 53 overs.

It was not that Sarwate did not get opportunities. The problem was theselectors were never sure which role they actually wanted him to play. All thistold on his performance when playing for the country. He was nowhere near thekind of cricketer he usually was in first-class cricket in India in hisremaining three Tests - two against the West Indies in 1948-49 and one versusEngland in 1951-52 - in all of which he scalped one wicket in 32 overs andcompiled 106 runs with 37 being his highest.

Born on July 22, 1920 in Sagar town of Madhya Pradesh, the gentle Sarwaterepresented Central Provinces and Berar, Maharashtra, Hindus, Mumbai, Holkar,Madhya Bharat, Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha between 1936 to 1969, and scored 7430runs (inclusive of 14 three-figure knocks) at 32.73, took 494 wickets at 23.54and held 91 catches in 171 first-class matches.

His highest score was 246 for Holkar against Bengal in 1950-51. He had takeneight wickets in the "Test" that India won against the powerfulAustralian Services at Chennai in 1945. For Holkar against Mysore in 1949, hefollowed up his century (101) by taking 9 for 61 in 21.5 overs. He alsocaptained Holkar.

Known as Peter Pan because of his small stature, Sarwate's boyish smile andpleasant nature won him many friends. He had a good sense of humour, too. Thestory goes that Sarwate and Mushtaq Ali had hatched a plot to tease Gul Mahomedafter he bragged about a romantic attention bestowed upon him on the 1946 tourof England. Sarwate, a professional handwriting and finger print expert, pennedan anonymous love letter to Gul. It contained an imaginary message from a ladywho had a crush on him, asking him to meet her at the Waterloo station, milesaway from London.

Irrespective of severe cold and rain, the excited Gul did indeed reach theWaterloo! Next day, when Sarwate and Mushtaq Ali asked him how he found his ladyadmirer, Gulu brushed them aside and said that somehow he could not meet her!Interestingly, even when the two told him that the message was actually composedby them, he was not prepared to believe a word they said. And for a very longtime Gul was under the impression that a damsel had indeed written him a letter!

Sarvate was one of the national selectors who picked the Indian team that wonthe World Cup in England in 1983. Besides being the secretary of Madhya PradeshCricket Association, he was also the chairman of its selection committee onnumber of occasions.