Vijay Hazare: The Maharaja of Indian Cricket

- A Tribute to Vijay Hazare by Karthik Narayan

It’s a sheer delight to talk about legends. It gives us the joy, great pleasure to take a trip down memory lane to read and talk about these men who have braved many a storm and emerged the Hero, rain or shine! Vijay Samuel Hazare is a name known to many of the old timers, not much to us youngsters of the twenty first century. I would love to relive some of the finest moments in the life of this wonderful all rounder from Baroda.

Ask anyone in the streets of Baroda, they chant his name – he is a Demi God! One thing about this much-revered Indian cricketer is that, he played much before we all were born. And he carried with him the tradition and values of Indian cricket in its youth. (1932 was the year when India became a test nation). So Hazare has played when the speedsters sped up and aimed for the throat, there were no laws on bouncers, and definitely no pitch reports!

He made his test debut at the age of 31, in 1946 at Lord’s against England, a time when all the spectators were countable in dozens rather than by the thousands and at a time when both Indian Independence and Television was unheard of. This gentle giant played the game with so much fervor that simply one may say “Hazare was the matinee idol on the Indian cricketing field”. Life was always challenging for this talented player, and as you finish reading this, surely you will stand up and salute for all that he has done for the game.

As babies in the cradle of cricket, India went down under on their first ever series abroad after independence, and Hazare was chosen as the first post-Independence Indian captain in 1947-48. None of the Indians knew what Australia looked like and hadn’t played Australia at all. The Aussies led by The Don, with the nickname, “The Invincibles” never were going to give even a miniscule opportunity for the Indians. Yet, the spirit breeds fearlessness and brings man to do great deeds. Batting without the glitz, the glamour, and the paparazzi and battling communal problems, he had heralded many a great innings – like his first and second test centuries that came against Australia was a twin success – 116 and 145 in the fourth test at Adelaide.

He was congratulated by the Don himself for his brave deeds as captain and his performances with the bat – especially after that twin hundred. He also managed to spin the Don himself three times out with his occasional leg spinners and flippers in that historic series! This great player has so many great exploits as you would expect of him, everything has come with great difficulty and he has emerged out resplendent with all the brightness of a sunflower in full bloom.

He is a method player in the true sense, though he never let his aggressive self swim away at any point of time. He was patient, waited for the bad ball and put that away in fine style. His methods of scoring were ungainly and unseemingly, and yet he churned the willow for runs unlike no peer of his! He was a fierce cutter of the ball, his square cuts are too well known amongst those who he played against and with.

His first class career started at the age of 19, he played for Maharashtra a bit before moving to play for Baroda, and his record speaks for itself – 238 games for 18740 runs, with a magnificent average of 58.38; as many as sixty hundreds and a highest score of 316* - all accomplished in a long career of 32 years from 1934-1966. This article wouldn’t be complete without a mention of his 309 the Rest in the Bombay Pentangular tournament way back in the 1930s. Fortune favors the brave and this man was the bravest of them all. His 309 represents so much of wealth of talent, for that team managed just 387, for the Rest against the Hindus. He had a world record stand of 577 for the fourth wicket with Gul Mohammed for Baroda versus Holkar in the finals of the 1946-47 season of the Ranji trophy. That record still remains unconquered and most cherished by this batting maestro. The icing on the cake came in that match when Hazare also picked up 6 wickets! Vijay Hazare wasn’t just a batsman; he bowled exceedingly well as a leg spinner picking up 595 wickets for an average of 24.61.

The game of cricket is all about the spirit, the passion and fire in the belly and this cricketer had it aplenty. The wars and the eventualities had its toll on cricket too; life was never a bed of roses for these brave cricketers who lost most of their best years thanks to the courses of the world events. This cavalier was a batsman who formed his basics on the art of defense. Probably the phrase, “defense is the best form of offence” may have been framed by this man! Though he did play aggressively in the domestic seasons in his early days, as he played more, he used to get into a shell.

Respect is something that comes spontaneously – it cannot be induced and it should not be induced! In the case of Hazare, probably that was as good as signing over a few contracts with big companies for advertisements, as most of the current crop of cricketers do. That was the only thing he earned out of the hardships, the toil, the sweat on his brow and the frowns on this forehead. In all of 30 tests that he played in, he captained 14. An illustrious career marked with bright spots – the brightest being his twin centuries against the Australians in their own soil.

His lone test win as captain came against the English in the Chennai test in 1951-52. He was ousted as captain of the team and also as a player. Sadly, he did not play much thereafter. He has played against 4 teams during that era marked with blunted knocks battling the devils of great bowling and the perils of losing test places – England, Australia, West Indies and Pakistan. And he has managed at least one century in his typical slow manner against each of these teams. That speaks for his consistency in this game.

Now he is dead, a news that brought so much pain to my heart and all the cricket lovers, simply because he has engineered Indian cricket to what it has become now. For he, who has been the very symbol of a game we are so passionate about, should never be face to face with death. One might say he was the father of Indian cricket, because he had brought with him the force of the mind and the power of the soul to provide the greatness in his games, whenever, wherever he played throughout his life.

Well, its time to honour this great son of the Indian soil, to pay many more tributes that time will tell to be the best and most deserved for a person who has cherished every moment with the game that he loved more than his own life! I am very much sure that Vijay Samuel Hazare shall be remembered by all of us for life, without a moment of doubt. This tribute is but a pin in a haystack, much more shall be written about the exploits of this brave superhero, that we were so much unfortunate not to watch in action.