Rajinder Goel, Haryana left arm spinner who took over 600 wickets in the Ranji Trophy, talks to CricInfo about his career and how he felt at not playing a test at all in spite of a phenomenal domestic record.
Anil Gulati30-Jun-2001Sunil Gavaskar has listed 31 idols in his book of the same name
published in 1983. Left arm spinner Rajinder Goel figures in the elite
group. Goel who took a record 640 wickets in the Ranji Trophy, India’s
national competition, never had the opportunity to play for the
country, apart from one unofficial Test against Sri Lanka (then
Ceylon) in 1964-65. Had he been born in any other era, he would almost
certainly have got a break at the highest level, but Bishen Bedi’s
presence put paid to his aspirations. As he says, it was a game that
fate played on him (“yeh sab kismat ka khel hai”). Despite the
heartache, Goel’s simplicity and good manners endeared him to one and
all, from a dreaded dacoit imprisoned in Gwalior jail to Gavaskar.
Goel was born in United Punjab’s Narwana town in 1940 and played his
first Ranji Trophy game for South Punjab in 1958-59. He later also
represented Delhi and Haryana. Goel’s bag of 640 wickets in 123 games
at 17.15 is a record unlikely to be broken. In a recent interview to
CricInfo, Goel bared his thoughts.When did you first begin playing cricket and when did you first
establish yourself as a player to reckon with?I used to play right from my childhood. I was in Vaish High School
where one of my teachers, Lala Krishan Dayal, who was a good player
himself, taught me the rudiments of the game. After that I was
selected for Punjab and subsequently North Zone. My performance was
good and I was chosen for the All India camp in Chail under the
supervision of Lala Amarnath. So that’s how I came up.You took 640 wickets in the Ranji Trophy but were still confined to
domestic cricket. What was the reason?Yes, I played well in domestic cricket but at that time every zone in
the country had great bowlers. Bishen Bedi established himself in the
Indian team and performed very well, taking 266 Test wickets. So I had
few chances to play at the highest level. But he was a great bowler,
so I have no regrets about it.But when you look back on your career, in some corner of your heart
there must be a tinge of regret that you didn’t play for India?It was not written in my fate to play Test cricket. I used to play for
my own pleasure and when I got wickets it used to feel good. Haryana
won many matches and the state grew from strength to strength. There
were so many spinners but only one left armer could play for India and
Bishen Bedi was the man. So I didn’t really feel cut up about it.But being such a consistent wicket taker every season, did you ever
feel any injustice?You should ask the selectors. My job is to play cricket and perform
well. The rest is upto the selectors to choose me or not. Maybe they
thought I was not good enough. In my opinion as long as Bishen Bedi
continued to play, other left armers like Shivalkar, Hyder Ali, Dilip
Doshi, Dhiraj Parsana, none of them got a chance.So do you blame it on luck, selectors or the players who came into the
team before you?I think I was born at the wrong time. In my days all the left armers
who played from different zones were good. Some of the blame can also
be laid at fate. I was called for the Bangalore Test against Clive
Lloyd’s team in 1974/75 when I was in form and bowling very well. Bedi
was not there for that match; he was removed from the team for some
reason. I was sure that I would play but the evening before the Test
when the team was announced, my name was missing. It’s all a game fate
has played on me.You did play a lot of games against visiting sides. Were there any
memorable moments among them?When Kim Hughes’ Auatralian team came to India (in 1979/80) I took
nine wickets including 6/103 in the first innings, bowling Hughes.
Bishen Bedi had left the game, so I was hopeful that I might be
selected at least this time but it was not to be and I felt a little
sad.You had a very long career. Was there any time when you felt that you
were not fit to continue?I never thought about it. I always used to tell everyone that the day
I realised the truth that my fitness wasn’t upto the mark, I would
quit then and there. When I finally left the game in 1984/85, even
during that season I had 39 wickets in six matches which I think was
the highest in the country. So at no time did I feel I was unfit to
continue.I have heard that a dacoit once wrote a letter to you. Could you tell
us what it was about?It gives me great pleasure to relate this incident and I have done so
many times before. There was this dacoit Bukha Singh Yadav who was
lodged in Gwalior jail. I got a letter from him after playing a match
and everyone at home was a bit apprehensive. But as soon as I read it,
I felt very happy and even replied to him. He had congratulated me for
taking 600 wickets in the Ranji Trophy. I’m probably the only
cricketer in India whose performance was recognised even by a dacoit.The game has changed a lot since your days. What changes do you
comprehend?Yes, there is a lot of difference in the way the game was played those
days. Today there is more of quantity but less of quality. These days
the facilities are very good. Where did we have such good grounds in
our time? If you made one dive, there would be bruises on our hands
and feet. There weren’t such good bats either.Do you fear that ODIs are becoming a threat to Test cricket,
especially to cricket as an art form?These days, people are so busy, they don’t have the time, and prefer
to watch ODIs. In ODIs if you play a cover drive and the ball goes to
fine leg for four, then it’s a good shot. It doesn’t matter how it
comes, runs are the bottomline. Having played so many one-days, the
players are beginning to play the same way in Test cricket too. If
it’s just a matter of making Test cricket as popular, why don’t you
make the first and second innings of limited overs duration. You must
have seen that when the Australian team visited here, the grounds were
full for all three Test matches and there was a lot of public
interest.In your days there were a lot of great spinners, not just in India but
outside as well, like Underwood and Gibbs. What was so special about
these guys?That was the era of spinners and all of them used to work hard.
Bowlers these days have begun to give greater emphasis to batting and
fielding. But we gave bowling the most attention and in practice we
used to relentlessly iron out our weaknesses. You don’t find such
devotion in the kids these days. They take net practice as a formality
and bowl to two or three batsmen in the nets and leave. When there are
so many facilities, you have Academies opening all over the place and
so many senior players ready to guide them. I saw all three Tests
against Australia. Harbhajan Singh was the only bowler who looked like
taking a wicket. All the other bowlers I saw had no nip or speed off
the wicket and they did not turn the ball significantly either. Even
though we got turning tracks in one or two games, only Harbhajan could
make effective use of it.As chairman of the national junior committee, how would you evaluate
the progress of the junior players?We’ve been fortunate with the 3-4 teams sent out in the last couple of
years. In 2000, the Under-19 boys won the World Cup in Sri Lanka, then
the Under-15 team lifted the Asia Cup in Malaysia and finally we had
the Under-17 team winning the Asia Cup in Bangladesh earlier this
year. The junior selection committee watches all the domestic matches
and we’ve chosen very balanced sides and earned the rewards for it.What are your future plans?I’m the head coach of the Satpriya Cricket Academy in Rohtak and I
would just like to transfer all my knowledge to the boys here. Ask me
after 2-3 years and I can show you some of the fruits of my work.
