Subhash Gupte interview - Midday
Cricfan
The Sheikh of tweak
Mid Day catches up with the legendary Indian leg-spinner, Subhash
Gupte, in Trinidad
Ehtesham Hasan
PORT-OF-SPAIN: The Gulf View area of San Fernando, an hour's drive
from Port-of-Spain down south, is just like any other area in
Trinidad. Rows of neatly done up houses amidst lush green settings
that demand silence.
In one such house, on the corner of Sea Moss avenue lives Subhash
Gupte. The legendary Indian leg-spinner who's greatest tweak in life
came when he was bowled by a Trinidadian beauty 40-years-ago.
True to the dictum that spinners have a big heart, Gupte left Mumbai
for Trinidad and settled here working in a sugar company and played
cricket for Trinidad.
Gary Sobers called him the best leg-spinner of his time. Vasant Raiji,
the well-known chronicler of the game from Mumbai, has always
mentioned Gupte as the best he had seen, until Shane Warne became the
first spinner to take 400 wickets.
Mid Day caught up with the 73-year-old legend, who, despite being
weighed down by diabetes and immobility after he sustained a hip
fracture, is relishing every moment in the December of his life.
In a free wheeling chat, the master of flight, spin and variation gave
a glimpse of his heady days.
Excerpts
Cricket in Mumbai…
Myself and Madhav Mantri and would reach the Elphistone ground at
three o'clock sharp. We used to practice and then go home at half-past
nine. I enjoyed playing club cricket with Vijay Manjrekar and Dattu
Phadkar. Vijay used to sing for us but I had my doubts about his
singing abilities. I hear that his son Sanjay's also singing now.
Cricket those days
Cricket was a different thing in our time. Better batting, good
wickets. But Indian cricket was the lowest. They used to prepare
wickets that used to last for one month. They couldn't care less if
the match would end in a draw. They used to just keep on rolling. The
Cricket Club of India, where I am still a member, they used to start
preparing wickets 25 days before the match. They couldn't care about
the result. Administrators are only looking for paisa. They were
catching our tail, as we say.
Here in western countries, they treat you like a man. Not like India
where they treat you like school kid. If you play Test cricket you are
a big man here not a little boy who is going to King George! I was
pulled up for wearing shorts when I was playing Test cricket.
(But) our Pataudi, when I was pulled up by the manager in Madras,
Nawab went out to toss against England wearing a blazer and shorts. I
couldn't say anything because he was a Nawab. He did it.
There are all kind of restrictions in India.
Our cricket used to be…
Our cricket used to be really bad. Some teams that played Ranji Trophy
didn't really deserve to play. I played one match for Bengal at
Cuttack against Orissa. I'm not exaggerating. When I saw that pitch I
was shocked. That Phadkar was there with me. First of all the matting
was just stump to stump. It was a little strip and you just had to
bowl straight. I just stood there and bowled.
I couldn't tolerate the Bengal players. The so called great dadas, who
say ki bolche and ki khobar, every single day they used to do
mara-mari after a few drinks. Me and Phadkar used to sit in one corner
and watch the mazaa (fun). We were outsiders and professionals so we
couldn't interfere. I ran away (from Bengal) and for the next two
years I didn't play Ranji Trophy. I played for Bombay and Rajasthan.
Pankaj Roy played for India…
Pankaj Roy played for India 10-11 years like me. He was a tiger in the
East Zone. All other teams like Orissa, Assam, Bihar were hopeless. He
got a hundred in every match. You can put my down name now, I've
finished with cricket. Baichu Dattaray was a selector for 15 years. He
used to come for the team selection drunk. As soon as Pankaj Roy's
name was brought up, that was the end of his interests. You could pick
your 11 players as he was interested only in Pankaj. One Bengali bas!
That why he was always there. That was cricket. The standard was
really poor.
Neil Harvey was the best…
Neil Harvey, he was great. He played any spinner easily. I never got
him out but someone else did by making him hook to square leg. He used
to jump out to Sunny Ramadhine (off spinner) who was quicker than I
was. He played against me in three Test matches but the one at Bombay
was the best. (Harvey had scored 140 in that match and was
particularly severe on Gupte. The Australian left-hander had walked up
to Gupte and told him "If you have a world reputation, so do I)
Vijay Hazare treated me…
If the captain has confidence in a bowler, then the bowler will have
confidence in himself. If a captain doesn't like my face, it's a waste
of time playing with him. Hazare handled me very badly. He (Hazare)
could kill me any time. I had a captain in Pakistan, Vinoo Mankad. Oh
my God! That was cricket in those days.
My nine wickets against West Indies at Green Park…
Was a fluke (in jest). I had taken nine wickets but Vasant Ranjane
bowled out Gibbs. Had it not been for Vinoo Mankad or Ghulam Ahmed
they would have bowled wide. But this is cricket.
Anil Kumble is…
They say Srinath will take wickets. My foot! Anil Kumble is the No 1
bowler for India this time and they dropped him. He doesn't turn the
ball, I know that. But the man has got 300 wickets. I met him in 1995,
he asked me and I told him you bowl too quick. It's common sense —
less speed, more spin. He was asking me how I would turn the ball and
I said I use to flight the ball more. He can't change now. Vinoo
(Mankad) helped me quite a bit with different ideas. Vinoo was great.
Naturally I used to give the ball more air to get loop. Not bowl
lollypops. Kumble is like a medium pacer.
Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar…
Very difficult to compare. One is a left-hander and the other is a
right-hander. Score wise, Brian is ahead which is important. Being a
left-hander he has the advantage. The ball that goes out is dangerous
for Sachin. That ball that comes in, actually goes out for Brian and
he starts whipping. There's no LBW, for him. Both of them are great
players and I wouldn't want to compare them. Lara's performances are
better than Sachin's. Sachin is an accumulator. He has got 29
centuries. He's become just like Sunil (Gavaskar). He was a great
player. Tell me which other Indian batsman played fast bowling better.
Vijay Merchant was great. But what fast bowlers did he play? Sunil
used to face two to three fast bowlers in every Test match. Merchant
got 1000 runs only against England. How you could compare.
What happened to Kambli?
One incident, when he was charged up he went and woke up the boys.
That is mischief in a mad way. Those are petty things and should be
forgiven.
I regret…
I regret not teaching my children Marathi. My elder son Anil (a
doctor) could speak little but he was three when we came here and my
daughter whose Hindu name is Anita and Christian name Caroline can not
understand Marathi. But I can't blame them. My daughter was a
journalist working in England but she quit her job because of me.
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Cheers
Arun