Rajinder Goel, Haryana left arm spinner who took over 600 wickets in the Ranji Trophy, talks to CricInfo about his career and how he felt at not playing a test at all in spite of a phenomenal domestic record.
Anil Gulati30-Jun-2001Sunil Gavaskar has listed 31 idols in his book of the same namepublished in 1983. Left arm spinner Rajinder Goel figures in the elitegroup. Goel who took a record 640 wickets in the Ranji Trophy, India’snational competition, never had the opportunity to play for thecountry, apart from one unofficial Test against Sri Lanka (thenCeylon) in 1964-65. Had he been born in any other era, he would almostcertainly have got a break at the highest level, but Bishen Bedi’spresence put paid to his aspirations. As he says, it was a game thatfate played on him (“yeh sab kismat ka khel hai”). Despite theheartache, Goel’s simplicity and good manners endeared him to one andall, from a dreaded dacoit imprisoned in Gwalior jail to Gavaskar.Goel was born in United Punjab’s Narwana town in 1940 and played hisfirst Ranji Trophy game for South Punjab in 1958-59. He later alsorepresented Delhi and Haryana. Goel’s bag of 640 wickets in 123 gamesat 17.15 is a record unlikely to be broken. In a recent interview toCricInfo, Goel bared his thoughts.When did you first begin playing cricket and when did you firstestablish yourself as a player to reckon with?I used to play right from my childhood. I was in Vaish High Schoolwhere one of my teachers, Lala Krishan Dayal, who was a good playerhimself, taught me the rudiments of the game. After that I wasselected for Punjab and subsequently North Zone. My performance wasgood and I was chosen for the All India camp in Chail under thesupervision of Lala Amarnath. So that’s how I came up.You took 640 wickets in the Ranji Trophy but were still confined todomestic cricket. What was the reason?Yes, I played well in domestic cricket but at that time every zone inthe country had great bowlers. Bishen Bedi established himself in theIndian team and performed very well, taking 266 Test wickets. So I hadfew chances to play at the highest level. But he was a great bowler,so I have no regrets about it.But when you look back on your career, in some corner of your heartthere must be a tinge of regret that you didn’t play for India?It was not written in my fate to play Test cricket. I used to play formy own pleasure and when I got wickets it used to feel good. Haryanawon many matches and the state grew from strength to strength. Therewere so many spinners but only one left armer could play for India andBishen Bedi was the man. So I didn’t really feel cut up about it.But being such a consistent wicket taker every season, did you everfeel any injustice?You should ask the selectors. My job is to play cricket and performwell. The rest is upto the selectors to choose me or not. Maybe theythought I was not good enough. In my opinion as long as Bishen Bedicontinued to play, other left armers like Shivalkar, Hyder Ali, DilipDoshi, Dhiraj Parsana, none of them got a chance.So do you blame it on luck, selectors or the players who came into theteam before you?I think I was born at the wrong time. In my days all the left armerswho played from different zones were good. Some of the blame can alsobe laid at fate. I was called for the Bangalore Test against CliveLloyd’s team in 1974/75 when I was in form and bowling very well. Bediwas not there for that match; he was removed from the team for somereason. I was sure that I would play but the evening before the Testwhen the team was announced, my name was missing. It’s all a game fatehas played on me.You did play a lot of games against visiting sides. Were there anymemorable moments among them?When Kim Hughes’ Auatralian team came to India (in 1979/80) I tooknine wickets including 6/103 in the first innings, bowling Hughes.Bishen Bedi had left the game, so I was hopeful that I might beselected at least this time but it was not to be and I felt a littlesad.You had a very long career. Was there any time when you felt that youwere not fit to continue?I never thought about it. I always used to tell everyone that the dayI realised the truth that my fitness wasn’t upto the mark, I wouldquit then and there. When I finally left the game in 1984/85, evenduring that season I had 39 wickets in six matches which I think wasthe highest in the country. So at no time did I feel I was unfit tocontinue.I have heard that a dacoit once wrote a letter to you. Could you tellus what it was about?It gives me great pleasure to relate this incident and I have done somany times before. There was this dacoit Bukha Singh Yadav who waslodged in Gwalior jail. I got a letter from him after playing a matchand everyone at home was a bit apprehensive. But as soon as I read it,I felt very happy and even replied to him. He had congratulated me fortaking 600 wickets in the Ranji Trophy. I’m probably the onlycricketer in India whose performance was recognised even by a dacoit.The game has changed a lot since your days. What changes do youcomprehend?Yes, there is a lot of difference in the way the game was played thosedays. Today there is more of quantity but less of quality. These daysthe facilities are very good. Where did we have such good grounds inour time? If you made one dive, there would be bruises on our handsand feet. There weren’t such good bats either.Do you fear that ODIs are becoming a threat to Test cricket,especially to cricket as an art form?These days, people are so busy, they don’t have the time, and preferto watch ODIs. In ODIs if you play a cover drive and the ball goes tofine leg for four, then it’s a good shot. It doesn’t matter how itcomes, runs are the bottomline. Having played so many one-days, theplayers are beginning to play the same way in Test cricket too. Ifit’s just a matter of making Test cricket as popular, why don’t youmake the first and second innings of limited overs duration. You musthave seen that when the Australian team visited here, the grounds werefull for all three Test matches and there was a lot of publicinterest.In your days there were a lot of great spinners, not just in India butoutside as well, like Underwood and Gibbs. What was so special aboutthese guys?That was the era of spinners and all of them used to work hard.Bowlers these days have begun to give greater emphasis to batting andfielding. But we gave bowling the most attention and in practice weused to relentlessly iron out our weaknesses. You don’t find suchdevotion in the kids these days. They take net practice as a formalityand bowl to two or three batsmen in the nets and leave. When there areso many facilities, you have Academies opening all over the place andso many senior players ready to guide them. I saw all three Testsagainst Australia. Harbhajan Singh was the only bowler who looked liketaking a wicket. All the other bowlers I saw had no nip or speed offthe wicket and they did not turn the ball significantly either. Eventhough we got turning tracks in one or two games, only Harbhajan couldmake effective use of it.As chairman of the national junior committee, how would you evaluatethe progress of the junior players?We’ve been fortunate with the 3-4 teams sent out in the last couple ofyears. In 2000, the Under-19 boys won the World Cup in Sri Lanka, thenthe Under-15 team lifted the Asia Cup in Malaysia and finally we hadthe Under-17 team winning the Asia Cup in Bangladesh earlier thisyear. The junior selection committee watches all the domestic matchesand we’ve chosen very balanced sides and earned the rewards for it.What are your future plans?I’m the head coach of the Satpriya Cricket Academy in Rohtak and Iwould just like to transfer all my knowledge to the boys here. Ask meafter 2-3 years and I can show you some of the fruits of my work.