There are some famous lines from Tennyson’s poem ‘Brook’ which as is the wont of eloquent writers on cricket, could be rephrased to something like ‘batsmen may come & batsmen may go but his batting style lives on forever..’ As GR Vishwanath, reticent and unassuming master batter of the 1970s turns 75 today, many seniors would stand up from drawing room seats to applaud his genius & give an arm to see one of his innings.
In India and over the ages, everyone aspires to be a good (if not great) cricketer in his growing up years and most of our time (outside of evenings doing homework) was spent in perfecting our cricketing shots in the parks/fields, albeit with tennis balls. I was just about 15 and a cricket addict by then, when in Nov, 1969, Vishy made his Test debut in Kanpur against the strong Aussies, which I witnessed with my cricket loving Dad (who’s first name was also Vishwanath but spelt with a ‘B’ !). Vishy got nervous and failed to disturb the scorers in the first innings but came up with such a scintillating 137 in the second innings, that we were all agog, hailing the arrival of a new batting sensation. It gave short guys huge reassurance to see the diminutive Vishy square cut the fiercest pace bowlers to the fence.
Though Indian cricket has seen batting iconic batting legends who rewrote the records ( Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid and Virat Kohli immediately come to mind), what made ‘Vishy’ so special was his sheer class which made him stand out that even the legendary Kapil called him his ‘First Hero’ and bro-in-law, Sunny ji rates him as one of the all time greats to have played the game. His trademark square cuts, late cuts, drives and wristy strokes became a text-book rendition by a classical batting maestro and emulated by all those who followed him. It was said that when Vishy was at the crease and in full flow, India stood a chance of winning the match.
While Vishy’s batting attracted a legion of fans, there was a humane and gentle side to the man who’s modesty was as legendary as his batting prowess. While captaining the Indian side, he once called a batsman back since he felt he wasn’t out ! Not known for his oratory skills, with bat in hand he made it all look like poetry in motion. As purists will say, there will be batters of all kinds but may never be as classy as ‘Vishy’ ! Written much later his autobiography aptly titled ‘Wrist Assured’ is treasured by cricket lovers.
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