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Congratulations to the AMU Cricket team which won the North Zone Inter Varsity Tournament by beating Punjab University, Chandigarh, at the AMU cricket ground yesterday. With this, both the teams have qualified to play in the Inter Varsity Inter Zonal Tournament which will be held in Kolkata to decide the winner of the Rohinton Baria Trophy.
In the past only one AMU team qualified for the Inter-Zonals and hence tensions ran very high in the North Zone finals, to decide which team would move forward. Ones mind goes back to the extremely tense and exciting match held in December 1969 between AMU and Punjab University. AMU had reached the final after many years and to be pitted against a star-studded Punjab team in front of a vociferous and uncompromising home crowd which was, to say the least, unnerving. It wasn’t easy playing for AMU at Aligarh in those days. Though well-meaning and encouraging, the ten thousand strong crowd which came to the ground every day brought in ten thousand opinions as to how the opposition had to be tackled. Every bowling change and field placement was scrutinized and discussed threadbare- and loudly, so that the captain would hear and act accordingly. If the captain was, or appeared to be, short of hearing – no matter, he could always be collared later on in his room. Standards expected were high and any player not measuring up to them, even momentarily, was roundly ticked off and asked to make way for someone worthier. Passions, naturally, ran high too, and with ten thousand passionate, nervous wrecks gathered in one place it was something to be seen to be believed. So it was against this backdrop that the finals started. The Punjab team was led by their Ranji star Kamal Gupta and included future test cricketers Madan Lal and Ashok Malhotra as well as Surinder Amarnath (son of Lala, and already a test player), apart from several others who were also current Ranji players. The AMU team consisted of the following – Nurul Abidin (Capt), Rafiullah Khan, Sohail Ahmad, Idris Ahmad, Ghauri Majeed, Akhlaq Ahmad, Ebrahim Tejani, Javed Rafiq Ansari, Ahsan Wahidi, Parvez Shamim, and Bilal Mohammad. Seven of these players later represented UP and MP in the Ranji Trophy and two of these seven represented Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy. But at that time they were all raw, talented, and with a tremendous team spirit. The luminaries amongst the spectators were the great Lala Amarnath and legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi. AMU was coached by the evergreen and affable A.G.Ram Singh, considered by many to be the best spinners ever to have played a test for India, though he did play for India in many unofficial ‘tests’, and the father of test cricketers A.G.Kripal Singh (century on test debut for India) and A.G.Milkha Singh. The match started with AMU winning the toss and electing to bat first. By the end of the first day several seemingly independent events had taken place that were to have a profound influence on the outcome of the match. The first was the collapse that the AMU team suffered, being bowled out for 120 runs against a not too menacing, though accurate and restrictive, attack led by Madan Lal. The collapse was inexplicable considering AMU’s brilliant exploits in the three previous matches including a resounding 5 wicket win in the semi-finals against Delhi University which was virtually a Delhi State Ranji side. Punjab replied by posting 115 for 4 at the end of the day’s play. The second incident was a clash at the end of the days play between the supporters of AMU and the supporters of Punjab. The situation didn’t get out of hand but both sides left promising retaliation. The third incident was in a lighter vein. The University authorities, in their wisdom, decided to accommodate the female spectators on the roof of the Old Boys’ Lodge. As luck would have it, AMU collapsed for 120. Naturally, the ‘connection’ was not missed by many. To this day members of that AMU team are confronted by (now) older but still irate supporters accusing them of not keeping an eye on the ball. The University authorities, realizing that they had somehow scuppered the cause, shifted the fair sex the next day back to where they belonged – the balcony of the pavilion. Here, they could be eyed by the batsmen only after they had played the ball. The second day was tense stuff throughout – keeping Punjab, who had taken the vital first innings lead, in check and restricting them to as small a lead as possible so as to mount a bid for an outright win. All Inter Varsity matches in those days were of 3 days duration (not limited overs matches of today) and, in case of a draw, the winner was the team which had gained the first innings lead. The Punjab team was restricted to a modest 233 due to some steady bowling and excellent fielding by the AMU boys. This score would have been considered a low total had it not been for AMU’s poor batting performance on the first day. Angry AMU supporters are forever complaining that AMU has never won an ‘easy’ match – every win had to go down to the wire, adding to the plight of the jelly-hearted. One such jelly-hearted supporter was Prof. Fakhruddin Ahmad, Secretary of the Games Committee, so passionate about cricket and ‘his’ team that he never missed a single minute of an AMU match – when things were going well, that is. The slightest hint of tenseness in the proceedings would see him leaving the ground in a hurry, to return only when a telephone call assured him that things were under control. When AMU beat Delhi University he came back to the ground only when 3 runs were required for a win with 5 wickets in hand – before that he didn’t feel secure enough to venture back. Some lusty hitting by AMU in the second innings saw the second day draw to a close with AMU just about in with a fighting chance if they could only trigger a Punjab collapse on the final day. Caught up in the drama a senior Professor had run on to the pitch to advise the AMU captain on some crucial strategy before the umpire ( a test umpire, no less) shooed him away imperiously. The depth of feelings generated could be gauged by an incident that took place a couple of years back when the present vice chancellor met me at a University function. After I had introduced myself, the first thing the vice chancellor said was, “ Noor Sahib,you should have fielded after winning the toss !” Thirty five years on ,it was still a fresh and debatable topic ! The third and final day started with AMU being all out early for 218 made in double quick time, leaving Punjab to score 106 for a victory. It appears a small score but it was certainly defendable considering the early morning movement of the ball and the harried condition of the Punjab players. Certainly, the way Punjab started the innings gave the AMU supporters much hope – the Punjab opener being beaten 4 times in the 5 balls faced before an altercation in the crowd brought the game to a premature end. On the proceedings on the last day this is what Times of India had to say :- Fin“TheFinal of the North Zone Inter University Cricket Tournament came to an unhappy end here today. The last day’s play, which had started 45 minutes late, was abandoned after lunch because of apprehension of breach of peace following disturbances in the stands. Punjab at that stage had just begun their second knock after being set a 106-run victory target by Aligarh, and were declared winners by virtue of their first innings lead. m“The match had, in fact, been called off in the morning itself, for the campus had spent a disturbed night with rival gangs out to wreak vengeance on each other. The trouble was a delayed repercussion of a clash among the spectators on the first day of the tie. But with Aligarh bidding fair to make a grand fight of it, the decision to abandon the match was not taken kindly either by the crowd or the players. University officials were virtually gheraod until they relented. “The indecision only stoked the fire, and for the first time in three days there was palpable tension in the air when play started. The game was uneventful in the hour which the remainder of the Aligarh innings lasted, but Punjab openers Ashok Malhotra and Sudhir Mahajan occupied the crease for only five balls from Akhlaq. There was a commotion in the far stands, and when a horde of students invaded the field the teams came back to the pavilion. That was just on lunch, but the University authorities had had enough and play was not resumed after the break. “The Punjab batsmen and the umpires must have been happy to avoid running the gauntlet of a multitude in which emotions had been worked up to fever pitch. Orderly cricket would have been impossible in that frenzied atmosphere. “But for the Aligarh team the denouement was a bitter disappointment. They had fought on splendidly against adverse odds and their display had surpassed all expectations. Their batsmen showed that the first innings collapse was hardly in character, and with their verve and tenacity they had the Punjab attack badly rattled. “What with the limited attack at the disposal of Aligarh, there was little or no chance that Punjab could have been dismissed within a hundred runs the second time. But doubtless they were glad not to have to put the proposition to the test”. Nurul Abidin
AMU 1970
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