31 year old resigns !! ~ dancing Horse and a leggie !!

A post on some dance and on a Cricketer – today comes news that a 31 year old player has announced his retirement from Cricket, coming as it does after Babar Azam's resignation from white-ball captaincy.  

உங்கள் கல்யாண ஜான்வாச ஊர்வலம் எப்படி நடந்தது - திறந்த மோரிஸ் அல்லது பிளைமவுத் கார் அல்லது குதிரை மீதா !!  வட இந்தியர்களின் கல்யாணங்களில், குதிரை மீது மாப்பிள்ளை, பேண்ட் வாத்தியம், குழுமி இருப்போர் நடனம் என சிறப்புற வந்து இறங்குவார்.  தமிழகத்தில் வசதி படைத்த பெரும்பாலானோர் வீட்டு சுபநிகழ்ச்சிகளில்,  நாட்டியக் குதிரைகளின் ஆட்டத்தைப் பார்க்கலாம்.  இந்த பாடலை கேட்டு ரசித்தது உண்டா ??

 

'நாட்டியக் குதிரை நாட்டியக் குதிரை!!  நாலாயிரம் பொன் வாங்கலியோ'

சாட்டையைப் போல காலு; சவுரியை போல வாலு

நீட்டமான குதிர  …. ..  வாட்ட சாட்டமான குதிர

 

It was a hit song from an iconic movie ‘Chandralekha’ produced and directed by S. S. Vasan of Gemini Studios released in 1948.  Starring TR Rajakumari, MK Radha and Ranjan, the film follows two brothers (Veerasimhan and Sasankan) who fight over ruling their father's kingdom and marrying a village dancer, Chandralekha.   The excellent sound track was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao, with lyrics by Papanasam Sivan and Kothamangalam Subbu.  The background score was composed by M. D. Parthasarathy.  The movie had 11 tracks in the original Tamil version. M. D. Parthasarathy  was an  music composer and actor, a "Sangeetha Bhushanam" of Annamalai University.   After completing his course in the early 1930s, Parthasarathy flourished in the early talkies with his sound training in Carnatic music.   

Horses are attractive ! – dancing horses captivate people’s attention.  In Pushkar and other fairs they command fairly a high price.  The Nation, Peru, has dancing horses, walking trees, llamas and alpacas.  For those of us addicted to Cricket in 1980s, he was a dancing bowler.  He jumped, danced, swiveled, rotated his arms and did everything and made the ball talk too – he revelled in the art of leg spin, googly.  

Subash Gupte, VV Kumar, BS Chandrasekhar, MV Narasimha Rao, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Narendra Hirwani, Anil Kumble, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Yuzvindra Chahal  ……….all leg spinners – who played for India.  Across the border, there was a legend with a different action, springy jump, landing the ball near leg and turning it big .. .. .. he played 67 tests took 236 wickets and 132 wickets in 104 one dayers.  Qadir had an ordinary Test debut against England in December 1977, where he scored 11 with the bat and took a solitary wicket of England’s No. 11 Bob Willis.  However,  had a  brilliant ODI debut against New Zealand at Edgbaston during the 1983 WC. With his all-round performance of 12-4-21-4 and 41 not out, also the top score of Pakistan’s innings, he was adjudged the man of the match, albeit in a losing cause.  

In 1980s, he was the torchbearer of the art of wrist spin, doing it in style.  He had a fiery temperament and mysterious style.  Read that before  the 1982 tour to England, captain Imran Khan asked him to grow a French beard to enhance the aura and it worked: England were his favourite victims through his career, including the best bowling in an innings by a Pakistani, 9 for 56, in Lahore.  Qadir's action was a wonderfully extravagant routine, and he admitted more than once that it was contrived as a spectacle to distract batters. Variety was the key;  In Nov 2008, Qadir was appointed Pakistan's chief selector, but he resigned after a little over six months in the job. He died of a heart attack a few days short of his 64th birthday in Lahore. 

 

Remember seeing him bowl at Chepauk in Feb 1987, which I would remember ever for that magnificent century by Krishnamachari Srikkanth.  In Reliance World Cup 1987,  it was the last over,  Pakistan needed 14 runs off the six.  Abdul Qadir who had done nothing of significance with the ball in that match turned it on, hitting a two and then launching a straight six that drew the crowd roaring to its feet. Two were needed off the last ball,  Walsh ran in to bowl the last ball and pulled up without delivering: Jaffar, at the non-striker's end, was well out of his crease, heading up the wicket. Walsh could have run him out comfortably but chose not to do so and headed back to bowl the delivery again. Qadir scored  the necessary runs off the last ball. Pakistan were through, Qadir was a hero – Walsh though earned a name for being a sportsman, let his side badly down and West Indies’ downslide started around that time. 

A couple of years later in 1989 when India toured Pak with Srikkanth at helm, a 16 year old Sachin Tendulkar made his debut – an onedayer at Peshavar was washed out and a festive match was played.  In an interesting anecdote when Sachin walked in – India  needed 69 runs in five overs or so. He had a go at Mushtaq Ahmed who had taken two wickets and hit him for a couple of sixes. Qadir then came up and  said, "Bachchon ko kyon mar rahe ho? Hamein bhi maar dikhao" ("Why are you only hitting the kid? Hit me too.")  In that 20 over match  Pakistan had  put on 157 and India got closer thanks to an 18-ball 53 from a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar. One over from Abdul Qadir read: 6, 0, 4, 6 6 6. It announced Tendulkar to the world.

 

Decades have passed by, Qadir is no more.  In between his son made debut and at that time, there were some criticism that he has been pampered because of his father.  Life moves on and now Usman Qadir has announced his retirement from Pakistan cricket at age 31.  Usman Qadir played for Pakistan in 26 international matches, 25 of which were T20Is and one ODI.    Prior to making his debut for his country, he played for Western Australia and Lahore Qalandars, the latter of which resulted in a contract with the Perth Scorchers. Following his triumphant stint in Australia, he declared his intention to represent the country. 

The dancing horse is a marvel, so was the delivery stride of Adbul Qadir.
 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
3^rd Oct 2024.