Farokh Engineer: 18 facts about the stylish Indian cricketer born in the wrong era

Born February 25, 1938, Farokh Maneksha Engineer is a former Indian wicket-keeper batsman who represented the country in 46 Tests and 5 ODIs over a career spanning almost a decade and a half. An attacking batsman blessed with a flamboyant personality, Engineer was extremely agile behind the stumps. The fact that he successfully kept wickets to the bowling of India’s famous spin quartet is testament to his wicketkeeping abilities. The first Indian cricketer to endorse Brylcreem, Engineer played for Lancashire, Bombay and Rest of the world XI apart from India. On his 78th birthday, Chinmay Jawalekar looks at 18 facts from the life of the cricketer, who perhaps was born in the wrong era and could have thrived in the current age of Twenty20 (T20) cricket.

1.  Last Parsee to play for India: Born in a Parsee family in Mumbai, Engineer went on to play cricket for India adding to the rich Parsee legacy of Polly Umrigar, Nari Contractor, Rusi Surti among others who played for India. Engineer was the last from his community to play for India, as not a single Parsee has represented the country after him.

2.  First star from Podar College: Engineer was the first star cricketer produced by Mumbai’s Podar College. Later Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar and Ravi Shastri followed his footsteps and went on to play for the country.

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3.  Flying Parsee: Though young Farokh chose cricket as profession, he initially wanted to be a pilot. Right from his childhood days, he was passionate about flying. He had even passed his private pilot’s licence at Bombay Flying Club and used to fly little Piper Cherokees or Tiger Moths quite low and would often dive under bridges. But his mother did not want him to be a pilot, and hence he continued concentrating on his cricket.

4.  Inspirations: Engineer took to wicketkeeping quite accidently. His brother Darius, who also used to play club cricket, was an off-spinner and played a pivotal role in Engineer becoming a wicketkeeper. It happened so that Darius’ club’s wicketkeeper was not gathering his deliveries down the leg properly. In desperation, Darius asked Engineer to keep wickets. From then on, there was no looking back. Engineer was also inspired by the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali and almost idolised him. Engineer met him a couple of times and felt honoured when the icon presented him with his book with the words written: “With best wishes to Farokh”.

5. Baptism by fire: Engineer made his First-Class debut for Combined Universities at an age of 20 against the touring West Indian side. It was baptism by fire, as he was up against a bowling attack that had Wes Hall, Roy Gilchrist, Sonny Ramadhin and Willie Rodriguez. He could do little in the game (0 and 29*) that his team lost by an innings and 152 runs.

6.  The career defining knock: Engineer’s 109 as opener in the third Test against the West Indies at Madras (now Chennai) in 1966-67 turned out to be a career-defining innings for him. Prior to the match, he had been in and out of the Test team as he faced stiff competition from Budhi Kunderan and KS Indrajitsinhji. After his scintillating hundred (94 of which came in the first session of the Test), Engineer was a regular member of the side till his retirement.

7.  Brylcreem boy: After his 109 against West Indies, Engineer became a household name as well as a sought-after one by the marketers. A lot of brands wanted to sign him as their brand ambassador and soon he was offered a contract by Brylcreem. He thus became the first Indian cricketer to endorse Brylcreem, a product that used only the most glamorous men as models. The same product was endorsed by the likes of Denis Compton and Keith Miller.

8.  Played key role in first Indian win on English soil: Engineer was instrumental in India’s first win on English soil. In the third Test of the 1971 series played at The Oval, Engineer scored 59 in the first innings, which was also highest individual score for India in the match. In the second innings, he scored 28 not out, and it was his crucial partnership with Gundappa Viswanath that took India to its first Test win in England.

9.  Lancashire: Engineer played for English County club Lancashire from 1968 to 1976. After the 1967 tour of England, renowned cricket commentator John Arlott — who coincidentally shares his birthday with Engineer — wanted him to play for his beloved Hampshire. At the same time, Worcestershire and Somerset were also interested in acquiring Engineer’s services, who finally decided on Lancashire for its great history and beautiful ground. By the time he left them after 1976, the team had won the Gillette Cup four times and the John Player League twice. Post retirement, he decided to reside in Lancashire and also served as its vice-president.

10.  Anecdote I: Former British Prime Minister John Major, famously a lover of the sport, shares an interesting story with Engineer. Once during a Lord’s Test, Engineer mentioned to him about his forthcoming biography. To Engineer’s surprise, Major asked him if he could have the honour of writing the foreword. This was flattering for the cricketer.

11.  Rooky: Engineer got another nickname during his playing days in England. English cricket’s legend Fred Trueman started calling him as ‘Rooky’, which he derived from Farokh.

12.  Trivia: Legendary soccer star and Manchester United winger George Best was a good friend of Engineer. He was also Engineer’s neighbour in Manchester for many years. The two of them shared the common love for good food and would often visit Asian restaurants together.

13.  Jobs: During his playing days, Engineer used to work for Mercedes-Benz in sales and marketing department. After joining Lancashire, he found a winter job at Hawker Siddeley. Post his playing days, he got into business. He also served as a brand ambassador for Jaguar and Lycamobile.

14.  Anecdote II: There’s another interesting anecdote from Engineer’s life involving Queen of Britain. During India’s England tour of 1967, Engineer’s wife was expecting the birth of their first child. The delivery date coincided with the Lord’s Test, prior to which the Indian team was to be introduced to the Queen. When the team was with the Queen, a telegram arrived from the hotel. Donald Carr, Assistant Secretary of MCC, read it and handed it over to The Queen, who turned to Engineer and said, “Engineer, good news for you.” He replied that he had been expecting it. “What was your wish?” she asked. He said he knew it was a baby girl as his mother had promised him at her deathbed to return as his first child.

15.  Anecdote III: Engineer took to commentary post retirement and covered matches for BBC Test Match Special. He was covering the 1983 World Cup final when fellow commentator Brian Johnston asked him if the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, would declare a public holiday if India wins the World Cup. Engineer said in jest that he had no doubt she would, since she was an avid TMS listener. Within minutes a message received from Mrs Gandhi’s office was relayed to the commentary team that she had heard their comments and had indeed declared a holiday. He shared in an interview with ESPNCricinfo that a few months later, on a visit to India, when he met Mrs Gandhi, she said, “Thanks for reminding me about the declaration of the public holiday. That will fetch me extra votes in the next election!”

16.  Family: Engineer’s father Maneksha was a doctor by profession (quite a paradox – Dr Engineer) while mother Minnie was a housewife. He named his first daughter after his mother’s name. Tina, Roxanne and Scarlett are his other three daughters.

17.  Awards: Engineer was Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1965 and was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian honour Padma Shri in 1973. In 2013, BCCI decided to give him, along with Bapu Nadkarni and Eknath Solkar (posthumously), a special award for outstanding contribution to Indian cricket.

18.  Born in the wrong era: With his attacking style of play, it can be safely said that Engineer was perhaps born in the wrong era. He himself once said that he was born to be a one-day player. He also believes that T20 is great entertainment, though it can’t produce genuine Test cricketers, adding “I would have loved to play this brand of cricket. Some tell me, ‘You used to play T20 40 years before its invention.’”

(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)