In his autobiography, former cricketer Syed Kirmani recalls his first tour of England with the team

During 1970–71, the tour of the West Indies was in the offing and team selections were about to take place. In the previous season (1969–70), my performance in the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy was much better than P Krishnamurthy of Hyderabad and I had thought my chances for selection were good. However, to my surprise, when the team was finalised, neither of us was a part of the Indian team touring the West Indies.

Instead, Rusi Jeejeebhoy from Calcutta was selected to be the second wicketkeeper. Farokh Engineer, who was the main wicketkeeper of the team, was already in England when team selection was announced. He went to West Indies to join the rest of the team led by captain Ajit Wadekar. Rusi Jeejeebhoy’s selection caught us by surprise, but then there was nothing that could be altered. That tour proved to be a very successful tour for the Indian team. They established the record of beating West Indies on their home ground for the first time. Sunil Gavaskar made his debut in that series and created history by scoring a hundred in each innings against the mighty squad of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Vanburn Holder and Keith Boyce. Oh my, what a bowling line-up that was! Undoubtedly, they were the fastest bowlers in the world at that time. Nevertheless, the Indian team met great success in the West Indies.

In the same year, the Indian team was due to tour England under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. Both Krishnamurthy and I were selected to be part of the team and Rusi Jeejeebhoy was dropped for some reason. A school kid until yesterday, I suddenly found myself in the Indian senior team touring England. It was an indescribable moment; I was both excited and delighted.

Krishnamurthy and I were in the reserves, only playing the county games. In our very first match, we were supposed to play against Indian Gymkhana. Normally, the Indian team plays the Indian Gymkhana as a warm-up game to get acclimatized. And believe me, coming from India, England was a very different climatic condition for us. It was severely cold. Krishnamurthy and I were roommates and we had instructed the operator to wake us up. But comfortably tucked under the layers of blankets, the warmth and comfort put us in such deep slumber that neither of us heard the wake-up call. Sleep becomes deeper when you are warm and cosy under chilly conditions.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and both of us jumped out of bed. The receptionist informed us that the team had left for the ground and the manager, Colonel Hemu Adhikari, was waiting for us in the lobby. Oh, my God! We faced a lot of ire before the first match of the tour. Both the reserve wicketkeepers sleeping tight and my God, I can’t forget the admonishment that we both received on that morning and rightly so! Our weekly allowance was withheld from us for more than two weeks. And the colonel had to hire a taxi to take us to the ground. And the whole day, Krishnamurthy kept wickets.

We were getting alternate games of the county. And of course, both my wicketkeeping and batting skills were also on display. I think people started to notice that my skills were not unidimensional like most keepers at that time.

History was created at the Oval, where India won against England. Winning against England in England for the first time was a great experience. Sitting in the reserves, watching Alan Knott and talking to him, I learnt a lot. I used to spend a lot of time with him. For the uninitiated, Alan Knott was one of the greatest wicketkeepers ever to play the game. He was described by cricket journalist Simon Wilde as “a natural gloveman”. Watching Farokh Engineer play the test matches had its own advantages too. For me, the England tour was a great learning experience. Coming back to the Oval victory, it was a historic victory for the Indian team.

We returned to a great reception in India. We were directly taken to the CCI cricket ground from the Bombay Airport, where we were felicitated. What a motorcade it was from the airport to the CCI Stadium! There was a huge crowd of people on either side of the road who were throwing flowers and garlands at the Indian team. For the next couple of years, I had to be content with sitting on the sidelines and watching players like Farokh play and keep wickets. I was dropped from the team for reasons unknown to me. Then came the 1974 tour of England, when India was playing under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. This was the most disastrous tour for the Indian team. There were three incidents that marred the entire tour and the reputation of the Indian community.

Firstly, we lost the series quite badly, which was a huge embarrassment. Then, there was this big brawl between Farokh Engineer and Syed Abid Ali during a match. Moreover, an English tabloid carried the photograph of the late Sudhir Nayak with a headline that screamed “Indian Star Caught Shoplifting”. That was a total disaster! Can you imagine? Sudhir was my roommate. He had been reportedly caught stealing a pair of socks and it was shocking not only for me, but for the entire team. We were hiding after the tour, not to be seen in public. To make things worse, the Indian High Commission asked him to apologise, instead of providing legal aid to him.

BK Nehru was the Indian High Commissioner to the UK at that time and we had been invited along with the English team for a reception at his residence. Unfortunately, the whole team arrived late for the reception at his residence. Usually, as juniors, we used to hang around with senior players like Ajit Wadekar, Bishan Singh Bedi and Farokh Engineer. To be seen around with them in such gatherings was a matter of pride to a youngster like me. As a junior, I used to always stick mostly with Ajit Wadekar. Once we arrived at his residence, the whole team was insulted by Mr Nehru as we were ushered inside through the back entrance instead of the main one. His words are still vivid in my memory. The English team was also there and in front of everyone, he shouted, “You cricketers not only play bad cricket, but you don’t have manners as well. Get out of here.” He turned around and walked away.

Excerpted with permission from Stumped: An Autobiography, Syed Kirmani with Debashish Sengupta and Dakshesh Pathak, Penguin India.