It is hard to visit Pune for cricket and leave the city without meeting Chandu Borde. And especially when the occasion is the Cricket World Cup involving India, not meeting Borde is a strict no, no.
Having fixed an appointment at the Poona Club, where the pavilion of the cricket ground is named after him, Borde, all of 89 years and looking younger than his real age, arrives one minute ahead of the scheduled meeting, alighting from his electric car with his sunglasses on to beat the October heat. He is a regular at the Poona Club, paying a visit at 11.30am and 5.00pm on most days of the week.
Borde has seen cricket and its growth in the country for more than seven decades, having played a role in a majority of them as a player, a Ranji Trophy winner, as a Test all-rounder having played in 55 Tests between 1958 and 1969 and scoring 3,061 attractive runs with five centuries and 18 fifties, and picking up 52 wickets with his leg-spin. He has also led India in one Test, in Adelaide on the 1967-68 tour of Australia. He was also one of the selectors that picked the 14-man team that won the 1983 World Cup in England, was the chairman of selectors and also the manager of the Indian cricket team on important tours including the 1989 tour of Pakistan under K Srikkanth’s captaincy and the 2007 tour of England under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy.
Borde keeps himself abreast with the latest and watches Indian cricket with interest. He likes Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, wants Md Shami to play on Thursday against Bangladesh and also says that the two major upsets in this World Cup, Afghanistan defeating England and The Netherlands shocking South Africa, is good for world cricket and will keep the other teams on their toes.
Two days before the India-Bangladesh World Cup game on Tuesday, Borde visited the MCA Stadium at Gahunje along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and got a bit emotional. “I went to the field and felt so happy that tears started flowing from my eyes. Firstly, I was going to the ground after a long time, and tears were because my brother Ramesh Borde was looking after the ground for some time, and he passed away,” Borde told Moneycontrol at the Poona Club on Wednesday.
Borde said that the pitch would see a lot of runs on Thursday and wished he was younger today so he could have a bat on this pitch. “The bounce will be good. One thing about this Indian team is the way they are picking themselves up, the side that is being built, it gives a lot of hope that they will be at the top. Their confidence level is high and the players know that they have the chance to win the Cup. You can see their confidence from their positive body language. They will definitely do better and better,” he said.
Borde was all praise for Rohit Sharma, the captain. “He is a good captain. One thing I have noticed is that he doesn’t get upset over anything on the field, doesn’t show emotions outwardly, just like Dhoni. Though on rare occasions, he removes his cap in frustration but then does not shout at his players. He has got the experience of leading and is using that experience for the benefit of the team. When you play so much cricket, you get to read the batsman also. Accordingly, you make the bowling changes. The captain’s mind must be working all the time. Rohit boosts the confidence of his players and brings the best out of his players.”
Even as India have dominated the World Cup so far by winning convincingly each of their first three matches and go into their fourth match against Bangladesh as the favourites, among the talking points is the absence of Md Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing 11. While Ashwin played the first match against Australia and was benched for the next two, Shami is yet to play his first game this World Cup.
Borde agreed with the choices of the team management and said: “Shami is a good bowler. No doubt about that. The competition is such that unless somebody fails, it will be a challenge to get into the playing 11. I like Shami very much. He makes good use of the old ball. He is a very good bowler towards the end of the innings, contains the opposition and gives breakthroughs, which is more important for the team. On this Pune pitch, he will be quite useful.
“As regards Ashwin, I am very happy that there is competition to get into the playing 11. This kind of competition brings the best out of the players. Everybody is anxious to be in the playing 11 and this is good for the team. This kind situation was not there earlier. Now, everyone wants to do well for the team and that is very good for Indian cricket.
“I agree with the management in that they pick the best 11 as per the conditions and the opposition and keep everyone ready for every match. What is happening is that they are playing so many matches and sometimes you need to give your best players rest. Selecting the 11 as per the opponents and the pitch is good for the team. The players remain fresh.”
Borde is proud of the fact that the Indian team has not lost a series whenever he was the manager of the Indian team. The tough, drawn Test series in Pakistan in 1989 comes to mind as also the 2007 tour of England, when India won the Pataudi Trophy 1-0 in the three-Test series.
It was immediately after that England tour that India went to South Africa for the inaugural T20 World Cup and surprised everyone by winning the title under MS Dhoni.
Borde said the seeds of Dhoni’s captaincy were sown on the Test tour of England. “In 2007, when Dravid was the captain in England, we won the Test series. Not much importance was given for this but importance was given to the 2007 World Cup. The way Dhoni saved the first Test match at Lord’s in darkness (he made 76 not out in the second innings) was brilliant. As the manager, I went to the match referee and objected to playing in darkness. He said that I give it in writing. I said ‘by the time I give in writing, the match would be over’. Dhoni kept his cool, frustrated the England bowlers and saved the Test. That’s where Dhoni the captain was born,” Borde said.
For the record, India won the second Test in Nottingham by seven wickets and drew the third Test at The Oval in London.
Borde did not want to rank the various Indian captains across generations and said: “When a captain does well and wins a series, he is the best captain in the world. That’s what happens in Indian cricket. I’d say Nari Contractor was the best captain as he won a Test against England in India (in Kolkata, December 1961). Salim Durrani and myself performed very well in that series. Another period was 1983 when Kapil led the side to World Cup victory and also performed. Each captain was good in that particular period. It is difficult to pick who was the best.”
Borde as a selector was upset when he was kept in the dark about Sunil Gavaskar’s decision to step down from captaincy after winning the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985. Borde said: “I was the chairman of selectors when Gavaskar was the captain against England in the home series in 1984-85. I had some hint that he had decided to step down from captaincy, went to his room and told him, "Sunny, I heard you are stepping down from captaincy. We want you to lead the side in Australia. And when you come back, we want you to continue’. Sunny, being a very smart guy, gave me a wry smile but did not answer me. The way Sunny makes decisions, as is his way of life, is very well thought out. After he won the World Championship of Cricket final, he announced that he was stepping down from captaincy on the ground. None of us selectors had a clue and I was a bit upset.”
But then, Borde had many moments to cheer about and has no regrets for his contribution to Indian cricket, the brightest being as a selector of the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian team.
Borde said: “The 1983 World Cup victory laid the foundation for the Indian cricket coming up in a very big way. Cricket was already popular then but the interest in cricket multiplied. More and more people were attracted to this game. Now, with the inclusion of cricket in the Olympics, cricket will have a tremendous following the world over. And, women’s cricket will get a tremendous lift,” said Borde before leaving for his house, sitting in the co-driver’s seat of his SUV, his preferred seat in the car.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
