Long before Anil Kumble, there was this man who could wrinkle out the best of the batsmen with his magic. Born on May 17, 1945 in Mysore, Chandra as he was popularly known overcame a childhood polio attack which withered his right wrists to emerge as one of the greatest ever match-winner for India.

Chandra was definitely the biggest match-winner for India abroad for a long period of time. He snaffled 42 wickets in the 5 overseas winning Tests that he was a part of. Considered as a progeny, Chandra was a part of an awesome spin quartet comprising of himself, Prasanna, Venkatraghavan and Bishen Singh Bedi that India produced in the late sixties and the early seventies. Viv Richards told in an interview that Chandrasekhar and Dennis Lillee were the most difficult bowlers he had faced.

It is not to be mentioned that Chandra has played big roles in Indian Test victories. His 6/38 got India their first Test win in England. He followed it up with 8 wickets against New Zealand to seal an India win. Each and every win had Chandra's footprint. India chased down 406 against West Indies in PoS and Chandra had a match haul of 8 wickets. It was then the turn of Australia to taste his magic as Chandra ended with figures of 12/104 to help India win the Melbourne Test. Chandra ended his Test career with 242 wickets in 58 Test matches.

Chandrasekhar was not the biggest spinner of the cricket ball. His strength lay in his unnerving accuracy delivered from a long run up. The batsmen were left confounded by a spate of sharp googlies, spitting leg-breaks and top-spinners at a pace of a medium quickie. Amongst the quartet of spinners, it was widely assumed that Chandra was the one capable of bowling unplayable deliveries.

Chandra was given a special Gray-Nicholls bat during the 1977-78 Australian tour with a hole in it to commemorate the four ducks he scored. He has 23 ducks to his credit in his Test career. He also holds the dubious record of scoring fewer runs (167) off his bat than wickets (242) taken in Test cricket. The only other cricketer to have achieved this 'record' over a significant Test career is Chris Martin.

Attributed to him is a famous umpire-directed quote, made during a day of bad decisions in New Zealand after several of his LBW appeals were given not-out: 'I know he is bowled, but is he out'.


By Pradeep Krishnamurthy