Vaman Kumar: 10 facts about the unlucky Indian leg-spinner

Despite being a giant in Indian domestic cricket, Kumar did not have a long international career and is considered one of the most unfortunate cricketers in the country.

Vaman Kumar, born on June 22, 1935, played just two Tests for India in 1961. Despite being a giant in Indian domestic cricket, Kumar did not have a long international career and is considered one of the most unfortunate cricketers in the country. Nishad Pai Vaidya picks 10 facts about the leg-spinner.

 

1.  Playing under the leadership of Lala Amarnath

In the year 1960, Lala Amarnath led the Indian Starlets to a tour to Pakistan. The Starlets featured some of the promising young cricketers of that era such as Farokh Engineer and Vijay Mehra to name a few. Amarnath had not played Test cricket for around eight years, but was the guiding force for the starlets. Vaman Kumar was also a part of that side and shined through the tour.

 

2.  Test debut – five-wicket haul

Kumar made his debut in the fifth Test against Pakistan at Delhi in 1961. He was supposed to play the previous Test in Chennai, which was famously known as the ‘Pongal Test’, but an injury delayed his arrival. In his first innings in Test cricket, he recorded figures of five for 64, becoming only the second Indian to bag a five-for on debut. In the second innings, he took two more scalps.

 

3.  Watching himself on the big screen

Kumar is from Tamil Nadu, which means that he isn’t conversant in Hindi. However, after his maiden outing in Test cricket, he went to watch the Hindi movie Daag. This is because the theatres used to play the news before a movie began and that featured clips from the Test match. Kumar got a chance to watch himself bowl on the big screen.

 

4.  Unfortunate exit from the Indian team

In November 1961, Kumar played his second and final Test when England arrived on Indian shores. Kumar was made to play the game despite injury as BapuNadkarni wasn’t available. He failed to take a wicket in the first innings and wasn’t used in the second. That drew curtains on Kumar’s career. India then saw the arrival of other spinners which prevented him from staging a comeback.

 

5.  First bowler to take 300 and 400 wickets in Ranji Trophy

Behind that short international career is a domestic colossus. Kumar was the first bowler to reach 300 and 400 wickets in India’s premier domestic tournament — Ranji Trophy. Kumar ultimately finished with 418 wickets at an astonishing average of 18.14. He finished his 129-match First-Class career with 599 wickets at an average of 19.98.

 

6.  Partnership with Srinivas Venkataraghavan

SrinivasVenkataraghavan’s arrival in the early 1960s gave Kumar an able cohort in domestic cricket. The duo led Tamil Nadu’s charge in tandem. “He [Venkat]was a real tactician. It was about adjustments. If one guy was at the throat of the batsman, the other had to complement him. That’s called planning,” Kumar told Wisden India.

 

7.  State Bank of India

In the years before glamour and money flowed into the sport, cricketers turned to corporates for a stable livelihood, representing them in tournaments in the country. Kumar was an employee of the State Bank of India, which also boasted of some of the biggest cricketing names in India. Kumar worked for them until 1985.

 

8.  Awakening the umpire

V Ramnarayan, the former Tamil Nadu cricketer, wrote about an incident in DNA which involved an interesting exchange between an umpire and Kumar. During one of the club games in Chennai, the umpire had fallen asleep while officiating and Kumar appealed for a leg-before. As the umpire had not seen it, he could not give it out. A stunned Kumar told the umpire, “Told you not to stuff yourself with curd-rice at lunch.” The umpire asked him to mind his language. A few deliveries later, there was another appeal from Kumar, in Tamil at that. Although the ball was going down the leg-side, the umpire gave it out!

 

9.  An eccentric genius

Kumar was known for some of his idiosyncrasies. Ramnarayan wrote in his column, “He was even known to have dropped out of important matches on a whim the way southern flute genius TR Mahalingam missed concerts. Don’t get me wrong: VV’s eccentricity only added to his aura as one of India’s best spinners.”

 

10.  Teaching the art

Kumar was a part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) spin wing along with other spinners such as Bishan Singh Bedi and ErapalliPrasanna. Kumar also spent close to seven years in the National Cricket Academy (NCA) passing down the tricks of the trade to the youngsters in the 2000s. He has also been an active part of the MAC Spin Foundation in Chennai.

(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Mumbai-based cricket journalist and one of the youngest to cover the three major cricketing events — ICC World Cup, World T20 and under-19 World Cup. He tweets as @nishad_45)

More from this writer:

John Edrich: 13 facts about the gutsy opener

Allan Lamb: 12 facts about the South Africa-born England batsman

Paras Mhambrey: 11 facts about the Mumbai stalwart

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