Amol Muzumdar's cricketing career: An ordeal like no other

Sachin Tendulkar and Amol Muzumdar (R)

The onlookers associate cricket in India with glamour and stardom. We, the fans, intensely love our national cricketers and even regard some of them as divinely. The cult position of our cricketers is fiercely begrudged by their international counterparts.

However, in a country like India which is blessed with an abundance of talent, one not only needs to be good but also to be extremely fortunate to break into the national squad. Needless to say, every cricketer in our country dreams of donning the Indian cap one day; however, not all those dreams are realized. Certainly, Amol Muzumdar falls under that cateogory. He strived hard for it. He deserved it, beyond question. He was patient. He waited, and waited, and was eternally kept waiting. The opportunity, well, never arrived.

This Mumbai maestro could do no wrong with the bat in hand. He was consistent and scored bucketloads of runs, only to be overlooked all through his playing days. If excellence and supremacy in Ranji trophy counts for anything, then the protagonist of this piece has every reason to be upset and frustrated about.

Shardashram Vidyamandir school is well known in the cricketing circles for having produced many a cricketing gem. Representing the school in a Harris Shield match, Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli combined well to forge the then world record partnership of 664 runs, a feat far famed. What isn’t far famed is the fact that Muzumdar was a part of the team and was waiting in the dugout, listed to bat next. This incident, ironically yet sadly, defines his cricketing career.

Amol Anil Muzumdar was a highly regarded batsman in Indian domestic cricket during his playing days. In the classical mould, this right-handed batsman boasts of all the delightful textbook strokes. With a near-perfect technique and a steady temperament, he was a calming influence on the Mumbai side.

He shot into prominence with a massive 260-run knock in his debut Ranji game against Haryana in the 1993-94 season. The merit of the innings can be better gauged by the fact that it was a pre quarter-final game. In fact, it is still the world record for the highest score ever on First-class debut.

In no time, Muzumdar was heralded as the next big thing, the ‘new Tendulkar’ and what not! He made his way into the Indian Under-19 team as the vice-captain for the 1994 England tour. Subsequently, he got picked for the India ‘A’ side, where he had the opportunity to share the dressing room with Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

In the very same year, Muzumdar won the first of his seven Ranji trophy titles with Mumbai, under the captaincy of Ravi Shastri. However, what followed was a painfully prolonged barren phase, not in his run-scoring ability, but in his fortune.

He literally worshipped the art of batting. In an interview with Sportskeeda, he talked about his profound love for the sport as a young cricketer.

“I simply could not have anything in my mind but batting. No outings with friends or family functions. I don’t even remember celebrating my birthdays!”

Such was his focus and spirit. Runs never ceased to flow off his bat between 1993-94 and 2002-03, during which he represented the Ranji heavyweights Mumbai. He had piled up 6051 runs in 90 matches at an impressive average of 50.42.

Enigmatically so, he couldn’t impress the wise men. He saw his teammates Wasim Jaffer, Vinod Kambli, Sairaj Bahutule and Nilesh Kulkarni getting a national call-up, although none of them managed to stay there long enough. Somehow Muzumdar still remained obscured from the selectors’ eyeshot.

“It has not been easy after scoring runs for a long time, not to play for India. Because I think if you are good enough for Mumbai, you are good enough for India,” he said, while speaking to Rediff.