Gulabrai Ramchand: 10 interesting things about the man who led India to its first-ever victory in Tests against Australia

Gulabrai Ramchand, born July 26, 1927, was a hard-hitting pace-bowling all-rounder who played 33 Tests for India in the 1950s.

Gulabrai Ramchand, born July 26, 1927, was a hard-hitting pace-bowling all-rounder who played 33 Tests for India in the 1950s. Shiamak Unwalla looks at 10 interesting things to know about  Ramchand.

1. A true gentleman

Ramchand was a cultured, well-dressed man, often regarded as the best-dressed member of the Indian team. According to Makarand Waingankar in Times of India, Ajit Wadekar related an incident in which Ramchand, on Wadekar’s Ranji debut, taught the young man how to eat with a fork and knife.

2.  Victory over Australia

Ramchand was at the helm when India won their first-ever Test against Australia, at Kanpur in 1959-60. Nari Contractor narrated an incident about how Ramchand got Jasu Patel to change ends, and the off-spinner ended up with innings haul of nine for 69,

3.  Recognition from Mark Taylor

When Ramchand was at a function collecting autographs of contemporary cricketers for his niece, then-Australian skipper Mark Taylor went up to him and asked if he [Taylor] could “shake the hand of the man who led India to their first win over [Australia] in 1959.” Ramchand was touched.

4.  Sindhi cricketer

India have produced surprisingly few Sindhi Test cricketers, and Ramchand is one of them. Ramchand was born in Karachi and played for Sindh before shifting to Bombay after the Partition.

5.  Post-playing days

Ramchand became a manager at Air-India after retiring from Test cricket, and remained closely associated with the company for a long time. When India went to England for the first-ever World Cup in 1975, Ramchand was the team manager.

6.  Indian cricketer of the year

Ramchand was honoured as the Indian Cricketer of the Year in 1952-53.

7.  Bombay legend

Though his overall First-Class batting record was average — 6,026 runs at 36.30 in 145 matches — his average shot up while playing for Bombay. In 47 First-Class matches for Bombay, he scored a whopping 2,521 runs at 68.13 with 10 centuries and 12 fifties.

8.  Four hundreds in successive Ranji finals

Ramchand’s worth in the powerful batting line-up can be gauged by his hundreds in four successive Ranji finals: 106 in 1959-60, 118 in 1960-61, 107 in 1961-62 and 102 not out in 1962-63. The last three hundreds were scored in away matches.

9.  Nephew follows uncle’s footsteps

Ramchand’s nephew Alan Sippy emulated his uncle by playing Ranji Trophy for Bombay between  1984-1991. Alan scored five hundreds and as many fifties in his 27 First-Class matches.

10.  Cricket fan till the end

It is said that Ramchand asked his wife to leave his Hospital bedside so that she could find out the score from an ongoing Test match. This was a few days before he passed away.