Extra Cover!

 As the India-England cricket Test match wound to a dull, boring draw in Nagpur, I couldn’t help but go back several years when India had no pace attack worth its name but relied almost entirely on the guile of its legendary spinners and a few acrobatic fielders.

Who can forget the inimitable Eknath Solkar, who could walk into any team on the merits of his fielding skills alone! A newspaper picture of a prone Solkar with his hands fully stretched out just in front of the batsman and the ball held only by his finger-nails millimeters above the ground remains sharp in my memory and still brings on goose bumps.

Another outstanding close-in fielder was Rusi Surti whose fielding skills were comparable to the very best in the world at that time. He was known as the poor man’s Sobers and many felt that he was the great man’s equal in fielding at least.

Venkataraghavan, one of India’s legendary spinning quartet (and who, after his retirement as a cricketer, became an international umpire), was no mean fielder himself. His favoured fielding position was at Gully, a position which Yuvraj Singh later made his own before injuries forced him to slow down.

But, by far the most “glamorous” fielding position on the cricket field was the region covering Cover Point, Cover and Extra Cover. Captains like to station themselves at these positions, the better to have control over the game. Among the sharpest covers were “Tiger” Pataudi and Bangalore’s own Brijesh Patel. They prowled the cover region like cats stalking their prey and when they pounced upon the ball and sent it screaming back over the stumps, it was pure thrill for us spectators! Of course, the most majestic “super-cat” was Clive Lloyd of the West Indies. Batsmen preferred to stay rooted to their spot and not take a run rather than take on Clive Lloyd! One of India’s most successful captains, Mohammad Azharuddin also liked to field at covers, though he was equally agile at the gully position.

There is a story told about the legendary Colin Bland, the finest cover fielder of his time (and, many believe, of all time). His fielding was so awe-inspiring, that once, when play was held up, he was called upon to entertain the crowd and he kept them riveted to their seats with a breathtaking display. He became such a big star that spectators turned up just to see him field.

In more recent times, South Africa’s Jonty Rhodes made a name for himself as one of the best fielders ever. Some of the other names that come to mind are Paul Sheehan, Derek Randall, Vivian Richards, Roger Harper, Gus Logie, Mark Waugh and Rahul Dravid (the last two at slips).

Sadly, though India has improved by leaps and bounds in other departments of the game, we don’t have any legends on the field any more. Sure, we’ve had a Kaif here and a Yuvraj there, or a Kohli now and a Raina then but they are few and far between. We are no longer a fielding force to be reckoned with. Perhaps the fact that India can no longer boast of a world class spin attack has something to do with this.