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The man who
was called Tiny!
The present generation must have not heard about Tiny in Indian cricket. He was tiny but his achievements were big. He was small but large-hearted. He brought something special and fearsome into the Indian team of that era. Finally the Indian team felt they could give back to the foreign teams what they were made to face during the matches overseas.....
In the early years before independence in the forties, India had two fearsome world-class genuine fast bowlers in Mohammed Nissar and Amar Singh. The opposition were vary of them and their bowling prowess and skill. But after their retirement India couldn’t produce any fast bowler of repute, pace and skill. In the coming years, India was fully dependent on spin bowling. And India had world class spinners like Subash Gupte, Bapu Nadkarni and others; then came the spin quartet of Bedi, Venkatragavan, Prasanna and Chandrashekar.
In those years and later, most youngsters and cricketers who came into the limelight were either batsmen or spin bowlers. Medium pacers as a mere formality were used in matches to open the bowling and remove some shine of the ball, after which the spinners were given the responsibility of restricting the runs or taking wickets. There were times when Pataudi and Kunderan bowled to remove the shine on the ball. This was the story of Indian cricket. It was more like not losing a match and end it with a draw. It was difficult to force a win without genuine fast bowlers. If the pitch was not helpful to spin, then the opposition batsmen would plunder runs and it was difficult to stop the flow.
Then as a ray of hope, came a young 19 year old man by the name of Ramakant Desai. He was small, slim and just 5’4”. He had a smooth run up and was fast and had a knack of bowling deadly bouncers, surprising the opposition batsmen and putting even reputed batsmen on their back foot. He was noticed by a cricketer bowling in a local game. He was fast, accurate and showed promise. He passed on a word about this rare talent.
He hadn’t played any first class game or even Ranji Trophy. Word spread about his fast bowling in cricketing circles. He was picked directly to play for a side game against a touring West Indies side. He had an excellent game taking wickets and showed great promise. The selectors showed courage and foresight and picked him for the Test match against the touring team. Rest is history.
He troubled the batsmen with sharp bouncers, which was unusual for an Indian bowler at the time, given his size and built. Most of the batsmen took it easy but soon realized after facing him, what he is capable of. He would make the best batsmen hop or put them on the back foot or even duck. People who have seen him play say he was quick and accurate, often surprising the batsmen.
He toured England in 1959, West Indies in 1961–62 and Australia and New Zealand in 1967–68. Against Pakistan in 1960–61, he took 21 wickets in the series. At Bombay, he scored a quick 85 batting at No.10, an Indian record, and added a record 149 for the ninth wicket with Nana Joshi. His best bowling performance in Tests was 6 for 56 against New Zealand at Bombay in 1964–65. At Dunedin in 1967–68 his jaw was fractured by a ball from Dick Motz, despite which he added 57 runs for the last wicket with Bishen Bedi.
In his first year in the Ranji Trophy, he took 50 wickets in 7 matches at an average of 11.10. It is still a record for Bombay. It included a performance of 5 for 10 and 6 for 28 against Saurashtra. In the Ranji Trophy final in 1960–61 he took 7 for 46 and 4 for 74 in Bombay's victory over Rajasthan. Two years later, also against Rajasthan in the final, he scored his only first-class century, 107, in another victory. In his 11 years in the Bombay team (1958–59 to 1968–69), he never finished in a losing side. Desai announced his retirement at the prize distribution ceremony of the 1968–69 Ranji Trophy final.
Since he was the only pace bowler in the side without any support from the other end, he had to bear the extra work load. He bowled with the same zeal, skill and aggression. There was no much money in the game or media limelight nor glamour. But he continued undaunted on unresponsive Indian pitches. It was a routine back-breaking job bound to affect the body in the long run.
As the only bowler of pace in the Indian team, he was perennially overworked. When Desai retired from regular first-class cricket after the 1968–69 season, when still only 29 years old, P.N. Sundaresan wrote that he "bowled his heart out on the dead pitches in India ... A more judicious use of his talent both in the Ranji Trophy and other matches could have preserved him as a penetrating bowler for a longer period.
Desai was the chairman of selectors from 1996–97. He resigned the post a month before his death. He died four days after being admitted in a hospital in Mumbai from cardiac arrest.
When most cricketers reach their peak at the age of 29 years with rich experience behind them, he retired from cricket leaving behind a void which was filled many years later by another young man from Haryana.
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