Reserve players who made good

They were picked as reserve batsman and reserve opening bowler. But at the end of the opening first class fixture of the Australian tour, VVS Laxman and T Kumaran have virtually made their places certain in the Indian team for the first Test against Australia commencing at Adelaide on December 10. They continue the tradition of lesser known players doing better than the stars and gaining a regular place in the team.

Probably the earliest such example of a player making good when it was least expected of him was Dattu Phadkar. He was picked for the 1947-48 tour of Australia as a promising fast bowler who could bat a bit. But with Sohoni, Amarnath, Hazare and Rangachari around, it was doubtful whether he would get enough bowling even in the first class games. And with Mankad, Adhikari, Amarnath, Hazare, Rangnekar, Sarwate and Gul Mohammed in the side, there would be no chance for the 22-year-old from Bombay to display his batting skills.

But Phadkar, besides being gifted, was also pluck and confidence personified. By the second Test, he had forced his way into the team, got a half century besides picking up three wickets, scored another half century in the third Test, got a hundred in the fourth Test and ended the series with another half century in the final Test. He headed the batting averages and remained India's utility man for the next decade.

Twenty years later also on a tour of Australia, it was the turn of another gutsy cricketer to show his mettle. Like Phadkar, Abid Ali too was picked as a reserve opening bowler who could bat a bit. But with Desai, Kulkarni and Surti in the side, one reckoned that the 26-year-old Hyderabadi was destined to play a minor role on the tour. However the doughty cricketer that he always was, Abid Ali made his way into the team for the first Test, picked up six wickets for 55 - the best figures by an Indian bowler on debut - scored a valuable 33 and showed that he had it in him to become a fine utility player. Indeed, his last three innings in the series brought him scores of 47, 78 and 81 while opening the innings with Engineer. He virtually remained a regular member of the team till 1975.

One of the most famous episodes concerning a reserve player revolves around Dilip Sardesai. He was picked for the 1971 tour of the West Indies, despite having a chequered Test career. His selection was severely criticised and the experts said it was bad policy to take a 31-year-old veteran, whose fielding was mediocre, as a reserve batsman. Indeed, it looked that Sardesai would be a tourist on the trip for the batting, in the hands of Gavaskar, Mankad, Jayantilal, Durrani, Jaisimha, Viswanath and Wadekar seemed in safe hands. But an injury to Viswanath gave Sardesai his big opening. He got 97 in the opening fixture of the tour, made his place in the team for the first Test secure and of course the rest is history. Playing what Vijay Merchant called ``the innings that was the turning point in Indian cricket'' Sardesai scored 212, added two more hundreds in the second and fourth Test matches and finished the triumphant series with 642 runs at an average of 80.25. Not bad for a reserve batsman.

It may be difficult to believe Md Azharuddin as a reserve batsman but on the eve of the 1989 tour of Pakistan, he seemed to have been reduced to just that. A disastrous tour of West Indies earlier that year, during which he showed a distinct dislike of pace bowling, made his place in the Indian team uncertain. When the team for the first Test at Karachi was announced, Raman Lamba was in and Azharuddin out. It was only an injury to Lamba that opened the doors for Azharuddin. He scored 35 in each innings but more importantly equalled the world record by holding five catches in the Pakistan first innings. He stayed on in the team, got a hundred in the next Test and within a month was leading the Indian team on its tour of New Zealand. Indeed, a story book finish for a player who was doubtful of his place in the eleven at Karachi.

Three years later, it was the turn of Pravin Amre to display his fighting qualities. The Indian team for the tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa in 1992-93 was chockful with batsman - Shastri, Raman, Jadeja, Manjrekar, Azharuddin, Tendulkar and the indications were that Amre's role on the tour would be restricted to a couple of opportunities in the minor games. He did well enough to merit selection in the team which played the first Test and made it a memorable debut by getting a fighting 103. In the face of a South African total of 254, India were reduced to 146 for seven. With Kiran More, Amre added 101 runs for the eighth wicket, playing an innings of class and character. He kept his place throughout the four match series, finished second in the averages, made runs consistently for some time before he was inexplicably dropped, never to be considered again.

The latest fairy tale story of reserve players making good is perhaps Saurav Ganguly. Few cricketers have faced the barrage of criticism that greeted his selection for the 1996 tour of England. Various allegations were made and almost unanimously everyone seemed to agree that he did not deserve a place in the side. But it was obvious that his role would be that of a tourist for the batsmen in the side included Azharuddin, Tendulkar, Manjrekar, Sidhu, Rathore, Jadeja and Dravid. How he made his way into the Test team, how he got a hundred on debut at Lord's, how he followed it up with another century and how he headed both the Test and tour averages has since been so well documented that it does not need any repeating here.