It’s Knott cricket, Kiri!

Syed Kirmani, the former Indian wicketkeeper, was first picked as a reserve wicketkeeper for the historic tour to England in 1971.

Syed Kirmani, the former Indian wicketkeeper, was first picked as a reserve wicketkeeper for the historic tour to England in 1971. With P Krishnamurthy featuring in most of the tour games and Farokh Engineer playing the Tests, Kirmani spent a lot of time in the dressing room. The stumper had one vice: He loved to sleep. Needless to say, he spent the idle time in the dressing room to indulge in his favourite activity.

In his book Idols, Sunil Gavaskar recalls a funny incident where Ram Prakash Mehra, one of the members of India’s managerial staff, woke up Kirmani during one of the tour games and instruct him to observe the legendary Alan Knott keep wickets. Mehra was of the opinion that it would be a great education for the 21-year-old Kirmani and that it was his duty to push him to watch Knott. But, once Mehra was away, Kirmani went back to sleep.

When Mehra was back, he couldn’t find Kirmani anywhere. One of the Indian team members covered for Kirmani by telling Mehra that the young stumper was sitting close to the sight screen in order to get a better view of Knott’s skills!