Taking leg-spin to its pinnacle

Even in a land that has produced the most fascinating variety of spin bowlers in the history of the game, Subash Gupte stands out. He came in for wholesome praise during his heyday in the 50s, when he was the best bowler of his type in the world. The encomiums continued well after he had announced his retirement and today, on his passing away, the tributes are pouring in thick and fast from all over the cricketing world.

But perhaps the greatest tribute to the master leg-spinner is the fact that even young followers of the game, who were born after he had retired, repeatedly include Gupte as their first-choice spinner in their all-time Indian XI. Even with competition from such classy exponents of spin bowling as Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Anil Kumble, it is Gupte who wins hands down with each succeeding generation.

Of course, to the older generation that has seen him in action, "Fergie" was the ultimate bowler. He was a leg-spinner cast in the classical mould. The best of his deliveries made batsmen look like clowns in a circus. As long as they stayed there, it would be an ordeal for them. To spot his googly was akin to finding one's way in a fog; one just groped blindly forward and hoped for the best. To differentiate between Gupte's leg-spinner and top-spinner was the most difficult "exam" for the clueless batsman.

For a leg-spinner, who usually has to purchase his wickets, Gupte was remarkably accurate in his direction and almost impeccable in length. To add to that, he was a prodigious spinner of the ball. Times were not infrequent when he used to bowl the perfect specimen of the leg-spinner's art -­ pitch a ball on leg-stump, draw the batsman out and hit the top of off-stump.

But Gupte was not a mechanical leg-spinner. He was always constantly thinking of ways to get the batsman out. His googly was the most difficult to spot in international cricket, and his top-spinner used to leap up at the batsman with the ferocity of a tiger leaping on his hapless victim.

Gupte's overall figures -­ 149 wickets from 36 Tests at an average of 29.55 are more than respectable enough. But they gain the status of greatness when it is remembered that the Indian ground fielding and catching in the 50s was atrocious. Countless runs were gifted away through shoddy fielding and innumerable dropped catches.

Gupte, as strike bowler during the decade, suffered most through this. Time and again he would draw the batsmen out with a sinuously flighted delivery only to see the wicket-keeper muff the stumping. Or a rearing leg-spinner would be met with a snick that first slip would put down. Perhaps a top-spinner or googly would be met with a hesitant prod and short-leg would put the chance down. In desperation, when the batsman would essay an ungainly swipe, Gupte would have the mortification of seeing mid-on or square-leg drop the skier. This is enough to break any bowler's heart. But Gupte continued to bowl with great courage, fully aware of his responsibilities as the team's number one bowler.

Even in a period when Indian cricket was at its nadir, Gupte at his peak would have been a certainty in a World XI. For most of the 50s, he would have been sure of a spinner's slot,­ and this in the face of such stiff competition from bowlers like Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Hugh Tayfield, Richie Benaud, Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine.

Indeed, Gupte was India's champion bowler for almost a decade. One could not visualise an Indian team without him. From the first Test at Port of Spain in January 1953 to the final Test at the Oval in 1959, he did not miss a single match - a run of 28 Tests. Even this sequence was broken not through illness, injury, loss of form, or the fact that India had found a substitute (for there could never have been a suitable replacement for a bowler of Gupte's stature), but because he had to go to the West Indies on a coaching assignment. He came back to represent India in five Tests against Pakistan and England in the 60s. But the Gupte success story is woven around his masterly, mesmerising and magnificent deeds in the 50s.

Spinners take time to mature, but Gupte was so gifted that he peaked in his first full series -­ against the West Indies in 1953. When the Indian team left for the Caribbean, a rout was predicted for the visitors. And yet, at the end of the tour, the Indians lost only one of five Tests and had earned a name for themselves as an attractive touring side.

