A jolly evening with Guha & Kapil

by Partab Ramchand

Ramachandra Guha (right) and Kapil Dev with N. Sankar of the Sanmar
Group.

It was an evening laced of anecdotes, nostalgia and cama­raderie. Cricket and Chen­nai that was Madras have always had a special bond. The Chepauk crowd is acknow­ledged to be the most know­ledgeable in the country. And the audience at the valedictory function of the 50th year of the Sanmar family’s ties with the Jolly Rovers Cricket club was in keeping with tradition and reputation. It appreciated the eloquent keynote address of historian and author Ramachan­dra Guha on ‘Five Forms of Cricketing Partisanship’, the humorous speech of Kapil Dev who had no hesitation in poking fun at his once limited English, and the amiable ambience.

Everything was done in style with elegance and orderliness being the hallmarks. The entry to the hall itself was well lit, had a red carpet and had photographs on both sides to send guests on a trip down memory lane. The spacious hall was again brightly lit and all round were memorabilia celebrating the various triumphs of the Jolly Rovers over the years. The well- attended function was the culmination of a year long celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Sanmar group’s ties with Jolly Rovers which has been undis­puted­ly the city’s leading cricket club going by the number of trophies it has won.

Indeed, club affiliation was the first of the five forms of cricketing partisanship that Guha touched upon, the others being a State team, Test cricket, the importance of bowlers, and the affinity towards an individual’s own generation of cricketers. Guha, with his love and knowledge of the game (particularly Test cricket, as he emphasised), reeled off anecdotes that embellished his 40-minute talk, though he did slip up on a couple of occasions when it came to facts and figures. He admitted that he had not seen a single IPL game and compared Test cricket to single malt scotch whiskey and T-20 to country-made liquor, making clear his apathy towards cricket’s shortest format in unequivocal terms.

But for all of Guha’s impeccable English and excellent delivery, it was Kapil who brought the house down as he reeled off stories that revolved basically around his once lack of English and how he got along as a player and captain taking this in his stride. He recalled a Selector’s reluctance to appoint him as Captain because at that time he could not speak English at all. Kapil said he felt like saying at the time “Why don’t you get someone from Oxford or Cambridge to speak and meanwhile I will play.’’ He spoke about his love for Tamil Nadu and in particular South Indian food, but also recalled that his affection for Chepauk was deep since “I never failed in a Test there”. While congratulating the Sanmar Group, Kapil said that running a cricket team for 50 years is a “tremendous achievement and it is such traditions that keep the game alive in the country.’’

But despite the entertainment provided in varying ways by Guha and Kapil, the most pleasant aspect of the evening was the ambience. A cricketing audience will always be lively and affectionate and it was great to see cricketers who perhaps had not seen each other for an extended period exchanging pleasantries preceded by warm hugs. There was M G. Bhavanarayanan, a member of the Madras team that won the Ranji Trophy in 1954-55 for the first time, now pushing 90 and there were several young club cricketers just happy to be soaking in the atmosphere though they did not miss taking a selfie with Kapil.

For me, personally, it meant a lot to be present at the function for, as a sports reporter, I had covered a lot of league cricket and have observed closely Jolly Rovers’ rise. I always felt that the main reason for their success was that the management adopted a professional attitude even in the days when the game was largely amateur, with very little money in it. This attitude gained momentum when Bharath Reddy joined Jolly Rovers in 1983. The former Indian wicket-keeper was aware of the changing trends in the game and as captain, manager and talent-spotter played an inspirational role in shaping Jolly Rovers’ triumphant march through the years.

A book by V. Ramnarayan, aptly titled Cricket for the love of it was released on the occasion and its engagingly told in word and picture the Jolly Rovers’ story and the Sanmar Group’s connection with it.

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