Buck up Chetan's mantra for Team India

As an opener he was more known as the first full-fledged partner to Sunil Gavaskar, which was to, in a way end, the perennial struggle to pitch in a pair that could present a picture of longevity at the top of the order.

Once having established himself as a sound opener, Chetan Chauhan never looked back for all of 40 Tests that spanned almost a decade, He arrived onto the scene when India was just about establishing itself as a major Test playing nation and the order of the day was to experiment with make-shift opening partners for Gavaskar.

Today, decades later and wiser from experience, including as an administrator, Chauhan is opposed to the idea of employing make-shift openers for the simple reason that ‘like a wicket-keeper, an opener is a specialist, whose job in the middle is cutout. I agree that once in a while there could be an emergent requirement but at a time when we have class openers playing in the domestic engagements, zeroing in on specialists should not pose a big problem. Having regular openers will boost the chemistry between the two, which is a good augury.’

He was interacting with this correspondent in Hyderabad on Saturday when he arrived for the finals of the inaugural Dr APJ Abdul Kalam inter-district T20 cricket tournament for the Telangana Champions Cup that was conducted by Telangana Cricket Association (TCA).

Although, he did not mention the fad to have part-time openers like Chateshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, he said the only big success in recent years has been ‘Virender Sehwag. Very few players like the recently retired swashbuckling Sehwag have graduated from the middle-order to permanent openers.’

Chauhan, who made his debut in Bombay against New Zealand, is pragmatic when he contends ‘I have always believed that an opener should have sound technique, guts to counter the fiercest of fast bowlers, have loads of patience and a mental toughness that can help take the challenge into the opposition camp. The willingness to stay longer in the middle and see off the new ball ought to be the pre-requisites so that the middle order, whose pressure could be lowered considerably, can tackle the spinners that much more effectively’.

Interestingly, for one whose heart rankles because he could never get a Test century (his highest is 97), and has taken blows from the fastest of West Indies and Australian bowlers, Chauhan rates former England captain, Bob Willis, as the toughest guy to tackle.

‘You see unlike the other menacing bowlers, whose strengths you were well aware of, Willis had an uncanny ability to swing the ball either way besides simultaneously generating pace, which is a lethal combination,’ opines the dour opener, who ranks his gritty and painstaking 84 at Oval and 93 at Lahore as his finest innings ‘because they both came during crisis times.’

Coming to the present times, Chauhan, who has dabbled in politics since retirement, including serving as a BJP Lok Sabha member, says that groupism within the governing body has adversely impacted Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) of which he is a Vice-President. He remains hopeful that things would be back to normal and Feroz shah Kotla, despite the myriad controversies, could get to host a Test, sooner than later.

On the fracas involving MCA’s Wankhede curator Sudhir Naik and Ravi Shastri, he finds fault with the BCCI Director. “The diatribe launched by Ravi (Shastri) was painful and uncalled for. How can you blame the curator when Indian batsmen failed to click? Lest one forgets, the rampaging South Africans plundered the bowlers all over the ground to post 435 runs on the same pitch,’ wonders Chauhan, who has a decent 2084 runs to his credit in Tests. Talking about Team India’s preparedness to take on the Proteas at their own game, even on Indian soil, he brooks no excuses.

‘Our team lacks consistency and they have to work on that area. Having a regular opening pair is the first important step. A professional should not be overly worried about the playing surface on which to bat upon. He should come out of the ‘home-advantage’ rut. Even as Indians are failing on home conditions, overseas players have demonstrated, time and again, that the spirit to adapt oneself and score runs on all wickets makes them what they are-thoroughbred professionals’.

He says the team management should prefer genuine pace bowlers like Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Ishant Sharma over the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma in the Test series against South Africa. Chetan Chauhan has come a long way from the infamous near walk-out protest staged alongside a determinedly furious Gavaskar Down Under.

By Subhash Chandra