The Match I Couldn't Play

Going to England to play the 1979 World Cup was funny, exciting and depressing

- Yajurvindra Singh

On a hot summer’s day in Mumbai on April 10, 1979, while I was cooling myself in the shower after a match at the Cricket Club of India, I heard the baritone of the famous cricket connoisseur Rajsingh Dungarpur. He came shouting, “Where is Sunny?” A feeble response from me had the giant six-footer CCI president opening the shower curtain with words of “Congratulations, my boy! You have been selected for the World Cup.” Before I could absorb the news and react, he hugged me with not a care about the running water from the shower or the naked me. The two wet Rajput princes in such a posture would have created a frenzy on today’s social media.

I, personally, had not expected to be selected and, hence, the news, apart from the humorous way in which it was conveyed to me, made me think of the reality of my dream of playing cricket for India in the World Cup. This is something a cricketer aspires for, as the World Cup has that exclusive and elite ring to it.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India was then not flush with funds, and so we received some ill-fitting suits, blazers and cricket clothing. A half-sleeve and a full-sleeve acrylic sweater and white cricket flannels were what the BCCI believed would be sufficient to withstand the cold and wet weather of England. Watching us shiver during a match, the famous woollen brand Lyle and Scott was kind enough to provide us with sweaters of the Indian colours. A wonderful gesture or else at least half of the side would have been back in India suffering from pneumonia. The famous Madras flannels, after the first wash, had shrunk to a size that had left the great G.R. Viswanath, the shortest of the team, with ample choice.