SUNAAD RAGHURAM writes: At the Gangothri Glades, where it seems like the Chamundi Hill is keeping vigil, sentinel-like, through the lushness of the trees ringing the ground towards long-on if you are at the Hunsur Road End….
Where the pelicans that roost on the edge of the adjacent Kukkarahalli kere take off like small aeroplanes every other over, and magnificently sail over the field, spanning the whole arc from fine leg to long off and third man to long on….
And where the wind blows gently across the ground rustling through the giant fig trees while swaying the acacia towards the University End, the finals of the Ranji Trophy between Karnataka and Bombay unfolded over four days, in a languidly pastoral setting.
It brought along with it high drama, heart-stopping excitement, thrills at the rate of almost one per minute, hope one moment and despair another instant, all with an amazingly infectious raucous abandon.
The crowds, perhaps close to 10,000, in the stands, on the trees, on top of pillars, on the embankments and along the iron railings skirting the ground, had the time of their lives, screaming and jostling, shouting and booing, clapping and dancing, waving flags, with the Mexican Wave erupting through the stands in a crescendo of joyous excitement every now and then.
The television cameras showed a few thousand people outside the ground, even those with invitations, simply unable to get in, because the stands were full to the gills. The policemen who were on duty had their toughest time in the new year and one of them simply threw up his hands and muttered, “What a crowd”.
What an atmosphere to play cricket in. It could well have been some World Cup final between India and Australia!
While on most occasions, as my friend Siddarth Ravindran of Cricinfo put it so eloquently, most domestic matches in the country are watched by three men and a dog.
To me the highlights of the match were Manish Pandey’s batting, his catching and the fast bowling that both sides put on display.
Manish’s batting feels like a cool breeze wafting across from the ocean towards a bronzed evening while the sun is setting in a haze of orange on the far edges of the vast horizon. And set, the sun almost had for Karnataka, when he walked in to bat in the second innings, with Ajit Agarkar summoning his experience with the new ball and reducing the hosts to a sad 46 for 3, including the skipper Robin Utthappa, who seemed to be as much in control with the bat in both innings as a drunk in a skating rink.
Manish Pandey’s unrelenting drives, the pulls, the arrogant sweep from outside the off stump which went racing to the mid-wicket fence for four off left armer Iqbal Abdulla; the remorseless swatting of a steepling ball towards square leg, the confident pushes with firm wrists—it was a batting display so casually disdainful that the electronic score board seemed destined to resemble a frenetic video game console.
Manish showed no hint of nerves, no self consciousness that he was playing a precious innings at a crucial juncture with the chips down for his team in the final of the Ranji trophy. He went about constructing his innings as if it was a league match being played against lowly opponents, men who couldn’t have held a candle to his prowess.
The massive crowd bayed for more and Manish gave it just that. More cuts, more pulls, more drives and more cheekiness when it came to taking singles.
As for pressure, it seemed to be as far away from him as Matunga is from Mysore.
There is a casual loveliness about this young man, Manish. With his easy, unruffled air and his almost dishevelled hair, ear plugs in his ears most of the time, engrossed in some music, wearing a pair of Hawaii chappals, he presents a picture of complete ease even when he is seated with his team mates in the pavilion.
I noticed the very same qualities while he was at the crease, except that there were no Hawaiis on his feet and ear plugs to his ears.
And then there was his catch to get rid of the doughty Abhishek Nayar in the second innings. As the left handed Abhishek waded into one from Sunil Joshi and lofted it high into the long on area, all eyes were on the fence with the mind only waiting to confirm if it was a four or a six.
Manish sprinting a good 20 feet or so, launched himself into the air and caught the ball midway with his outstretched right hand. Even as gravity brought him down to terra firma, he had completed the catch! Perhaps, one of the finest catches ever taken in Ranji Trophy cricket.
Pacers Abhimanyu Mithun and R. Vinay Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Avishkar Salvi and Agarkar all had their moments of glory. The bounce, the lift, the pace generated off the wicket and the swing in the air that these bowlers achieved at various times of the match made for compelling viewing with the sight of the wicket keeper standing well back and the slips and the gulleys forming an impressive arc.
As for the Gangotri Glades wicket, the cognoscenti were all praise for it. Hard, bouncy and one that assisted movement off the seam because of the grass, it was a strip that had within itself the rare qualities of being well nurtured. So unlike the many other grounds in the country, including the one at the KSCA, Bangalore, which seem to be made from the same earth that go into the making of cemeteries.
After all, the earth from neighbouring Chamarajanagar, which went into the making of this wicket, under the careful eye of the indefatigable R.K. Harikrishna Kumar had some magic in it.
Milind Rege, the former Bombay player and curator of the CCI pitch in Mumbai I spoke to, was so full of praise for the wicket that he went to the extent of saying that the Mysore wicket is presently the best in the country. “I couldn’t wait to call up Prof. Ratnakar Shetty and tell him what a good wicket this is,” he gushed.
