Column | Remembering the daredevil Raman Lamba | Cricket News

Of the 22 recorded deaths due to first-class cricket field accidents, the one in Dhaka 25 years ago remains the only one involving an Indian player. While we can consider ourselves lucky that no incidents like this have happened in India yet, it is a matter of great sadness that a cricketer wearing the national colors met this tragic fate on foreign soil. Raman Lamba, the former Indian national team player who went to meet the Maker in this way, was exceptionally unlucky as this is the only death that has happened to a player while on the field due to hitting a red cherry.

Lamba was a moderately successful cricketer who broke into the national team in the mid-1980s. He was an attacking opener and an excellent fielder, which should have made him an asset in limited overs. But those were the days when the impact of Test match cricket cast a huge shadow over the limited-overs version, and selectors did not want to look beyond Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Krishnamachari Srikkanth while filling the batsmen’s opening slots in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). ). To be fair, the restrictions on placing fielders in ODIs were still in their infancy and the concept of a specialist cricketer was many years away. Hence, even though his strength lay in more than one particular type of cricket, Lamba tried to mold himself into a batsman who would suit both versions of the game.

During Australia’s tour of India in 1986, Lamba got a chance to enter international cricket. He had a dream ODI debut as he won the man of the series award after scoring 278 runs, including a century, in six matches against the Aussies. He soon started Test cricket against the touring Sri Lankans in December 1986 and played in all three matches of the series. But luck didn’t smile on him for too long and he found himself in the Test side when the home series against Pakistan began. An indifferent outing against Pakistan in ODIs denied him a place in the squad for the 1987 World Cup.

Lamba’s career exploded after this setback. He played in just one Test – against the West Indies at Delhi in 1987. He was scheduled to play in the first Test during the tour of Pakistan in 1989, but injured his finger on the morning of the opening day of the match. replaced by Mohammad Azharuddin who grabbed this lifeline with both hands. He didn’t get to watch the Tests after that and couldn’t do much in the following ODIs, resulting in him being sidelined after the tour ended. Lamba went on to play domestic cricket where he scored mountains of runs and was admired by the up-and-coming players of Delhi and the northern region. He also started playing professionally and appeared for clubs in Ireland and Bangladesh.

The injury that cost him his life occurred on 20 February 1998 in Dhaka, where Lamba had gone to play professionally for Abahani Krira Chakra in the Bangladesh Premier League. In the match against Mohammedan Sporting, he was asked to move forward from the pitch to short leg when left-arm spin bowler Saifullah Khan was on. Lamba refused the offer of a helmet while standing near the bat, saying “it’s just three balls and it’s not a problem”.

However, the next ball was bowled short and batsman Mehrab Hossain pulled it hard but straight at Lamba, who ducked instinctively. The ball hit Lamba’s head with such force that it bounced and slipped behind the keeper, who had to run back a few steps to catch it. But even as the players gathered to celebrate, it was discovered that Lamba had fallen to the ground. Although he got up and walked back to the pavilion, he had to be taken to the hospital. Emergency surgery helped remove the clot from his brain, but he was unable to control the continued bleeding and breathed his last three days later at a government hospital in Dhaka.

Lamba’s death was a huge shock, as the chances of players being injured near the spot, seriously injured, had decreased since the introduction of helmets. In retrospect, it seems foolish that Lamba turned down the offer of a helmet when asked to move closer to the bat. But Lamba, like all players of his generation, had seen fielders like Eknath Solkar and Tony Greig stand at a hand-trembling distance from the batsmen and take incredible catches. This could be because these players had sharper reflexes or the bowlers controlled the length and line of the bowlers so much that they did not bowl any loose balls. Lamba was clearly unfortunate as he died from an injury that could have been avoided if he had taken simple precautions and worn a helmet.

Didn’t players like Solkar and others of his generation hit when they were on the field near the bat? It should be remembered that helmets only became common in the late 1970s, when Solkar had left the international arena. In Gavaskar’s autobiography ‘Sunny Days’, there is a mention of Solkar being hit on the head during the 1975-76 tour of New Zealand and being taken as a precaution. We should understand that those were days before the advent of scans and other imaging methods that allow doctors to peer inside the skull. The x-ray did not reveal a skull fracture, but Solkar’s confidence suffered a serious setback after this incident. He played in just two Tests after that and was a shadow of his old self when he was close with the bat in both.

It will also be recalled that Mohinder Amarnath was hit on the head while playing at short length in the Chennai Test against England in January 1977. Mike Brearley’s shot hit Mohinder on the head and from there bounced into the hands of bowler Erapalli Prasanna. , who had a nice catch. The commentators were surprised to see Mohinder casually taking his position in the same position when the next batsman arrived at the crease and took the guard. In retrospect, Mohinder was very lucky to survive without serious injury. There was also an example when Gavaskar himself got hit in the face and fractured his cheekbone during the tour of New Zealand in 1976-77.

The game has come a long way since the 1970s. The advent of the helmet has certainly increased safety among both hitters and shortstops. But it cannot be denied that this sense of protection has created a tendency among players to take their eyes off the ball, something that rarely happened before. In addition, it is very rare to see a high-quality spin flex that gets anywhere near as infectious as the famous Indian spin quartet of that time. The improvement in the quality of cricket bats and the power of today makes it even more difficult to stand close to the batsmen. White-ball cricket’s over-striking and emphasis on restricting runs rather than picking up strikes has led to a shift in emphasis to cutting distances and cutting runs down the field rather than breathing a bat cushion down the necks of batsmen waiting for catches. Therefore, there are very few fielders in modern cricket who have the reflexes and temperament to field near the bat.

Lamba unfortunately fell into the gap between the two generations and paid the price for this point. He, like many other players of his time, thought his reflexes were good enough to protect him and considered wearing a helmet “guys”. For this reason, he was known to avoid wearing a helmet whenever possible on the field. But he hadn’t considered the development of high-quality bats and the power they could impart to strikes. This led to an unfortunate accident and fatal injury that claimed his life at a relatively young age.

Currently, fielders standing near the bat are well protected from all injuries at all levels of the game. This has ensured that the game has become much safer these days, although old-timers may miss the romance and thrill of watching the bat-pad pick up catches after a short-leg fielder’s full-length dive. Lamba’s life and death has taught us that the adage ‘better safe than sorry’ holds true in cricket too.

(The writer is a former international cricket umpire and a senior bureaucrat)