A dash of Colah

Mumbai has gone down in the record books for producing the maximum number of Test players The count is at 72 the latest being Shreyas Iyer who scored a hundred on debut against the touring New Zealanders recentlyHowever this list doesnrsquot include Sorabji Hormasji Munchersha Colah or SHM Colah who represented Mumbai in two firstclass games but played the Ranji Trophy for Nawanagar a couple of years after making his Test debutNext weekend will mark 90 years for Colahrsquos match for the Probables against the Possibles held in the buildup to Indiarsquos historic Test tour of England later in that year Colah topscored with 61 in the first innings which gave the selectors good reason to pick him for Indiarsquos 1932 odysseyA signed image of SMH ColahldquoMy fatherrsquos early days were spent in Bombay separated from his parents who lived in Kohlapur where his father Homi Hormusji was a Superintendant of Textile Mills He was looked after by his grandparents aunts and unclesrdquo informed the former Indian Test cricketerrsquos son Manchi S Colah from CaliforniaIncidentally apart from the Mumbai cricket and its heydays of Quadrangular later Pentangular Colah was also the first Test cricketer from another iconic institution of the city St Xavierrsquos College years before they produced prolific Test cricketers like Rusi Modi Polly Umrigar Nari Contractor Sunil Gavaskar and Ashok MankadManchi who too had completed his school and college from Xavierrsquos remarked ldquoSoli Sorabji enrolled at St Xavierrsquos High School where he took to cricket and played for the school team captained by his great friend Dolly Kapadia If I can remember correctly they won the Harris Shield sometime around 1915 Soli then went on to St Xaviers College where his love for cricket intensified and he dropped out after only a yearmdashtook a job with the Imperial Bank which of course had an outstanding cricket team that included his great friend and former Test cricketer from Mumbai LP JairdquoSMH Colahrsquos son ManchiThe Xavieritersquos consistent performances in Mumbai cricket too earned him a berth in the Englandbound Test team of 1932 As per historical records the philanthropical Parsis in Mumbai were the first ldquonativesrdquo to embrace the Britishinvented gentlemanrsquos game on this corner of a foreign field Colah who was inspired by arguably the greatest Parsi to wield the willow Dr Mehallasha Edulji Pavri followed in the footsteps of his physician mentor to become the torchbearer of the community in cricket when the subjugated nation under the British Raj acquired Test status from the then Imperial Cricket Council ICCThe superstitious righthand batter who ldquoalways batted with an old unshelled almond from St Xavierrsquos College days in his trouser pocketrdquo scored 22 and 4 in the historic 1932 Lordrsquos Test that saw AllIndia going down fighting before putting up a brave fight ldquoYears later in 1954 I met an Indian amateur cricketer in London who had mingled with the 1932 Indian team and had been present at the match He recognised the name Colah at once and said lsquoThat day your father was at the top of his form and he would have made a hundred if not for his impatience he was seething mad at seeing Nayudu scratching around like a hen instead of playing cricket and Soli would show him how to playrsquo How I wish he had kept his cool in that very first official Test matchrdquo recalled the 85yearold US citizen who was one of the earliest IT professionals from India in Silicon Valley after earning engineering degrees from London University and Stanford UniversityTall and burly Colah dubbed as the ldquoAdonis of the teamrdquo by the English press was an outstanding fielder and plucked two catches at Lordrsquos Wisdenrsquos 1933 edition reported that his throw from the farfield was ldquothe answer to a wicketkeeperrsquos prayerrdquo and that ldquono English player threw in as beautifully as Colah except Bill VocerdquoldquoSoli was one of the first Indian cricketers to recognise the importance of fielding early in his career he would practice for hours at the Parsee Gymkhana ground by having the maalis groundsmen hit the ball around the field so that he could practise running in collect and throwing the ball to the wicketkeeper Few players in those days took the trouble The maalis were rather gratified to see lsquoColah sahibrsquo scrambling after their free shotsrdquo Manchi recalledA prolific and passionate tennis player as well Colah paid a visit to the All England Club to watch the 1932 Wimbledon Championships and ldquowas delighted to see some of the best players of the time such as Fred Perry and Baron Gottfried von Cramm Germanyrsquos best tennis player until Boris Becker and Steffi Graf came along in the 1980srdquoHowever the temperamental cricketer didnrsquot quite see eyetoeye with his first Test captain Nayudu during the pathbreaking sojourn of 1932 ldquoMy father did well collecting some 1300 runs overall including some 935 runs in firstclass matchesmdashagain mean old CK Nayudu saw to it that Soli and others whom he disliked didnrsquot play enough firstclass fixtures to get their thousand runs On the ship returning to India after a heated argument Soli threatened probably with Amar Singh to throw Nayudu overboardrdquoHowever a capricious Colah made the cut to the playing XI of Indiarsquos historic firstever home Test against England in 1933 at his hometown of Mumbai He made 31 and 12 coming lower down the order In that match he also picked up an injury that ended his Test cricket career even though he remained a pillar for Western India Nawanagar and Bombay during an illustrious firstclass career from 1922 to 1942ldquoSoli was invited to the 1936 England tour trials but my mother had an extremely complicated Caesarean delivery for my birth in January 1936 and she took a long time to recover So he was fortunate enough to miss the tour that was eventually a near disasterrdquoManchi who claimed to have been discouraged by his parents to play the colonial game as they didnrsquot see any future in it recounted ldquoMy fatherrsquos philosophy was best expressed by the lines he often quoted with a slight modification from the original one uttered by renowned American sportswriter Grantland Rice lsquoWhen the great scorer comes to write against your name He will not ask how many runs you have made but whether you have played the game wellrsquo ldquoThe writer is an international media professional amp published author