“I left my job to play cricket. So I never thought of quitting cricket,” said the affable Anustup Majumdar with a soft smile plastered across his face. Majumdar is just two months short of turning 36. But the veteran’s first-class career seemed over in 2015 when runs failed to flow off his willow.
In the 2012-13 season the opener turned middle-order batsman mustered a mere 166 runs in six first-class games and in the next season, the graph went further downhill, just 156 runs coming in six games. He knew he would struggle to find a place in the Bengal side and wisely chose Railways, ensuring at least he would have some sort of employment.
While he did have job security, runs never came by for Railways, the right-hander managing just 170 runs in five games in the 2014-15 season. The abject returns meant he lost a place in Railways side too, meaning more work at the desk rather than cricket ground. Despite season after season of poor form and in his thirties, Majumdar wanted to hold a bat rather than type numbers and alphabets on the keyboard at Railways. To harness that dream he had no choice but to quit Railways — a major gamble given his batting returns — and then try finding a way back into the Bengal side.
Following two years in the wilderness, Majumdar somehow managed to regain his place in the Bengal side for the 2017-18 season and there has been no turning back for the Chandannagore-born cricketer. He amassed 560 runs with three centuries that season, posted 303 last season and has become the Man Friday for Bengal this season.
Coming out to bat often with Bengal in deep trouble, he has bailed them out consistently with some pugnacious hitting. His career-best 157 ensured Bengal reached the semifinals after being down the trenches (46/5) in the quarterfinals against Odisha. On Saturday at the Eden Gardens, he walked out with Bengal having suffered another top-order implosion against Karnataka. But, conjuring all the grit that’s been a hallmark of his life, he struck a counter-attacking 120 to floor a stunned Karnataka. This season, he’s accumulated 571 runs so far with two centuries. Like wine, he’s simply getting better and better with age.
“Cricket is a game of uncertainty,” felt Majumdar, likening the sport to life itself. “It takes one ball to get you out. I just kept working hard, kept motivating myself. There was no other motivation. Maybe I’ve mellowed down and the sense of grief and frustration have lessened,” revealed Majumdar of his mindset during the tough phase. “You never know what's in store for you tomorrow.”
Indian cricket produces several inspirational tales season after season. Majumdar, not flashy and headline grabbing, is one among them. From quitting a secure Railways job when his cricket career was at the crossroads to have the guts to turn it around on the field is laudable. Yes, the lack of young talent in Bengal presented him a chance to forge a comeback from nowhere. But the skill and fortitude shown in reigniting a lost career is a lesson on never giving up. Majumdar would just be hoping for a fairytale finish now.