This cricketer had stars for company at night —literally!

21 year-old man who, on waking up in a few hours from his sleep on the roadside, would be making his Test debut for India against Australia in a Test starting on New Year’s Day of 1960 at Bombay’s Brabourne Stadium — not very far from the road where he slept.

“He lived in a chawl in Bazaar Gate with six siblings, most of them sleeping outside the room. He took his pillow and bedsheet and walked towards the gymnasium on the way to the Bombay Gymkhana from VT. The parapet of its of its garden formed his bed. There was no fan for comfort, but there were mosquitoes around and stars above for company.”

So what is so surprising when there are millions like the man above who are as poor and poorer who have to sleep on the roadside? That the above extract from a book finds mention in the anecdotes section of CricLife is a pointer that it related to cricket. But readers will find it difficult to believe that this barely 21 year-old man who, on waking up in a few hours from his sleep on the roadside, would be making his Test debut for India against Australia in a Test starting on New Year’s Day of 1960 at Bombay’s Brabourne Stadium — not very far from the road where he slept.

To the present generation that knows cricketers becoming overnight millionaires and lavished with trappings of the rich wherever they go, the above story would seem unbelievable. But the truth is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not provide accommodation to local cricketers during Test matches!

The unfortunate cricketer in the above anecdote is Budhi Kunderan, whose tale is narrated by Makarand Waingankar in his book, “Bombay Boys — Chronicles of Cricketing Heroes”. Kunderan kept wickets for 148 overs in that Test without moaning the fact that he had to sleep out in the open for all five days of the game.

Hats off to Kunderan and Indian cricketers of that generation!