Interview/ Mohinder Amarnath, 1983 World Cup winner, and Rajender Amarnath, former cricketer and author
If Mohinder Amarnath’s life was a movie, it would be a franchise with too many sequels to count. He describes it as a ‘Hitchcock thriller’. The son of Lala Amarnath would grow up to be a fine cricketer―the man of the match in the 1983 World Cup final―but he would also learn quickly that the famous last name was a double-edged sword. Dropped repeatedly from the team, Mohinder had to, he says, prove his worth every time to claw his way back. And claw he did.Now, more than 50 years since his international debut, Jimmy, along with younger brother Rajender, has recapped his story in around 450 pages full of grit, humour, triumph and despair. In an interview with THE WEEK, the Amarnath brothers talk about the process of writing the book and how their cricket world compares to the one they see now.
Q/ You saw the advent of Kerry Packer cricket, and you once signed a contract to play for him. Do you think the same thing is happening with the T20 leagues mushrooming all over the world? Do you think these leagues will take promising youngsters away from other formats?
A/ I think it’s all about the money. You can make good bucks and you’ll be comfortable in life. The foreign players think differently. Especially when they are in their 30s, they feel they don’t have much of a future. The other boards don’t have [as] much money to pay them like the Indian board does. So they want to go and play these T20 leagues in various countries to earn more quickly. But there is nothing more prestigious or satisfying than representing your country.
Q/ Rajender, you have now written a book on your brother as well as your father. How would you compare the writing processes?
A/ When I was writing Papaji’s book, he had expired. [I wrote that] book because not many people knew about him. He was the first icon of Indian cricket; he got a century [on debut] in 1933 against England. He lost so much of his cricket, his prime, because of World War II. People just knew him as the stormy petrel of Indian cricket. So when I wrote that book, it was basically a tribute from a son to a father.
Coming to Jimmy... I didn’t know much about him though he was my brother. It was when I started writing that I said, ‘Oh my God, you take a celebrity who’s your brother for granted, you didn’t know the kind of turmoil he has gone through.’ He was dropped, he came back, he was dropped again, he came back. But what went on inside his mind, I didn’t know till I started writing the book.
Q/ Jimmy, how did you mentally deal with the repeated exclusions?
A/ I never plan anything for tomorrow, and I never believed in yesterday. I just wanted to live for the day. And I always used to tell myself that I’m good enough to be a part of the team. And whenever I got a raw deal, I knew I could definitely make a comeback. But I had to work even harder than the previous comeback, because then I had to prove myself once again. The rules were different for an Amarnath. If I was playing for some other state, and if I had some other surname, I probably wouldn’t have been out of the team at all. But that kept me going. I just didn’t want to take things lying down. [I wanted] to prove people wrong.
Q/ You played against the great West Indies teams. You write about how some Indian batters would walk at even half-hearted appeals rather than stand and face the fast bowlers. West Indies Test cricket is currently not at the same level. However, we saw the current team beat Australia in a day-night Test in Brisbane earlier this year. Do you think they could touch their past heights again?
A/ I have my doubts. When you see the current players, they don’t have in them what yesteryear players had.... They will win one or two Tests overseas. They will be very good in the shorter version because the temperament suits them. [But] the real test is Test cricket, which they are lacking in.
In the olden days, a lot of cricketers used to play county cricket in England, especially till the 1990s. So, I think they had the experience and they knew how to play in different conditions. I don’t see that happening with the current West Indian players. Maybe they will produce one or two players in a classical way. But otherwise, I think they’ll only be good in the shorter versions.
Q/ You also write about your time playing in Pakistan. What was your relationship with their players? And what do you think of the situation now? Do you think India and Pakistan should play bilaterally?
A/ In my time, you played hard. Both teams were representing their country and trying to give their best. What happens on the field, you don’t take it to the dressing room or to the hotel. Being a Punjabi, I can relate with them better.
They would never say anything to me, probably because of my father, who was considered a local as he grew up in Lahore. There was a lot of respect for him. Coming to today’s cricket, I don’t think we should play Pakistan at all until there is peace on the border. Whatever problems we are facing are coming from that side. We all know that, the whole world knows that. If one soldier dies, he has sacrificed his life for India. So why should we go and play cricket in Pakistan? I’m sure that the government knows what is supposed to be done.
Q/ Rajender, when you’re writing about your sibling, especially the childhood bits, there may be differences in how you remember events. In that case, whose version do you go with?
A/ Actually, most of the anecdotes of his childhood were told to us by my mother. Whenever Jimmy would come from Bombay to Delhi to meet our mother, I also used to be there. She would tease Jimmy by telling us all the stories... and it just stuck in my brain. And when we were writing, I told Jimmy that I remember all these stories. He said, “Oh, wonderful. Let’s put them in.”
Q/ Jimmy, being an accomplished all-rounder yourself, why do you think India is not able to produce many fast-bowling all-rounders in Tests?
A/ I don’t know. I think it comes from within yourself, to become an all-rounder. Because when I was young, I used to bowl a lot. And I would bat in the middle order. I think the [credit] goes to Papaji because he always wanted all three brothers to do different things. I feel if you are an all-rounder, you will be a rare thing in the team. In India, we see all-rounders in spinners, not in pace bowlers any more. Like [Ravindra] Jadeja is a genuine all-rounder.
It comes from within yourself, whether you’re happy doing one thing or you want to do two because it’s taxing also. A lot of batters will just bowl a little in the nets. Not seriously, just to warm up or maybe if they are short of bowlers. The only genuine [pace-bowling] all-rounder I can think of is Kapil Dev.
Q/ Any advice for the Indian team in Australia right now?
A/ No, they don’t need advice. You don’t become bad [overnight] if you lose. We are emotional people. When we lose, we just put them down. There are still three more Tests. Conditions will change from venue to venue. I think it’s going to be a tough series for both teams. India have the experience and some quality players. They have to pick the right combination wherever they play. Jadeja has to be there.