Do you think Mohinder Amarnath is scared? This beautiful piece of information captures a particularly turbulent time in Mohinder Amarnath’s life, following his legendary performance in the 1983 World Cup.
Indian cricket Test stalwart Mohinder Amarnath running scared? Much as we hate to admit it, the answer, unfortunately, appears to be in the affirmative. It is becoming increasingly apparent that there is much more than meets the eye in the recent indisposition of Amarnath, who, until recently, was the sheet-anchor of the Indian batting during the tours of Pakistan and the West Indies, and whose sterling batting and bowling performances in the Prudential World Cup played a major role in India’s victory.
The second son of the lion-hearted Lala Amarnath, as is well-known, missed the third Test at Nagpur against Zaheer Abbas’s Pakistanis under mysterious circumstances; the reason deduced by the team’s management was that Amarnath was running a temperature, but journalists averred he looked fit enough when he visited the press enclosure at Nagpur.
Although he did not participate in the Abid Ali benefit match, Amarnath was present at the Wankhede Stadium during the match and left the next day along with the Indian team, for the One-day International at Srinagar. Recalled to the side for the Kanpur Test against the West Indies, Mohinder Amarnath bagged a pair but was somewhat unfortunate in being adjudged leg before in the first innings, when shouldering arms to a delivery from Malcom Marshall, which appeared as though it would have missed the stumps.
At the Ferozeshah Kotla ground on Sunday, bewilderingly, he batted as low as number seven and was out for one, caught at the wicket off Wayne Daniel. The uninitiated were surprised at seeing Amarnath, who was perhaps the only Indian batsman to stand his ground manfully in the teeth of the menacing West Indian pace attack during the last tour of the Caribbean, emerge from the pavilion after four Indian wickets had fallen.
Indian skipper Kapil Dev sought to explain away the change in the batting line-up by stating that Amarnath was running a slight temperature and had requested that he be permitted to bat lower in the batting order. But those in the know are aware of the facts and that Mohinder was padded up to bat at number three. Those in the inner circle know only too well that the real reason for Amarnath’s apparent loss of form and his omission from the Test side is that the amicable Delhi batsman has unfortunately lost his nerve. Those who have followed the career of the gifted all-rounder know how shabbily Amarnath was treated by the powers-that-be, as a result of which he was repeatedly kept out of the Test side, despite outstanding performances in domestic games.
His initial dropping from the Test team had come after a series of failures against pace bowling in Pakistan under Bishen Bedi’s captaincy, when he was struck on the head twice by Imran Khan. When playing against Kim Hughes’ side in the Bombay Test, Mohinder walked on to the wicket in a ludicrous sola hat of the variety worn by cricketers of Lala Amarnath’s vintage.
