More than just a World Cup wonder

Yashpal Sharma is best known for the part he played in Indiarsquos 1983 World Cup triumph but there was more to the departed cricketer than just his oneday skillsYashpalrsquos passing comes at a time when the BCCI has no place for the Duleep Trophy in their ambitious 202122 schedule drawn up in the hope that Covid19 wonrsquot deprive our domestic toilers of cricket and remunerationIt was in this zonal tournament that Yashpal announced his arrival on Indiarsquos domestic scene in the 197778 season with a 173 for North Zone In the South Zone bowling lineup were BS Chandrasekhar EAS Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan the first two playing on their home turf of Bangalore The fourth member of the famous Indian spin quartetmdashBS Bedimdashwas Yashpalrsquos captainHari Gidwani his North Zone teammate remembered on Wednesday how Yashpal was unafraid of reputation and attacked offspinners Prasanna and Venkataraghavan with impunity in that gameLater that season Yashpal scored a hundred in each innings for Punjab in the prequarter finals of the Ranji Trophy against eventual runnersup Uttar Pradesh at Mohan Nagar Those two innings in February 1978 made the Polly Umrigarheaded selection committee mark Yashpal down as a strong India candidate His 99 run out for Rest of India against Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka in the Irani Cup sealed his selection for the 197879 tour of Pakistan although Yashpal had to wait till the 1979 tour of England for his Test debutmdashin the second Test at LordrsquosThe home series against Australia saw him get his first Test century in the fourth Test at New Delhi This came after enduring a pair in the previous Test at Kanpur Yashpalrsquos was the third century in the India innings after captain Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath The Kanpur pair must have weighed heavily on his mind but encouragement came from Dilip Vengsarkar who reminded Yashpal that he himself had bagged a pair at Madras against WI in 197879 but scored a century in the very next Test Yashpal went on to emulate his senior teammate and Vengsarkar was delighted for himThe Mumbai greatrsquos 122run stand for the fourth wicket with Yashpal almost won India the Delhi Test against Pakistan in December 1979The start of Yashpalrsquos innings against Australia was far from convincing He struggled against Jim Higgs the legspinner and it was painful to see Dicky Rutnagur wrote in Sportsweek ldquoYashpal who eventually set off blazing and booming fireworks initially struggled desperately for survival This phase of his innings was tedious to watch But one had to give him credit for his grit and concentrationrdquoThe same correspondent informed readers about the high fever that kept Yashpal in bed for two days after the Kanpur pair Rutnagur added ldquoYashpal had to contend not only with bowling of high calibre poor form and his ill health but the antagonism of a noisy crowd which made no secret of the fact that they willed him outrdquoYashpal stayed unbeaten on 100 as Gavaskar declared at 5107 in the drawn game for which the visitors earned high praiseYashpal also proved his worth in the next Test at Calcutta where another draw was witnessed The match ended with India falling 47 short of the 247run target with four overs to go when Yashpal who was at the crease with MV Narasimha Rao appealed for bad light something that surprised his captain Gavaskar ldquoI was surprised when Yashpal appealed against the light when only 15 short of a century I thought he should have got his century for he deserved itrdquo wrote Gavaskar in SportsworldMAK Pataudi the magazinersquos editor was effusive in praise for Yashpalrsquos batting on the final day ldquoOne doubts whether Yashpal has played better than this He hit the ball cleanly on both sides of the wicket and he is one of the better runners between the wickets Any aspirants for the No5 position in this side will have to be patientrdquoAfter 197980 Yashpalrsquos next battle against the Aussies was in 198081 India allowed the cheer of Sandeep Patilrsquos 174 in the Adelaide Test to evaporate in the second innings Yashpal walked in and hung around long enough to help India draw the game He faced 157 balls and stayed put for 169 minutes before he was trapped leg before by Bruce Yardley for 13Karsan Ghavri who stayed unbeaten with Shivlal Yadav when the tense game concluded told me that Yashpal was a player who could shift gears seamlessly ldquoPeople praise his gritty ways and rightly so but he could attack mercilessly too If you wanted quick runs Yashpal could get them If you wanted him to stonewall the opposition he could do that too And donrsquot forget he was a topclass fielder who saved so many runs for his teamrdquo said GhavriGrit and guts will forever be associated with Yashpal and who better than the West Indians of the 1980s to underline these qualities Malcolm Marshall was impressed when Yashpal returned to the crease after one of his deliveries left the Indian concussed during the Trinidad Test of the 198283 seriesYashpal joins Marshall in Elysian Fields Both are the only deceased ones from their respective 1983 World Cup teamsMay it stay that way for many many years to comemiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper