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Some Lesser Known Facts About Vinoo Mankad

Vinoo Mankad was an International cricketer who played for India from 1946 to 1959. He is widely regarded as the first great all-rounder before Kapil Dev, India has ever produced and the first professional cricketer to play for India. He was primarily a hardheaded batsman who played according to the situation and can adjust his tactics to the state of the match. In terms of bowling, he was the conventional round-arm bowler who was renowned for mixing his leg-break with a pace. He also had wide variations in his armory to figure out batsmen in the first few deliveries to plan a strategy against him.

He started playing cricket during his school days. The Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, an ardent cricket lover, saw his talent and in 1932, he went to England to practice the sport. At that time, he uses to bowl off-break that disturbed his natural grip and action for deadly bowling. This flaw was caught by a Sussex Professional Albert Wensley who advised him to go for a leg-break. Albert Wensley was the one who took the charge of his cricket education. He then taught him the art of flight and mixing pace with spin. Mankad recalled that time by saying that

“Wensley came to me and said that I will not go anywhere as a medium-pacer. My bowling was okay on matting surfaces but Wensley felt that on turf I would be innocuous. Moreover, Nawanagar needed a left-arm slow bowler.”

He further revealed

“If there was anybody who had immense faith in me it was the Jamsaheb. I remember how he tried to get me into the Lahore ‘Test’ against Lord Tennyson’s team. He failed because the other selectors said I was too young. But when I played at Bombay, the Jamsaheb resigned from the Committee. He did not want to be involved in selection when I was concerned because charges of favoritism may be leveled at him.”

In his book ‘History of Indian Cricket’ Edward Docker (Australian cricket author) wrote

“He would rise early each morning, to train, to walk, to run, hop on his haunches, to bicycle, to bat, to bowl. He was like some Indian son of the soil, his nose ever close behind the plow, his nostrils so full of the scent of the earth that his life requires no other nourishment. Mankad didn’t play any other games. He went to bed early. He gave every day to developing his talents. As the farmer is tied to his plot, Mankad was tied to the cricket pitch. As the farmer knows every lump of soil on his land, he would come to know every crack, every wrinkle, every bump and blade of grass on the cricket pitches of India. Like a true professional, he played wherever he was valued: Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, among others.”

He rose to fame with his all-round performance in the finals of the High School Shield where he took 13 wickets and was the highest run-scorer in that match against Alfred High School, Rajkot. He scored 35 and 92 not out in both innings and took his side to a win from the jaws of defeat.

One old cricket scribe wrote about him that

“During the war years, while playing for Western India, Nawanagar, Hindus, and Maharashtra, one could see the dedication of the young lad. So, his approach in domestic cricket never smacked of frivolity. To him, every match was important.”

His cricket progress made a huge setback during World War II. The period 1939 to 1945 was spent while sitting at home. He then played for the Western States team against the touring Australian side. He was dismissed in both innings for just 8 and 4 runs by medium-pacer Ron Oxenham. He didn’t get the chance to bowl either. In December, he played his first Ranji Trophy match when he was unable to take even a single wicket. But finally, the table has turned next year when he scored 185 runs against the Bengal team sealing a victory for his side. Next year, he played for Nawangar Cricket Association in a Ranji Trophy and took his team to a trophy.

He gained the limelight during an unofficial test match played between Lord Tennyson’s team and India in 1937 at the age of 20. Lord Tennyson was the British first-class cricketer who captained Hampshire and the England Cricket team. He had the best batting and bowling averages in that match (62.66 and 14.53) which prompt Lord Tennyson to pose his opinion that

“Mankad would step into the World’s Best XI.”

He then left that team and joined the Gujarat team resulting in his less chance for selection into the national side. But his performance against the Ceylon team when he was picked as the secondary option for the Indian team and against the Australian Services XI fetched him an Indian test cricketer’s jersey for the England tour in 1946. Against Ceylon, he took eight wickets and bowled superbly against the Australian Services XI. His performance in that match impressed A. L. Hassett (Australian Services XI captain) so much that he tipped him as a certainty to do well on the English trip. When he was asked about England’s Ray Lindwall before the third test, he said

“I was desperate against Lindwall because he had Barnes always stationed close on the on-side. I was bent on hitting Barnes out of there. Lindwall told me that Barnes was stationed there to distract me. He said I should not bother about Barnes at all. Also he talked about my backlift which was high enough for his yorker to slip through. I ignored Barnes and shortened my back-lift.”