And to think that Rege, as per his own admission, had screwed up his face and knotted his eyebrows when he was told that he had to travel to the town of Mysore to cover the Ranji finals! “Why Mysore of all the places I had asked,” he confessed. “ But now I know what Mysore is,” he concluded with a warm congratulatory handshake, which I received on behalf of my mates Harikrishna & Co, who had put in their all with such sincere intent to make this final, one to remember.
Next it was the turn of Praveen Amre, the Bombay coach to sing the praises of the pitch. My friend and journalist Joseph Hoover who had a chat with him came back to the press box and said, “You know what the guy said? He said that this is the best wicket he has seen after Kingsmead, South Africa.”
We can even organise the Mysore version of the Fremantle Doctor if you please. The breeze from the Kukkarahalli Kere side which begins to blow gently over the ground towards late afternoon through the figs and the acacia.
So the next time the mandarins at the KSCA (and the BCCI) pause to think of the domestic game and its future, they should know which number to dial.
Sunaad Raghuram is chairman of the Mysore zone committee of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). The views expressed here are personal.
Photograph: Karnataka Photo News
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I must say to the enlightened folks of Mysore Ground that they should not allow the nasty members of KSCA (read Brijesh Patel or Vijay Mallya) to finger in the pitch preparation here.
I think his highness is capable of raising funds to build a stadium w/o any generous grants from KSCA…….
C’mon Mr. Wodeyar, you can make it.
Cricket in Mysore has traversed a full circle as it were !
Gangotri’s (Princess Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion) original dreamer Diwan Sir M. Kantha Raj Urs was the founder president of Mysore Cricket Club. Oval Ground in front of Crawford Hall was where it all began. Then Famous cricketers like Ramabrahma, Subramanyam, Venkatesh were members of this club.
You should also give due credit to former VC, Dr. Madiah for leasing University Grounds to KSCA in the first place.
rightly said Mr Rao…
Would the same Bombay chaps praise the pitch if they had lost?
churumuri, obviously for mysore this match was important. and i have no grouse that you covered it the way you did. especially given the quality of writing.
but. please spare a tear for indian hockey, which is going through a major crisis.
Friends,
please remember the efforts of Prof Madaih,Mr Subramanyam of Mysore Gymkhana who had toiled hard to bring this wicket to the level of playing Ranji matches.I had seen Subramanyam carrying all equipments and implements for the pitch to be laid.People are talking about current PD of UOM but the thinking for this was made !0 years ago.
Poetic, flowery introductory first paras that shed little light on the venue and more on the author’s English prowess ? The tone and the language keep up,unfortunately, through parts of the post making it a labored read. I heaved a sigh of relief toward the end when facts and instances from the game took a brief center stage.
Ironically like Mr.Raghuram’s aptly flowery rendition of TSS’s eulogy, this seem to usher melancholy of someone someone referring to something dying, nostalgically, than with excitement and freshness..
Whatever happened to Keep It Simple ?
The existing club affiliated to the KSCA as “Mysore Cricket Club” is different from what Raja Chandra mentions. The book on “Speeches of Sirdar M.Kantharaj Urs” brought out in 1953 mentions: “…. The club won many laurels for twenty five years and its worthy successor is the Mysore Gymkhana now….” It refers to the period from 1901-1910 when he was the President of various Social Organizations like the Cosmopolitan Club of Mysore (he had laid the foundations in 1896), the Arya Balika Patashala and the Mysore Cricket Club.”
The Mysore Gymkhana was actually formed in 1936 and its first meeting was held in 1941.
http://mysoregymkhana.blogspot.com/2007/08/mysore-gymkhana.html
The Mysore University has forever been a great support to Mysore Cricket.
Maharaja’s College Cricket Ground has also hosted a couple of Ranji Trophy matches in the 60s and 70s.
As Mr. Dinkar says Mysore Cricket Club which I have mentioned is quite different from Mysore Gymakhna which was affiliated to the then MSCA ! MSCA itself was founded in 1933 and soon got affiliation to BCCI in 1934 (BCCI was founded in 1928) !
It is apparent Mysore Cricket Club founded by Sir M. Kantharaja Urs can be called as the oldest cricket club of Mysore ( Karnataka) and it is unfortunate even KSCA’s web site does not acknowledge such a momentous fact in the History of Cricket in Karnataka /India. Oval Cricket Ground thus is the oldest Cricket ground. Sir M. Kantharaja Urs was the Deputy Commissioner of Mysore then and it was his Gift to Cricket and the Club he founded. He can aptly be called as the founding father of Cricket in Mysore. As Mr. Dinkar says even the Cosmopolitan Club founded by him 1896 is the oldest Indian club of the then Mysore State. Ursu Gymakhana Club (1904) was also founded by him ! After His marriage to his niece Princess Jayalakshammanni in 1897, he took personal interest in building the Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion ( now a Museum) which was called as a dominion of his dreams and was part of the 800 cares land which was then called as Sy-1 Vijayashri pura . Manasa Gangothri is part of this Vijayashri pura. It was in this connection i had mentioned Gangothri Glades and its historical association with the late Diwan !