Amarnath's death a sad moment in cricket

Two sad moments in cricket, one sadder than the other. There is the death of Lala Amarnath, the stormy petrel of Indian cricket and the retirement of Arjuna Ranatunga, a man who his opponents loved to hate but someone to whom Sri Lanka owes so much for its present eminence in international cricket. But first to Lala Amarnath. When I was about 7- year old, I was introduced to him at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground in Delhi. We shook hands and my father asked me if I knew who he was. I said that I did. He was the first Indian to make a century in a test match, 118 against England at Bombay. I was to meet him again and he and I would become good friends. He was in my estimation, the best batsmen in pre-partition India and though not a run-getting machine like Vijay Merchant or Hazare, Lala Amarnath made his runs rather than accumulated them and I saw him in the Bombay Pentangular dance down the wicket to Amir Elahi and drive him through the covers, a shot that could be set to music. Lala Amarnath was given to tilting at windmills and his career was littered with quarrels with the cricket establishment for he was an outspoken man and had a short fuse.

I got to know him when he came as the manager of the Indian team to Pakistan in 1955. I didn't thin he was ideally suited for the job because diplomacy was not his strong suit. Pakistan's captain was Abdul Hafeez Kardar, a strong personality and we feared the worst should the two of them have a difference of opinion. But they had both played their cricket in Lahore, had both been members of the Indian team that toured England in 1946 and though rivals on the field, were friends off it.

He returned to Pakistan as a radio and television commentator and that's when we shared the mike and had some great times in the commentary box. I once pulled his leg, on the air, calling his son Mohinder an off-spinner and I thought he would burst a blood-vessel and accused me, on the air, of not knowing the difference between a seamer and a spinner. He then realised that I had been joking and he quickly recovered. He was a great favourite of the Pakistani listeners and viewers because he expressed candid views and called a spade a spade and was not partisan.

He took great pride in his sons Surinder and mohinder, both of whom played for India and Mohinder with distinction. Lala Amarnath has died at the ripe old age of 88 but to me, he will always be a Peter Pan, his body way have got old, not his spirit and I mourn his passing away and offer my deepest sympathies to his family, to Mohinder in particular who is a friend of mine and I know him as "Jimmy."

Arjuna Ranatunga will have played his last test match when this column appears in print. When the third Test match against South Africa started on his home ground in Colombo, he was given a guard of honour with cricket bats instead of swords and he led the team onto the field. The ground was festooned with banners and with his photographs. His mother and wife were in the stands and both put on a brave front but I did notice his mother wiping her eyes. It was a wonderful tribute to someone who has been the bedrock of Sri Lankan cricket. He has to credit the lifting of the 1996 World Cup, a stupendous achievement but more than that it was the way that he stood up to the Australians when Muralitharan had been called for "chucking" that won him many friends as it earned him many enemies. But he showed himself as a man of steel nerves and that Muralitharan, the world's best offspinner is still playing international cricket is almost entirely due to him. What a contrast in the batting styles of Lala Amarnath and Arjuna Ranatunga. For one thing, one was a right-hander and the other a left-hander but while Amarnath was a free flowing batsman, Ranatunga nudged the ball along, finding the gaps. But both made runs when their team needed them most. Both in a way were fiercely independent but both brought credit to the game of cricket.

The same cannot be said of Shane Warne who has been stripped of the vice-captaincy. The ostensible reason is that he was "talking dirty" on the telephone to an English Nurse who reported him. But my guess is there is more to it than meets the eye. Shane Warne was fined for having links with a bookie. He claimed that he provided the bookie with innocuous information like the weather and the condition of the pitch. With inquiries on match-fixing in full swing, it is entirely possible that there was more to his association with Mr. John, the bookie than he has admitted. It does seem a little far-fetched that he should have been paid good money for providing information that is available to every television viewer. One's past has a way of catching up with oneself. At that, he must consider himself lucky that he has only been removed from the vice-captaincy. Shane Warne could learn much from Lala Amarnath and Arjuna Ranatunga.