“For a nation starved of wins abroad, Chandra was a rare jewel: he was for long India’s biggest match-winner overseas, with 42 wickets in five Tests. Batsmen didn’t know quite what to expect from him and sometimes neither did Chandra himself, as he once admitted,” wrote H. Natarajan, a leading sports journalist.
Chandra, a man with no pretension was a grounded person who led India to some memorable victories.
In his hey cricketing days of decade and half (1963-1980), he had admirers around him all the time, uttering accolades. However, when it came to release of his biography-The winning Hand. Biography of B.S. Chandrasekhar, only his compatriot Erapalli Prasanna was hand to launch the Biography of a bowler who struck terror in the hearts of batters world over. It is a 121 paged-book, authored by Raja (not renowned Rajan) Bala, published originally by the University of California but later by Rupa & Company.
As a polio-stricken child his right-arm was left weak. But Chandra capitalised on his handicap and turned it into an advantage. After a long, bouncing run-up, he delivered sharp googlies, spiteful top-spinners and leg-breaks at near medium pace from the back of his hand with a whipping action. He could often be erratic, but no one among India’s famed spin quartet was more likely to deliver an unplayable ball than Chandra. During scribe’s 1976 Caribbean sojourn in a tete-a-tete, both Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd as to who was the most difficult bowler to tackle and without winking the eyelid, the unanimo8s opinion was “Chandrasekhar…”.
Chandra’s 6 for 38 at The Oval in 1971 handed India their first series victory in England and he was the chief architect of India’s first win in Australia in 1978, taking 12 for 104 in third Test at Melbourne.
Strangely, Chandra delivered deadly balls while humming Mukesh’s songs. Gavaskar has revealed that he sometimes hummed a Mukesh tune on the field to inspire Chandra.
Chandra, 72, is in a good place. His son, named Nitin, like the son of his greatest hero, the singer Mukesh, is in San Jose, California, and Chandra is a grandfather twice over. His wife, Sandhya, has reconnected with a passion for playing the veena and gives public performances.
Soon after Chandra’s Test debut vs England in 1963-64, skipper “Tiger’ Pataudi told him that he would be India’s main strike bowler. Chandra smiled at the memory of a team captained by a player with one eye, and a lead bowler with one arm. Yet nobody noticed these shortcomings when these two high-class players were in action.
It is a racy and researched account of Chandrasekhar’s bowling feats that earned India historic triumphs, both at home and abroad. In the fond hope, The Winning Hand; biography of BS Chandrasekhar will be lapped up by admirers and the cricket-lovers, both at home and abroad.
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Touching romance of Rohan & Supriya
