No excess baggage please!

Mr Ghulam Ahmed and I travelled together from Delhi back to Hyderabad. During the journey he gave me lots of useful tips on managing an Indian team. though I had been Pakistan as assistant manger , I loved , studied and played a lot of cricket in England , but what Mr. Ghulam Ahmed told me was something different from what I knew of England and the English way of doing things at the international level. He had just laid down office as the secretary of the board and so had the first hand information of English cricket and its admistration. As far as I was concerned, I was very confident of doiha ha ng a good job in England. I felt I had certain advantages.

Firstly I was a member of MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) whose headquarter is Lord's cricket ground and knew the secretary very well. And Mr D.B Carr, secretary of the Test and the County Cricket Board was a close friend of mine. And it was the TCCB and the MCC that were organising the World Cup jointly. I would not have any problem from the local administration and I was sure that they would be of immense help to me. The last word that Mr Ghulam Ahmed said "We have no chance in the tournament. But there is no harm in trying their best and it is upto you to ensure that each player does just that. You never know what will happen. Cricket is a funny game. Good luck". Those words stuck.

'To ensure that every member of the team gives of his best'. And in my mind I started thinking how to achieve this objective. I first decide that I would make sure that the players did not treat me as a spy, or something like that which the board had planted amongst them. This was the impression that I gathered by speaking to various players about the managers who had accompanied the Indian team earlier. I made up my mind to be one among the players and that they, should treat me more like a big brother rather than like a boss. And to achieve this, I would have to work hard to gain their confidence. Also, I firmly believe that respect of others is achieved by one's own behaviour and conduct and should be demanded. Frankly I had the advantage of knowing them as friends for a long time. All of them had been to Hyderabad to play the Moin-ud-Dowlah tourney and other tournaments, because of this; I had personal contact and relations with them.

I must record my great appreciation and happiness that, all the players reciprocated my love, affection and the attention to their needs on the tour. The relation between each of the players and myself was most cordial and friendly. I had hardly spoken harshly to anyone or had pulled any one for misbehavior. Their conduct on the tour was simply exemplary. With all this at the back of my mind I started to prepare for the tour. We were to assemble in Bombay on the 29th May. Before leaving for Bombay I made a quick visit to Tirupathi , had Lord Venketeswara's Darshan and sought his blessing.

Among the players who were selected, some – Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amaranth, Madan Lal and Kirti Azad, were already in England playing county or league cricket. The rest of the team assembled in Bombay where we collected our kit and clothing and left for London by an Air India flight. There was no conditioning camp etc before the tour nor there any buzz as is usal on the eve of departure of an Indian team. The usual farewell dinner hosted by the team was missing. On the day of our departure one of the all India radio correspondents came and asked me about the prospect of the Indian team. And I honestly told him that we should not make it to the semis. I thought to myself that if this Indian team can't win, then no Indian team could.

On reaching Sahara Airport, we found Prof. Chandgadkar, the executive secretary of the board, a worried man who had come to see us off. On enquiring he told me that the team's baggage was rather heavy and that Air India would charge for the excess baggage. It may be noted that, I was also carrying the kit and the clothing of the players who were already in England and that, added to the weight. The professor sorted out the problem by giving a written commitment that he would make the payment the next day and we were allowed to board the plane. The flight was smooth and comfortable and on the arrival at the Heathrow Airport I was mighty glad to see Donald (Carr) at the airport. With help from the official of the Indian High Commission and the Air India staff, we cleared our baggage, passed through the custom and were in England for the World Cup. a thrilling feeling. Luckily we were booked to stay at the Westmoreland hotel, which was bang opposite to the Lord's cricket ground. After we settled comfortably in the rooms, I walked down to meet the MCC official and to collect the money to be distributed to the players as their allowances. After I had finished with MCC, I went and met Donald about our net practice for the next day. It had been raining in London during that time and Donald made arrangement for us to have nets at the indoor school.

The entire team assembled in the London hotel on the first of June. We had a team meeting. I spoke first and told the players that I would do my best to ensure that, the team had a very comfortable stay. I would ensure that the hotel rooms were well taken care of, travel arrangement were prefect and that the players would get there allowance in two installments. The first one was paid that day. I expected the players not to do anything that would bring a bad name to the country and the team. I would not impose any curfew time but would expect the players to maintain reasonable hours to get back to their rooms. I would expect them all too always be punctual for practice. I also told them that, I would be available to all of them at all hour of the day and that they could make their request and requirement freely.

Kapil took over from there and said that, we had nothing to lose but everything to gain. No one gave us a chance. That was good since the players would not be under pressure and could play freely. Kapil emphasise the need for each player to give off his best on the field. He made it clear, that the captain was the boss on the field and the manager, off it.

Both, Kapil and I, impressed on the players that we should spend the next few weeks as a happy family and enjoy each others company, performance and enjoy their cricket. It was also told that everyone should involve himself in the well: being of the Indian team both, on and off the field. Acceptance of invitation to attend functions was left entirely to me. At this point I stated that I would accept or reject any, keeping in mind the best interest of the team. But once an invitation was accepted, it would be obligatory on the part of each member, to attend that function. All the discussion were cordial and were held in a healthy atmosphere. I for one thought a very good beginning had been made.

(This an extract from Victory Insight, A Manager's Diary for the 1983 and 1987 World Cup written by the author)