Clayton Murzello Column: Our one-Test man from Dadar

In this day and age very few former Test players in Mumbai do not own a car Kenia Jayantilal 67 is one Thatrsquos why we were in a black and yellow taxi the other night returning from a function at the Taj where Sir Garfield Sobers was the guest of honourOur journey to his Dadar east home gave me an opportunity to make him to recall that famous 1971 tour of the West Indies He didnrsquot speak much on the first Test at Kingston the only time Jayantilal made it in a Test XI but spoke about other aspects of that series The opening batsman from Hyderabad was edgy at the start of the tour for a very basic reason Vegetarian foodKenia Jayantilal at his Dadar East residence with a copy the late Bob Woolmerrsquos cricket instructional book PicRane AshishldquoThe great Rohan Kanhai came to my rescue He assured me I would get my vegetarian fare each day at the ground for lunch and amazingly it happened Indian families mdash wherever we went on the tour mdash fed me Indian food including puranpolis and believe me they were as tasty and well made as in India Dinner was not a problem either because there was always some party thrownrdquo he recalledThe Kingston Test which he played in witnessed the hosts following on a rarity considering West Indiesrsquo strength ldquoI can still remember Bishan Singh Bedi stressing in the team meeting that we must play aggressively and go all out for a win and not be satisfied with a drawrdquo he said The Test was eventually drawn with Sobers and Kanhai thwarting Indiarsquos victory bidHe batted only once in the Kingston Test match and was out to a blinder of a catch by captain Sobers Uncapped Sunil Gavaskar who was injured watched Sobers taking the catch inches off the ground and exclaimed to Eknath Solkar sitting besides him that all he now wanted to see irrespective whether he played on the tour was Kanhairsquos falling sweep History tells us Gavaskar figured in the next Test Jayantilal didnrsquot The SMG era in Indian cricket had begunldquoI could have played the Georgetown Test of that series because I got 59 and 122 against Guyuna just before the Test Kanhai who was leading the Guyana team came to our dressing room and said to me lsquoso yoursquoll play the Test nowrsquo When he discovered I was not in the team he said lsquovery sorry Jay you should be playingrsquordquoJayantilal was picked for the 1971 tour of England but didnrsquot play any of the three Tests ldquoEven before the start of the series Prasanna told me that we both wonrsquot be playing the Tests only tour games I was surprised when he said that but it turned out to be so truerdquo he saidJayantilal came on as substitute for Dilip Sardesai on the fourth day of the Oval Test that India won and caught dangerman Basil DrsquoOliveira at midon off Venkataraghavan for 17How can any conversation with a 1970s Hyderabad cricketer not veer towards Pataudi and Jaisimha It was teetotaller Jayantilal who used to serve them their drinks after play ldquoJaisimha would have quite a few while Pat used to have only two and nurse his drink Those days spent in the dressing room after play were memorable Jai used to talk cricket and when he spoke cricket he was dead serious while Pat liked to talk about music also He played the tabla well Most of the time he used my bats and pads I never saw Pat carrying a kit bag and it was an honour to lend him my gearrdquoIf one thought that cricketers of old did not train hard ask Jayantilal to give you his time table on nonmatch days He learnt to train hard from fellow Hyderabad player S Abid Ali ldquoAbid is like my elder brother He played very seriously and always trained hard At five each morning we used to run 20 rounds of the Lal Bahadur Stadium followed by running up and down 30 steps of the stands Then we used to head to the gymnasium for stretching exercises After breakfast Abid got ready to attend office at State Bank of Hyderabad while I went to Nizam College After college there were net sessions to attend from 3 pm to 6 pmrdquoHe served Hyderabad till 197879 and was an important member of the Mafatlal Sports Club team that won nine consecutive Times Shield titles in a row under Ashok MankadJayantilal later became a coach and played a role in the emergence of Abey Kuruvilla and other fast bowlers through the BCAMafatlal Bowling Scheme in the 1990sOur taxi ride was approaching the end Jayantilal had had an unusually late night Keeping fit is as important to him now as it was in his playing days Thrice a week he lifts weights and swims at the Bombay Gymkhana Kenia Hirjee Jayantilal may have batted in just one Test innings for India but he has been part of historyOur oneTest men should never be forgottenmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom