Subhash Gupte and the lethal ‘drink’

Biswajit Jha

One man`s loss is another man`s gain, goes an English adage. But, if both the men happen to be high quality cricketers, it’s then a colossal loss for the game of cricket. If we go through the annals of cricket, the names of Subhash Gupte and Erapalli Prasanna would be engraved in golden letters. Their contribution towards Indian cricket was enormous to say the least. They were the first true exponents of their respective arts in India, leg-spin for the lethal Gupte and off-spin for the cunning Prasanna. It was the Chennai Test in 1961-62 series against England, which saw the emergence of a truly world class off-spinner in Prasanna. The same series also saw the unfortunate end of Subhash Gupte’s career. Prasanna, infact, was selected in place of Gupte. Gupte was a leg-spinner, who could bamboozle any batsman with his leg-breaks and googly. When the Indian team was announced after the third Test in Delhi, which ended in a lackluster draw, there was a huge surprise for the entire cricketing fraternity in India, as there was no mention of Gupte, who, then, was at his prime, testing the nerves of the best of batters including the redoubtable Gary Sobers, who later on described Gupte as the best spinner he had ever faced in his glorious cricket career. The exclusion of Gupte was more surprising because the Calcutta pitch, the venue for the next Test, was expected to help slow bowlers and Gupte’s absence could definitely hamper India’s chance of winning the series, which was leveled 1-1 at that time. It was like dropping Bishan Singh Bedi or Anil Kumble or Kapil Dev in their heyday. Also missing from the squad was all-rounder Kripal Singh. His axing was justified as he was in indifferent form during that series. But, rumours started doing the rounds, and finally it was revealed that the duo was dropped from the squad on ‘disciplinary ground’.The ‘sensational story’ was that the pair had been accused by a receptionist at the Imperial Hotel of Delhi, where the India team was staying during the third Test, of inviting her up to their room after she was done with her shift. They denied the ‘baseless’ allegation, but agreed that Kripal, indeed, called the girl but only to get some drinks for them. "She complained to the Indian manager, an Army man, saying she didn`t expect Indian cricketers to behave in this way," Gupte recalled years later. On being told about the charges against him and Kripal, Gupte, was preparing to go to his home in Mumbai, but bumped into his co-accused at the airport. "I cornered him at the newspaper stand. He said, `You had nothing to do with it`. I saw Chidambaram (the Indian board president) at the airport and told him, `Your culprit is confessing`. He said, `We will talk on the plane.`"Like always in Indian cricket, the whims and ego of the administrators of the game got the better of Gupte’s career. As there was no evidence against Gupte, he had to be let off. Since the board had already made up their minds of punishing both the players, Gupte was reprimanded by one of the board members for not stopping Kripal from using the hotel phone. Utterly disgusted by the suggestion, he responded with barely disguised indignation. "He is a big man. How can I stop him?" "Nothing had happened," Gupte reflected. "Kripal had not raped the girl or assaulted her, he just asked her out for a drink." Ultimately, the board took the decision that neither player should be considered for the subsequent West Indies tour. Gupte, who was only 32 at that time and had taken 149 wickets at 29.55 in 36 Tests, never played for India again and instead went to Trinidad and settled there, where he had married a local girl two years earlier. "What a shame India should lose two such good players over what was… a rather trivial incident quite unconnected with cricket," the Nawab of Pataudi later observed. "I suppose one must learn to be philosophical about these things. After all, one man`s disappointment is another man`s opportunity." Mihir Bose, in his famous book History of Indian Cricket sarcastically summed up Gupte’s career as thus: "India`s first great spinner ended his career because he happened to share a room with a man who wanted a drink with a girl."