This story is from September 29, 2019

Gandhi Jayanti: The seventeenth man

By all accounts, including his own autobiography, Gandhi kept more than a fair distance between himself and sports.
Gandhi Jayanti: The seventeenth man
The India-SA Freedom Trophy for matches between India and South Africa, with Gandhi and Mandela’s images
By: S Giridhar and VJ Raghunath
By all accounts, including his own autobiography, Gandhi kept more than a fair distance between himself and sports.
A reluctant participant at school in the compulsory games, he never was convinced that sports should occupy much of school curriculum. As for adults, he could never understand the time and effort they invested in this pastime and believed it occupied an unnecessarily large space in their lives.
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THE AUTOGRAPH
And therefore, it is perhaps a most delicious piece of our history, that in an autograph book that had the signatures of the 16 cricketers of the MCC team that toured India in 1933, the Mahatma has autographed it, nominating himself as the seventeenth player of an Englishman’s party.
Apparently, Laxmi Merchant, sister of India’s legendary opening batsman Vijay Merchant, had gone to him with the book, a page of which contained the Englishmen’s autographs. Gandhi, instead of signing on another leaf, stays with the page that has sixteen English cricketers’ autographs and writes, No. 17 and signs it M K Gandhi.

What does one make of that? We believe this was Gandhi’s impish humour at its best. A child-like prank on the one hand and a superb political signal on the other, that he was against British rule and not against the British people. Humour and wit was a precious strand that Gandhi always clasped, never letting go. He had after all said in all seriousness, “I would commit suicide if I did not have sense of humour.” As cricket lovers we might wish Gandhi had demonstrated a little more affection for that game but as lovers of wit we believe he more than made up.
When people speak of Gandhi and cricket, the story of the pernicious cricket tournament called the Quadrangular established by the British often comes up. The tournament, had four teams based on their religious affiliations contesting for a trophy. Hindus, Parsis, Muslims and Europeans were pitted against each other. It later also became the Pentangular, upon the inclusion of a fifth team called ‘the rest’, comprising players belonging to other religions. Despicable as the tournament was in its conception, for the cricket loving Maharashtrians, Parsis and Gujaratis, it was a wrenching compromise to watch these games, because they loved cricket.
FIVE SIDES
It is in this context that we describe the two serious ‘cricket’ interventions that Gandhi made. He might have not been a player, or even a fan, but such was his leadership and the sweep of his views on nation and society, that the game in India listened to him. Gandhi’s crusade for communal harmony and amity started almost as soon as he arrived in India. His was a constant battle–cry (since the apostle of non-violence has called himself a commander in some context, our use of the phrase battle-cry should be alright) imploring the two major communities to embrace the spirit of living together. Though the Ranji Trophy came into being in 1934, as a result of a rising demand for a state based tournament, the Quadrangular and later the Pentangular continued to be played. In 1940, the sociopolitical tensions were so heightened that people questioned the wisdom of holding such inter-community tournaments. While some teams wanted to play, the Hindus were definitely uncomfortable. The management of PJ Hindu Gymkhana, home to the Hindus’ team, went to the Mahatma for advice; should the Hindus team participate in such a tournament? Gandhi said that he found it totally unacceptable that any competition could pit religion against religion. PJ Hindu Gymkhana listened to the Mahatma and withdrew from the tournament that year. The tournament without them went limp, had little public interest and All India Radio also withdrew their running commentary.
A DALIT CONNECTION
Gandhi began his crusade against untouchability within a few years of arriving from South Africa. On every occasion and at every forum, Gandhi hammered away and his speech at Nagpur in December 1920, asking people to banish this most sinful, inhuman practice, was a watershed moment. In 1920, the Hindus team had a trio of the finest cricketers – all three brothers – from the Dalit community. Baloo Palwankar, the eldest, had already made a name for himself as a spinner of great ability. He had gone with the All India team to England in 1911 and was outstanding on that tour with over a 100 wickets. Even at his peak, because of his caste, Baloo was never made captain; lesser players from the upper caste were made captain. Now in 1920, he also found himself out of the team. His brothers Vittal and Shivram opted out in protest. Their team lost the first match. The PJ Hindu Gymkhana management observed this, saw the public support for the Dalit cricketers and reinstated Baloo and his brothers. Vittal Palwankar was made captain in 1923 and when the Hindus won the tournament, he was carried on the shoulders of the other members of the team.
LASTING INFLUENCE
Elsewhere in the world too, discrimination and prejudice has tarnished sports and cricket. In England, the upper class amateur cricketers were called ‘gentlemen’ while the paid working class cricketers were called ‘players’. They had separate dressing rooms and an annual fixture called Gentlemen versus Players too. 75 years after playing their first Test match, England in 1952, finally had a working class professional as captain. The West Indies only had white captains, till 1960. After decades of injustice, Frank Worrell, finest of cricketers, noblest of men, became the first black to captain them.
And South Africa, where Gandhi’s lifelong fight began on the night of 7 June, 1893 at Pietermaritzburg Station? Apartheid South Africa was banned from the Olympics in 1964 even as they continued playing rugby and cricket with white teams from Australia, England and New Zealand. Matters came to a head when MCC selected Basil D’Oliveira (a mixed race South African who had become a UK citizen) for their 1968-69 tour to South Africa. Vorster, the South African Premier, threatened to not allow MCC to play if it included D’Oliveira. MCC refused to budge and called off the tour. In 1970, South Africa was banished from international cricket. It was only when South Africa lifted apartheid and initiated steps for racial integration and democratic non – racial government that they re-entered international cricket. Fittingly, the first tour by the reinstated South Africa was to Gandhi’s India in 1991. The two countries now play for a trophy that is called the Gandhi – Mandela Trophy.
India’s first great cricketer, the man with magic wrists and inventor of the leg glance, Ranji, was born in Gandhi’s own Kathiawar, just three years after Gandhi. Vinoo Mankad, one of the world’s greatest all-rounders ever, was from these parts. As was Amar Singh, a fine swing bowler. Two of India’s finest cricketers in the current team – Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja – also belong to Saurashtra. We can compile a strong XI from Saurashtra but are certain that because his home team is strong, the Mahatma would align himself with the state that puts up the weakest team.
S Giridhar and VJ Raghunath are colleagues at Azim Premji University.
They team up to write on cricket.
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