Gundappa Viswanath: 15 facts about the stylish Indian batsman

Born February 12, 1949, Gundappa Ranganath Viswanath is a former Indian cricketer who represented the country in 91 Tests and 25 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) during a career spanning almost a decade and a half. An elegant batsman, ‘Vishy,’ as he is fondly known as, was equally adept against pace and spin bowling. Viswanath was a wristy genius, much before the likes of Mohammad Azharuddin and VVS Laxman arrived who took the batting style to a different level. His connection with the game remained intact even after retiring, as he served as ICC Match Referee and a national selector. On his birthday, Chinmay Jawalekar looks at 15 facts from the life of one of most universally adored players.

1. Early inspirations: Viswanath picked the game watching his brother Jagannath and neighbour S Krishna. Both of them were good club players and played a huge role in Vishy pursuing the sport. His brother was a great fan of Australian cricket, and would wake him up early along just to listen to Test commentary from Down Under. Once Vishy started playing cricket, he started admiring the legendary Australian left-hander Neil Harvey.

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2. The diminutive player: During his growing up years, Viswanath had to face lot of obstacles due to his short height and fragile frame. Interestingly, a selector of the Karnataka state junior team had even mentioned that he was “too short” to play representative cricket. However, against all odds, Vishy was finally selected and he celebrated the selection in style; scoring a hundred. Later, when he was picked for the Karnataka Ranji Trophy side, he hit an unbeaten double-century on debut. That was the beginning of the making of a legend.

3. Trivia: A supremely talented batsman, Viswanath was never formally coached by anyone. Yes, that will come as a surprise to you, but Vishy never took any coaching and to him that didn’t matter, as he was always willing to listen to his seniors and learn from them.

4. Memorable Test debut: Vishy’s debut against Australia at Kanpur in 1969 didn’t start the way he would have wanted, as he scored a duck in the first innings. But a timely advice by his skipper MAK ‘Tiger’ Pataudi did wonders for him. Tiger told him, “Relax, don’t worry, you’ll get a hundred in the second innings.” And that’s exactly what happened. Viswanath scored 137 runs in the second innings; a knock that included 25 boundaries. He thus became the first cricketer to score a duck and a century on Test match debut. Vishy went on to share a special bond with Tiger as well, and on one occasion was at the receiving end of Tiger’s prank. More about it later.

5. Lucky mascot: Viswanath was India’s lucky mascot in Test cricket, as India never lost when he scored a hundred. His maiden Test ended in a draw, while the remaining 13 where he hit a ton resulted in Indian wins.

6. Gentleman Vishy: The Golden Jubilee Test against England in 1979-80 was one of the two Tests Viswanath captained India in. There was an incident in that match, which could have earned him the fair play award in today’s times. During the match, being the skipper, Vishy recalled English batsman Bob Taylor to the crease when he felt that the umpire had made a wrong decision. This decision cost India the match as Taylor went on to score crucial runs, but earned Vishy accolades from all quarter. For him, the spirit of the game always remained paramount. Magnanimous at heart, Vishy is also known to have voluntarily left his spot in the playing XI to give a chance to the youngsters sitting on the bench.

7. Special bond with Sunil Gavaskar: Both Viswanath and Gavaskar were the mainstays of Indian batting in the 1970s and they shared a lot in common. Both were short heighted, both were great at the art of batting and both had massive fan following. Their fans would often compare the two .as the debate went on for long as to who was a better player amongst the two. But even as their supporters drew a line between them, both Viswanath and Gavaskar remained the best of the friends. Going beyond friendship, Vishy married Gavaskar’s sister Kavita and thus they became a family. Interestingly, when Gavaskar became father to Rohan, he named him ‘Rohan Jaivishwa’ after three of his favourite players – West Indian great Rohan Kanhai, ML Jaisimha and Viswanath. That is how he expressed his love for Vishy.

8. Cometh the hour, cometh Vishy: Viswanath had the tendency to produce his best performances in most testing of circumstances. A number of his best innings came on difficult batting tracks and were crucial to the team’s cause. He was particularly impressive against Australia and the West Indies, both powerhouses of the 1970s and known for their strong pace attacks, and had a batting average of over 50 against them.

