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Century on test debut

GR Viswanath, Nov 15, 2019: The Times of India

A young Viswanath
From: GR Viswanath, Nov 15, 2019: The Times of India

Fifty Years Ago On This Day, A Mustachioed Rookie Walked Out To Make His Test Debut For India Against Australia In Kanpur. He Didn’t Stay Long. Enraged Fans Hurled ‘Matkas’ At The Batsman After He Was Dismissed For A Duck. However, In The Second Innings, He Struck A Century To Thunderous Applause From The Same Spectators. In The 90 Test Matches He Played Thereafter, GR Viswanath Oozed Class, Skill And Humility. The Legend Looks Back On The Baptism By Fire And The Match That Shaped His Career…

To begin with, I wasn’t in the 15 for the first Test of the home series against Australia in Bombay. I had been among the reserves for the series against New Zealand the previous month. So, when I didn’t see my name on the list for the Australia series, I was very disappointed. I thought I wouldn’t get a chance to play for India, so I decided to watch the match since I was already in Bombay for the national camp. After the third day’s play I wanted to head back to Bangalore. But (EAS) Prasanna, who was my older brother’s friend told my brother, who had travelled to Bombay, that I may get a chance in the second Test and I should stay back. On the last day of the first Test when they announced the team for the second match, I was indeed in the 15.

On the day of the match, I wasn’t hopeful of making the 11. Just before going out for the toss, our captain Pataudi (MAK Pataudi) pinned the team sheet in the dressing room and said, ‘this is the team’. What I saw on the board shocked me. It read: 1. Farokh Engineer, 2. Ashok Mankad, 3. Ajit Wadekar and.. the number 4 was GR Viswanath. I was shocked that I was being handed my debut but didn’t think that was the batting order. A bigger shock awaited me when the captain came back from the toss. He said, ‘Ok gentlemen, we are batting and the batting order is pinned on the board.’ I had butterflies in my stomach, naturally. I went out to bat in the company of Wadekar. I played out a maiden over of spinner Ashley Mallett. Wadekar then took a single and I was left to face pacer Alan Connolly. The third delivery to me was a slower one and I played it blindly and was caught by Ian Redpath.

My career started with a zero and my first thought was, life can't get worse than this.

As I was coming back to the pavilion – the crowd was having chai in matkas – they started throwing the matkas at me. Naturally, they were disappointed.

I was shaken by the zero on debut. (Eknath) Solkar was my roommate. He played against New Zealand in his debut game (in Hyderabad) a month earlier, where he got out for zero. I had pacified him then. In Kanpur, he was again my roomie and it was his turn to pacify me. I said, ‘thank you boss.’ It was comforting.

Luckily, we batted first and we got the second innings in the drawn match. I had more butterflies in my stomach in the second innings than the first. I came out to bat at no. 4 again. Later, Tiger (Pataudi), who batted at no.5, tapped me on my shoulder. ‘Just relax boy, you will get a hundred,’ he said. He didn’t mean that I would get a hundred, it was to put me at ease. And that really gave me some confidence. It helped relax my body and my mind. I started to play my natural game. I batted almost for six hours before Ashely Mallett got me out for 137 (25x4). As I wascoming back,thesame matkawielding crowd stood up and clapped. That night I realised that there is nothing like getting runs.