And he didn’t disappoint A.L. Hassett with his performance in his debut test match following World War II where he scored 63 runs in the second inning after staying for 85 minutes. This inning includes seven fours and one six. This score came after he bowled 48 overs in the first inning on the same day. He also took two wickets in that match but unfortunately, couldn’t prevent his side from a defeat. This team was led by Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. He missed two matches during that tour. While fielding at the cover-point against Surrey at the Oval, the ball hit his left ankle as a result, he was unable to bowl the faster deliveries which affected his performance in that match. This match also shouldered dual responsibility on him- both batsman and a bowler.

However, the Indian management tried to settle this issue by bringing him further down the order at Old Trafford during the second test. He played at number three in the preceding test. This improved his performance in the bowling department when he took five wickets after bowling 48 overs. And although, he could only score 0 and 5 runs but somehow managed a draw. In one of the articles in Wisden magazine about the 1947 Cricketer of the Year, it was written that

“Mankad, of slightly round-arm action, takes only a few steps before delivery near the extreme edge of the crease. He imparts an unusual amount of spin to his stock ball, the leg-break to a right-hand batsman. His batting varies from the stolid to the adventurous according to the situation and his place in the order. This example of team spirit has characterized his constant approach to the game.”

During the 1947-1948 tour of Australia, in the second test match at Sydney, Australia having batting first, lost their first wicket of Bill Brown in an unusual fashion. Mankad while running into the bowl saw Brown at the non-striking end backing up too far from the crease. After reaching the bowling wicket, he hit the bowl to the stumps, and Brown was declared run-out. However, Mankad warned him three times before for going too far from the crease. This unconventional way of run-out led to an uproar in an Australian media who coined this as ‘Mankading’. He was supported by then Australian captain Don Bradman who in his autobiography ‘Farewell to Cricket’ wrote that

“For the life of me I cannot understand why the laws of cricket make it quite clear that the non-striker must keep within his ground until the ball has been delivered. If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out?”

Even India’s wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik found it extremely unfair that the legendary Mankad’s name is used in an unusual way for the way of dismissal which is absolutely legal. He further stated that,

“There are two issues I have with this ‘Mankad’ run out. First is the implementation of it. Second is the name ‘Mankad’ run out. All the way from Don Bradman to Sunil Gavaskar, everyone has said it’s completely within the rules. The ICC and MCC have also taken a stand that it is okay. So I don’t see the reason why bowlers or any team that does it is looked at in a negative way. The person who did it the first time was Vinoo Mankad. Interestingly, he was alert enough to do that dismissal. But more importantly, nobody remembers the batsman who got run out. It was Bill Brown.”He further added,”If Mankad was the first person who did that runout, Bill Brown was the first person who got run out for being silly and walking out of the crease. Why is it that people remember Mankad and not Brown? Why can’t it be called anything to do with Bill Brown? He (Mankad) followed the rules and did it. The ICC and MCC call it a run-out. So the name Mankad shouldn’t be used in a negative connotation.”

Interestingly, this same incident happened in 2019 during an IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals when Rajasthan’s Jos Buttler was Mankaded by Ravichandran Ashwin after has too far from the bowling crease.

His first century came on 1 January 1948 during the third test in Melbourne against the Bradman-led Australian side. Australia having won the toss; batted first and put on 394 runs on the board. Vinoo Mankad scalped four Australian victims with the most economical spells of 2.73. He then opened the batting and scored 116 runs off 187 balls taking the score to 291 runs on the third day. However, in reply to the target of 359 runs, the Indian got all out for 125 runs and lost the match. Opposition captain Don Bradman came to see him at the airport and handed an envelope to Mankad containing his signed photograph with the remark “Well Bowled Vinoo”. Mankad values it among the highest tribute ever paid to him for his brilliance in cricket.

His second century came in the same series during a fifth test match against the same side. Unfortunately, India lost the game by an inning and 177 runs. Mankad was the lone centurion for India with 111 runs in the first inning. He also had two important wickets of Neil Harvey and Ray Lindwall in that match.

On 1 January 1955, he was made the captain for Pakistan’s tour due to the omission of Polly Umrigar from the captaincy. He was 41 years old at that time. This match was held in Dhaka (now in Bangladesh following Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971) and is the first official test match ever held in Pakistan. The match ends up in a draw. Likewise, all the remaining four test matches of the series were also drawn. On 21 January 1959, he was again made the captain for the fourth test match against Windies at home which ended on a losing side. This was the last match for him as a captain. Out of six test matches as a captain, he scored 55 runs with the highest score of 33.