Against the West Indies at Madras in 1974–75, Vishy scored 97 not out in India’s total of 190 against a bowling attack containing Andy Roberts. Despite not being a century, it is considered as one of the finest performances by an Indian that led to the side’s victory. The Wisden 100 acknowledged his feat and ranked the innings as 38th best innings of all time, and the second best non-century. His match-winning 124 out of 255 on a bouncy Madras wicket against West Indies in 1978-79, and innings of 83 and 79 against New Zealand on a green-top in Christchurch, 1975-76 are some other examples of his fine batting.

9. The epic chase: In 1976, against West Indies in Trinidad, India scripted history by successfully chasing down a victory target of 403. Though Gavaskar’s 102 set the tone, it was Vishy’s stroke-filled 112 not out that saw India home and helped the team set a new world record for a run-chase.

10. Tony Greig’s baby?: During the 1973-74 Test series between India and England, Viswanath scored a hundred in the fifth and final Test in Bombay. It was then that something funny happened. In umpire Madhav Gothoskar’s words, who was officiating in the match, “When (Gundappa) Viswanath scored his century, (Tony) Greig lifted him and cradled him like a baby, singing a lullaby. When Greig then scored a hundred, Gavaskar called Vishy and they both tried to lift Greig. Of course, they couldn’t!”

11. Greatest Indian batsman: Gavaskar himself may be considered as one of the greatest batsmen India have produced along with Sachin Tendulkar, but the little Little master Master once said that Viswanath was the “greatest batsman” he had ever seen. Vishy’s brother-in-law was all praise for him when he said, “I have seen situations when we all struggled against the opposition,  but then Vishy would score off the good deliveries. The rest of us, we thought we could keep out the good balls and score off the bad ones. But Vishy, he had four-five strokes to the good balls that were bowled to him.”

12. Tiger’s prey: Tiger Pataudi was a big prankster and there are numerous instances of his team-mates falling prey to his practical jokes. Here’s a famous incident, when poor Vishy fell in Tiger’s trap. Pataudi had invited his teammates for an invitational match at his estate in Bhopal, and Viswanath was one of them. On their day-off, he took the entire team out in the jungles of Gwalior, where he had arranged for a prank; a ‘fake encounter’ with the ‘bandits’. It took serious turn when the so called bandits, who were actually Tiger’s servants, took over the scene. The likes of Viswanath, Vijay Manjrekar and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar soon started crying when they learnt about Erapalli Prasanna being shot dead by the bandits. Prasanna and Raj Singh Dungarpur, who managed to escape from the scene, were actually Tiger’s accomplices in the act and the other players including Vishy were of course oblivious of this fact.

The bandits then told the cricketers that they were being “held to ransom”. Poor, little Vishy was tied to a tree and he soon burst into tears and started explaining that he was a famous cricketer and the country needed his services. But his pleas fell on deaf ears as the “bandits” had never heard of cricket. The players were eventually released when the “ransom” was supposedly paid to the “bandits”. Vishy still shivers at the very mention of this funny incident. It actually took him and others a very long time to realise, and agree, that the “bandits” were actually Tiger’s servants and the whole incident was stage-managed by the former India captain.

13. Universally loved player: Vishy has arguably been one of the most loved cricketers of all time. Not only from his home state Karnataka, but players from across India and world had affection for the little fellow. Be it Tiger Pataudi or Kapil Dev or other Indian Test cricketers who played alongside him and claimed him as their favourite colleague, Vishy attracted tremendous love and affection from his peers.  Outside India, the likes of Greg Chappell, Greig and Trevor Bailey too showered adulation and praises on the diminutive batsman on different occasions.

14. Post-playing days: After retiring from the game, Viswanath remained connected with the game as he served as a match referee for the ICC from 1999 to 2004. Before that, he also served as vice-president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and had a stint as chairman of national selectors from 1992-96. He also worked as a batting coach at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore and for a brief period served as the manager of the Indian cricket team. He currently resides with wife Kavita and son Daivik in Bengaluru.

15. Honours: In 2009, Viswanath was chosen for the CK Nayudu lifetime achievement award, the highest honour the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can bestow on a former player.

(A self-confessed cricket freak, Chinmay Jawalekar is a senior writer with CricLife and CricketCountry. When not writing or following cricket, he loves to read, eat and sleep. He can be followed here @CricfreakTweets)