Little masters

Cricket is a game where not only skill of a player is given much significance, but good physic including the tall height for a player is given utmost momentousness too. We have often come across many cricket cognoscenti, critics and commentators referring to tall height of a player and how it gives him preeminence over the players with relatively shorter height. It is in fact, up to certain extent, true that tall height does give them a catbird seat as it helps gaining extra bounce to a bowler and long reach to a batsman.

From Joel Garner to Bruce Reid, Curtly Ambrose to Tony Greig and even modern day bowler Morne Morkel, the game has seen the likes many of such tall men who could be lethal in their area of expertise. However, cricket, as we know, is said to be a great leveler. If the towering men had a dazzling impact on the game, the shorter players were equally effulgent. If it was exciting to watch the lofty guys spread a sense of terror amongst their rivals in the field, it was equally delightful to watch the shorter players tackle them with great imperium. Such are the battles which make the game of cricket, a treat to watch.

Lets talk about those players who not only outbrave the lethal lot, but against all odds, went on to make their own mark in the game.

Tich Freeman: Alfred Percy Freeman, popularly known as Tich whose common name comes from his extremely short stature - he was only 5’2” (158 centimeters) - was undoubtedly one of the best bowlers of his time. Born on May 17, 1888, in London, the leg spinner played his first first class match in 1914 at the relatively advanced age of 26 in the season immediately prior to the war as Kent introduced to the side Freeman, who was to become a legendary figure in the inter-war years. From 1920 onwards he took in excess of 100 wickets in every season. For seven years in succession, from 1929, he took more than 200 wickets per season, and in 1928 he reached the 300 wicket mark (finishing with 304 in the season), the only bowler ever to have achieved that remarkable feat. In all, he scalped 3776 wickets in 592 matches at an average of 18.42. His expertise can be judged by the fact that he took as many as 386 5fors and 140 10 wicket hauls in his first class career. Apart from his bowling, it is also said that he was brilliant at fielding at cover point region. Despite his magnificent record, he represented England in a mere 12 test matches in which we took 66 wickets off the 22 innings that he bowled in. This shows that Tich, probably the shortest man ever to play test cricket, was in no terms short of quality, talent and expertise and one would think he deserved more, much more recognition at the highest level than he actually did. Tich died on January 28, 1965 in Bearsted, Kent at an age of 76 years.

Mushfiqur Rahim: Mushfiqur Rahim might not be one of greats of the game but his fighting spirit is commendable. Standing 5’3”, this wicket-keeper batsman from Bogra city, Bangladesh was barely 16 when he was first drafted into the national team as a specialist batsman. He showed good resistance in his very first test match - which made him the youngest man to play a test at Lord’s - as he spent the highest time in the middle than any of his teammates before a Mathew Hoggard delivery sneaked through his defenses. Rahim, who was always a good keeper, has never looked back since then and has been scoring crucial runs down the order for his side. There were some critics who thought he would not be able to sustain the triple pressure of batting, wicket-keeping and leading the team after he was chosen to succeed Shakib Al Hasan as skipper of the side as it is considered one of the toughest jobs to do in cricket but the young lad impressed one and all with the way he led his team to the Asia Cup final thumping world cup finalists India and Srilanka. The 23 year old deserves a pat a on his back for his work thus far and one would hope he will lead his immensely talented side to a new dawn. A dawn of skill, a dawn of success, a dawn of glory!

Gundappa Viswanath: Gundappa Viswanath, a man with unmatchable strokeplay and glorious wristy shots looked more like an artist than a batsman. One of India's finest batsmen throughout the 1970s, the 5’3” tall man from Mysore had equal expertise against both pace and spin. Vishy who was a master at playing late cut represented Indian colors for the first time in 1969 against the Bill Lawry led Australia. Out for naught in the first innings, Viswanath unleashed his wrist work in the second as he scored a century on debut, becoming the first Indian to do so in the process. The memorable moment of his career came when Vishy scored 112 against the Windies at Port of Spain which helped India to reach the victory target of 403, the then highest successful chase in test cricket. Viswanath, renowned for his fair-play and in one of the two matches he led India, once recalled Bob Taylor to the crease after the umpire had already given him out. Taylor went on to score some vital runs for England helping them to win the match against the Indian side which was being captained by none other than Gundappa himself. Viswanath retired from Tests in 1983, and later served as a match referee for the ICC from 1999 to 2004. He was also the Chairman of the national selection committee, and has served as the manager of the Indian cricket team as well. He is also involved in cricket coaching at NCA. Brother in law of another cricketing great Sunil Gavaskar, Viswanath was awarded Colonel C K Naidu Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 by BCCI which is one of the highest awards given in Indian cricket.

Alvin Kallicharran: Talk about the West Indies team of 1970s and you get in mind, the image of an invincible side with tall, lanky players whom the rivals feared of. However, amongst those towering masters was a man who was anything but tall. Alvin was a batsman who had a wide range of strokes. His elegancy and copy book batting style made test cricket look a treat to watch. The left hander made a dream debut by hitting two centuries in as many test matches. Kalli did a job of a fulcrum for West Indies batting during his hey days. The 5’4” man is best remembered for his 158 against England in Port of Spain in 1973-74 which is regarded as the best innings he has ever played. Alvin led the national side in 1977–1978 when Clive Lloyd controversially resigned from the designation. The man from British Guiana played his last match in the Windies colors in 1981 but not before scoring 12 international centuries and 27 fifties as he brought down curtains to a fabulous career.

Hanif Mohammad: Hanif Mohammad, a supremely talented player, was the first world class player from Asia. The original “Little Master” of cricket, who was born in Gujarat, India but moved to Pakistan post partition, was known for batting for long hours. The left hander had a unique habit of listening to sitar music after returning to the hotel room after the conclusion of a day’s play. Hanif started off his career with a fifty against India and that was just the beginning. The classy player who hardly took the aerial route, made a famous 337 against West Indies in a six-day test at Bridgetown in 1957-58. Trailing by 473 runs on the afternoon of the third day, Hanif spent more than sixteen hours (970 minutes to be precise) at the crease en route to his triple century allowing Pakistan to draw the game. It remains the longest innings in terms of time in Test history which stood for over 40 years. A year later, the little master surpassed Sir Donald Bradman’s record of highest individual score in a first class game scoring a whopping 499 runs for Karachi against Bahawalpur. His innings ended only when he was eventually run out. The record which stood untouched for more than 35 years was shattered by the West Indian great Brian Lara who piled up an unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994. As if that was not it, Hanif batted for nine long hours and two minutes excluding the time for rain, meals, sleep etc. for his eventual score of 187 not out in the Lords Test in 1967 against the home team. The left handed master batsman who is considered to be the possible originator of reverse sweep could bowl with either arm and also keep wickets played his last international match against a Graham Dowling led Kiwi side in 1969.

Sachin Tendulkar: Incontestably one of the best players to have ever played the game, the 5’5” man from India has plenty of records to his name. Drafted into the Indian test side at a young age of 16, he faced the likes of Wasim, Waqar, Imran and Qadir with good effect. With the records of most runs, centuries, matches and many such distinctions under his belt, Tendlya, as he is fondly called by the locals, probably holds the record of creating most number of records! A lot has been written about this man with a fairy tale career. His commitment is admirable to say the least as he is still going strong at an age of over 39 after over 22 years of experience in international cricket.

At the end of the day, such are the contests which makes cricket a delightful game to watch and such players who defy general cricketing logic always deserves applause for what all contribution they have made in the game. All a cricket lover can say to such stars is Tatenda  (Thank you)!