The main reason behind this superb showing can be summed up in one word -­ Gupte. The chief strength of the West Indies was the batting, with the three Ws at their peak. Supporting them were Jeff Stollmeyer, Gerry Gomez, Allan Rae and Bruce Pairaudeau. And yet these run-machines never mastered Gupte. Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott soon discovered they could not take any liberties with a bowler of Gupte's skill and variety. Thriving on hard work - he was both the side's stock and shock bowler -­ Gupte finished with 27 wickets, a record for a bowler in a series outside India till Bedi (31) and Chandrasekhar (28) surpassed it in Australia 25 years later.

Gupte struck fear into the hearts of the batsmen as much as the fastest of bowlers. On the tour of Pakistan during 1954-55, Gupte's skill was put to the test on matting wickets. And thereby hangs a tale. In the original itinerary, there were to be four Tests on turf and one on matting. Some time before the tour was to commence, a Pakistan Services team played a match at Bombay. Kardar, the then-Pakistan captain, was a member of that team.

Playing for a Bombay CA President's XI, Gupte caused panic in their ranks and finished with all 10 wickets for 78 runs. That was enough for Kardar. He feared that Gupte would run through his side in the Test series, so the first thing he did on reaching home was to prevail on the Pakistan Cricket Board to change the itinerary. Ultimately there were three Tests on matting and two on turf.

Still Gupte, who was in a class of his own, took 21 wickets. It was in the next season against New Zealand that he equaled Vinoo Mankad's achievement by taking 34 wickets in the series -­ a record that stood till Chandrasekhar took 35 wickets against England 17 years later.

By this time Gupte was firmly established as the great hero of millions of Indian cricket fans. At Bombay in particular, as he ran in to bowl, volatile, noisy crowds at the Brabourne stadium took up the rhythmical chanting of b-o-w-l-e-d from the moment he started his run-up till the ball was delivered. There was frenzied support for Gupte and, all over the country's playgrounds, one could see young children trying to bowl like him, even imitating his action from first step to last.

Few, of course, got it right, for his variations were so many and so subtle. He was now the country's one great bowler, the first outstanding spinner and the one hope of bowling out the opposition. Everyone was confident that even if every other bowler failed, Gupte would see India through.

In 1958-59 came his finest hour, when he befuddled a new generation of West Indian batsmen -­ Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Joe Solomon, Collie Smith, Conrad Hunte -­ to take nine wickets for 102 runs at Kanpur, the first Indian to take that many wickets in an innings.

Great things were predicted for him as a confident Gupte went with the Indian team to England in 1959. And while he was certainly not a failure with 95 wickets on the tour, his 17 wickets at 34 apiece in the Tests came as a bit of a disappointment. But again, he was repeatedly let down by the fielders.

Gupte's last hurrah came about at Kanpur against England in 1961-62. He had a spell of four for six off 18 deliveries on his way to taking the first five wickets to fall -­ Geoff Pullar, Peter Richardson, Ken Barrington, Ted Dexter and Mike Smith.

But the next Test at New Delhi turned out to be his last. A victim of a strange disciplinary action, he was dropped and then not considered for the tour of West Indies in 1962. Blameless, Gupte, by nature a sensitive man, could take it no longer.

On the 1953 tour, his superhuman feats and pleasant manners had won the heart of a West Indian girl Carol. He subsequently married her and in 1963 migrated to Trinidad for good. He became a popular figure in cricketing circles in the San Fernando region. For Indian teams visiting the West Indies, a welcome smile from Gupte became a regular feature, and a visit to his house became almost a pilgrimage for the tourists.

Gupte had been selected to receive this year's CK Nayudu Trophy award, presented to outstanding Indian cricketers every year. It would have been an honour to have Gupte back in this country, wheelchair and all. He would have received the kind of tumultuous welcome he used to get as India's champion bowler in the 50s.

But to many of us, Subash Pandarinath Gupte is India's champion bowler of all time. Though time has lengthened the gallery of spin bowlers, he will always be cited as the setter of a standard in the art of giving the ball a tweak. He certainly takes his place among the greatest leg-spinners in the history of the game.