Wisdens wisdom is questionable

This year marks 40 years for Sunil Gavaskar being named among Wisden Cricketers Almanacks five cricketers of the year in the 1980 editionIf Gavaskar fans had their way he would have featured in the 1972 edition for his stupendous debut year of 1971 After plundering 774 runs in the West Indies he scored half centuries against England at Lords and Manchester But for a cricketer to make Wisdens five he has to perform stupendously on English soilOn the 1974 tour of England Gavaskar hit what he later called his best Test hundred in the first Test at Old Trafford He thus described his century in Sportsweeks World of Cricket JanuaryMarch 1984 It was also an extremely difficult day to bat June 8 1974 It was cold windy and it kept on drizzling just enough to make the umpires continue play and not take us off the fieldIn 1979 Gavaskar slammed an epic 221 in the final Test at the Oval where India fell nine short of the massive 438run target He got into Wisdens five on the basis of that performance Wonder whether Dicky Rutnagur who wrote the profile on Gavaskar in Wisden 1980 was indulging in a veiled attack on Wisdens tardiness in including Gavaskar as late as 1980 after his 50th Test match Gavaskar has made and broken records at all levels of the game Flip through the statistical section of Wisdens Indian counterpart Indian Cricket and his name figures on almost every page wrote RutnagurIn his Sunday Midday column last week Gavaskar provided no indication of support for Wisdens policy of considering only performances on English soil and the fact that a player can be the cricketer of the year only once in his career Gavaskar pointed to Wisden opting for second best and lower performances in the wake of Australias Steve Smith not qualifying to be among Wisdens five for this years almanack because the 2019 Ashes hero was chosen in 2016While it is true that the publishers of the nowdefunct Indian Cricket Annual followed the same policy as Wisden it was essentially about Indian cricket For international cricket one had to go to the Test Cricket in Other Lands chapterThe West Indies Cricket Annual too had a performanceonourshores criteria for cricketers of the year but it was interesting to revisit a complete set of Caribbean annuals 1970 to 1991 to discover how the late editor Tony Cozier started to opt for logic as against tradition when it came to Cricketer of the Year honours In the 1981 edition for which he broke tradition Cozier wrote Our Five Cricketers of the Year include for the first time a player previously chosen but it has been such a memorable year for IVA Richards that this departure from the norm was virtually automaticMalcolm Marshall and Desmond Haynes were named cricketers of the year five times while Curtly Ambrose bagged a hattrick in 1990Wisden broke tradition too when they named VVS Laxman and Zimbabwes Andy Flower among their five cricketers in 2002 In the then editor Graeme Wrights words Laxman immediately became an exception after his monumental 281 against Australia at Kolkata in 2001 while Flower was chosen for his exploits at nonEnglish venuesWhen it came to Wisden 1973 four of the chosen five were Australians ndash Greg Chappell Bob Massie Dennis Lillee and Keith Stackpole English pacer John Snow was the fifth cricketer of the year for his 24 wickets in the 1972 Ashes But I wonder why he didnt get that honour the previous year after playing a significant part in England regaining the 197071 Ashes in Australia with 31 wicketsOne great batsman who missed out on being Wisdens five was Australian Doug Walters not good enough scores across four Test tours to England Gundappa Viswanath was another class act who was never named among Wisdens top five although he scored 341 runs which included a hundred at Lords on the 1979 tour Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni two of the modern eras most celebrated captains were never recipients of the Wisdens Cricketer of the Year honour Ganguly scored two Test centuries on the 1996 tour and also led India splendidly in the summer of 2002 when his team clinched the NatWest Series in unbelievable fashion and followed it up with the 11 result in the Test seriesFrom all accounts Dilip Vengsarkars Wisden honour was most publicised He was included in the 1987 edition after his seriesimpacting performance in 1986 when he became the first nonEnglishman to score three centuries at Lords Vengsarkar didnt recall being overly thrilled when he was delivered the news of his special entry into Wisden but remembered getting the Padma Shri in 1987 which coincided with a period in which he was the number one batsman in the world in the Deloittes ratingSachin Tendulkar made it in the 1997 edition while Anil Kumble in 1995 became the first Indian after KS Duleepsinhji to be recognised for his performances in county cricket ndash 105 wickets in 17 games for Northamptonshire Kumbles fellow Bangalorean Rahul Dravid was picked as a cricketer of the year for his extraordinary performances in the 1999 World Cup And had it not been for his heroics in the 1983 World Cup Mohinder Amarnath wouldnt have been among Wisdens five in 1984 his runheavy season of 198283 notwithstandingIf not for the onEnglishsoil policy Mohammed Azharuddin like Gavaskar in 1972 would have been one of Wisdens chosen five in 1985 after his three centuries in a row against David Gowers team in India But Azharuddin got into the pages of the 1991 edition for his sublime batting in England the previous year Ravi Shastri could have made it in the same edition for his two centuries in the 1990 series but its an honour he had to end up without Ironically Shastri was asked to write a foreword to the Wisden on India anthology in 2011 I never became a Wisden Cricketer of the Year though I like to think I came close once or twice But when I look at the names of the 15 Indians that have been chosen in the last 77 years I understand why Wisden has enshrined the most prized legends of Indian cricket he wrote It has but there is an inescapable feeling that Wisden for all its reverence is far too much about English cricket than what it should be considering how far and wide cricket has spread Yet we want to have a bite of it We know its not akin to fast food but without substantial Indian spice in the mix it still doesnt have the perfect flavour Maybe we should actually keep reminding ourselves that the Wisden Cricketers Almanack is an English cricketcentric productmiddays group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay 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