On 2 December 1955, he came up with the first double hundred of his career against New Zealand in Mumbai. India batted and scored 421 for 8 declared with Mankad contributing with 223 runs. On the other hand, New Zealand could only manage 258 and 136 runs in both innings and losing the match by an inning and 27 runs. Mankad also took four wickets that included the wicket of their captain Harry Cave. In this match, he completed his 2000 test runs.

In the fifth test match against the same opponent at Corporation Stadium (now Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium) in Chennai, Mankad chipped in with another double hundred of 231 runs (his highest test score) in the first inning. India went on to win this match by an inning and 109 runs margin. This match is also remembered for the highest opening batting partnership between Mankad and Pankaj Roy of 413 runs until it was broken by South African Neil Mckenzie and Graeme Smith (415 runs) in 2008. His score of 231 runs was also the highest Indian test score at that time. Sunil Gavaskar surpassed this record in 1983.

His form dipped after that and he could only score 107 runs in nine test innings he played against Australia and West Indies and took 15 wickets. In his last inning, he was bowled by Collie Smith on zero. He retired from all forms of cricket in 1962 after taking his Rajasthan team to a Ranji Trophy final.

His significant contribution to Indian cricket was his disciples named Vijay Manjrekar, Salim Durani, Eknath Solkar, Sunil Gavaskar, and many more.

Every year, a national tournament is organized by the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) named Vinoo Mankad Trophy. It is the junior version of the Ranji Trophy played at the under-19 level where 35 teams compete.

In 44 test matches, he scored 2109 runs with an average of 31.47 which included five centuries and six fifties. He also took 162 wickets with a bowling average of 32.32 and career economy of 2.13. His favorite team was England against whom he scored 618 runs and took 54 wickets followed by New Zealand and West Indies. He was most successful in Asian sub-continents with 3132 runs and 115 wickets. He played under six test captains that include Lala Amarnath, Vijay Hazare, and Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi (father of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi).

Though he has played in all eleven positions in test cricket but he was most successful as an opening batsman playing at the number one slot where he scored 1315 runs with an average of 39.84. Interestingly, four out of his seven ducks in his whole career are at this position. Apart from India, he scored most of his runs in West Indies. In terms of bowling, he has taken most of his wickets in England (apart from India). He once opened the bowling in the second inning against England in 1952 and managed to take one wicket. However, his economy was six runs per over in that inning.

On 13 June 2021, he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame along with ten other cricketers ahead of World Test Championship Final between India and New Zealand on 18 June. The inductees are Aubrey Faulkner of South Africa and Monty Noble of Australia for the early era (pre-1918), Sir Learie Constantine of West Indies and Stan McCabe of Australia for the inter-war Era (1918-1945), Ted Dexter of England, and Vinoo Mankad of India for the post-war Era (1946-1970). Desmond Haynes of the West Indies and Bob Willis of England were inducted from the ODI era (1971-1995) while Andy Flower of Zimbabwe and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka were from the modern era (1996-2016).

On his induction, his student and the legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar said

“Vinoo Mankad’s legacy has been to tell the aspiring Indian cricketer to believe in oneself. He was a great proponent of self-belief. He was the one who kept saying to me that you need to keep scoring runs and keep at it. When you get a 100, let that be the knock on the selector’s door. If it is unheard, then score that double hundred and let that knock be even louder. You can have the best technique, but if you do not have the temperament to support it you will not succeed, you have to keep hanging in there and have that self-belief. That was the greatest lesson I learned from him.”

A cricket author and former first-class cricketer in the 1960s and 70s, V.J. Raghunath wrote an article that says

“In an age when our close-in fielding support was mediocre and out-fielding patchy with few athletic movers, Mankad took 162 wickets with an economy rate of 2.1, bowling against Bradman, Len Hutton, the 3W’s, Sobers, Rohan Kanhai of West Indies, and other great batsmen of that era. He fielded with extraordinary anticipation of his bowling to pouch quite a few ‘caught and bowled’ victims.”

In his book “Legendary Indian Cricketers”, famous commentator Ravi Chaturvedi wrote

“Hair parted in the middle, shirt buttons open to the midriff, light-skinned, his green eyes enhanced by ‘kajal’ (eye-liner), he was pleasant to befriend but very unpleasant with the ball, and when he replaced the ball with the bat he was equally good. He could chip, chop, cut, drive, hook, punch, sweep, and smote any ball to any part of the field. However, he got most of his runs through square cuts and placements to leg.”