In the years before India became independent, one of the nation’s best all-around sports persons was a man named M.J. Gopalan. He was born in the Chingleput district in Tamil Nadu, but later his family settled in Chennai (then Madras). He excelled in both cricket and hockey, representing the country in both games.
In cricket, he was a good medium pace bowler with superb control over seam movement. In hockey, too, he was top class and could be ranked among India’s best players. That was the era of Dhyan Chand and his legendary team. For any player to be included in that group meant that he was worthy to be classified as the best of the best.
However, despite all his merit and skills, Gopalan made a serious error of judgement that he regretted for the rest of his life. It affected his whole sports career, which could have climbed to great heights, but it did not.
Twice dismissed Sir Jack Hobbs
The high point of Gopalan’s cricket career came when he was playing for the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram’s team, and he dismissed the legendary England batsman Sir Jack Hobbs twice in the same match.
At the same time, Gopalan’s hockey career was also progressing by leaps and bounds. In 1935, Gopalan was selected to represent India on a tour of New Zealand and Australia. It was on this tour that Dhyan Chand raised funds for earthquake victims in Quetta, as mentioned in an earlier report in Saisat.com.
But a problem arose when Gopalan was called for selection trials for both the Indian hockey team that was to play in the Berlin Olympics of 1936, as well as the Indian cricket team that was to tour England that year under the captaincy of the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram, popularly known as Vizzy. The cricket team included some famous names such as Lala Amarnath, Mohammed Nissar, Vijay Merchant, Mushtaq Ali, and many others.
A difficult choice
Now, Gopalan was in a quandary. Which sport should he choose? Both events were to be held at the same time. After giving much thought to the matter, he finally decided that he would go to England with the cricket team and forfeit his chance to play in the Olympic Games in Berlin. He had already played in one Test match against England two years earlier, and maybe he wanted to improve his cricket record. However, that eventually turned out to be the most disastrous choice of his career.
He went with the cricket team to England in June 1936, and it turned out to be one of the most controversial tours ever undertaken by any Indian team. Not only did India lose heavily, but it also cut a sorry figure on the field because of the squabbles that broke out among the team members.
Skipper Vizzy was unable to handle different members of the team. Cracks started appearing in the squad largely because of Vizzy’s poor leadership and his divide-and-rule policy within the squad. Finally, he had a big disagreement with Lala Amarnath. As a result of this exchange of words, the great player, then one of India’s best all-rounders, was sent back to India on the captain’s orders.
Disappointment for Gopalan
India played three Test matches, lost two, and drew one. As for poor Gopalan, he was not selected for even one Test match and got no opportunity to show his mettle. It was not unexpected because there were great names such as Mohammed Nissar and Amar Singh in the fast bowling department. So Gopalan returned home with nothing to show after the tour.
The hockey team, on the other hand, went on to win the gold medal at the Berlin Olympics with outstanding victories in every match. It defeated Hungary 4-0, USA 7-0, Japan 9-0, and France 10-0 to enter the final. In the epic final, India thrashed Germany by 8-1 with Adolf Hitler and top Nazi officials watching in astonishment from the stands.
Dhyan Chand scored three goals, Ali Dara scored two goals, while Roop Singh, Syed Jaffar, and Carlyle Tapsell scored one each. The solitary goal for Germany was scored by Kurt Weiss.
Hockey stars got a hero’s welcome
The hockey team was given a hero’s welcome when it returned to India and was hailed as the best team of the century. But when the cricket team returned home, it faced a hostile reaction from the public. Players had to be given police protection, and lengthy articles were written in the press, castigating the team and its leader.
The chastened Gopalan went back quietly to his hometown, saddened by the knowledge that he had made the biggest blunder of his life in choosing cricket over hockey. Although he had not played any role in the team’s failures, he was never selected to represent India in any more cricket matches.
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