The Class of 1974 goes down memory lane

ESA Prasanna-led team felicitated during the golden jubilee of maiden Ranji Trophy win.

Bengaluru: How often do you get to see two of India’s finest exponents of spin bowling, a batting great who was as much about his style as substance and a wicketkeeper whose glovework was matched for effect by its beauty on one platform discussing the game? EAS Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar, GR Vishwanath and Syed Kirmani sat in the middle being flanked by their team-mates from the Class of 1974 which was felicitated by the Karnataka State Cricket Association on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of Karnataka’s maiden Ranji Trophy triumph here on Wednesday. 

On this day (March 27) 50 years ago, Karnataka defeated Rajasthan in the final in Jaipur to lay their hands on the first of their eight Ranji Trophies and the heroes of that achievement went on a nostalgic trip that dusted the sepia-tinted memories, took audience back to the charming black and white era and left one wanting for more. From “bhang” episode in Jaipur to Chandrasekar’s love for idlies, from train travails to meagre match fees, it was an evening to remember and recall.    

While one could laugh at the manner in which they made light of their difficulties en route victory and after, it shone a light on the chasm in the state of the game between now and then. Today, even state age-group teams travel by air while it had taken nearly three and half days for the Prasanna-led team to reach Bengaluru (then Bangalore) by train.

“After the Ranji trophy win, we thought all arrangements for our return journey would be taken care of,” recalled Prasanna. “But when we reached Delhi, we didn’t have tickets for Bangalore.
A railway official recognised us because there were some cricket fans there too and asked us what we were doing there.
Then the Railway Board officials stepped in and got us tickets to travel via Chennai. Even our Chennai to Bangalore tickets weren’t booked early.
So by the time we reached Bangalore all our (winning) high had come down.”

The victorious Ranji team apparently received a daily allowance of Rs five and when Prasanna approached then President M Chinnaswamy for a raise. “He told me I have grown too big,” Prasanna revealed while flailing his arm in the air. 

Vishwanath described how Karnataka players consumed bhang in the belief that it was milk on the fourth day which happened to be a rest day before the fifth and final day.   

“It took us two days to come down to earth (from the high),” Vishwanath told the gathering. “Everybody in the team was just laughing (thinking the other was high). But I had become very serious. The England tour was coming up and I was a bit worried about that. I didn’t get runs in the final, but the important thing was that we won .”

Kirmani chimed in: “I didn’t want to look at Brijesh (Patel) because every time we looked at each other we would burst out laughing because Chandra told us his right leg was floating after consuming bhang.”    

A minute’s silence was observed as a mark of respect for the departed members of the team - B Vijayakrishna, VS Vijay Kumar, B Lakshman and manager C Nagaraj.