M.L. Jaisimha was one of the most charismatic cricketers that Hyderabad has produced. Besides being an excellent player he had a style that was magnetic. Every sport needs a character like him to attract attention. His inimitable gait and his upturned collar were his trademarks. Among his greatest fans is Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Nadella has said that his favourite cricketer was Jaisimha whom he admires more than Sachin Tendulkar.
But off the field what was he like as a person? Who were his closest friends? How was his childhood and what did he do when he was a student? These facts are not very well known to his fans.
Several years ago a book titled My Way — The Biography of M.L. Jaisimha written by A. Joseph Antony was published wherein offbeat facts about the life and times of this dashing cricketer were vividly recounted. The story is told through a series of anecdotes which makes captivating reading. The book is currently ranked No. 10 by Forbes, CNN, Inc among best-selling cricket biographies of all time.
The narrative traces the progress of the family beginning with Jaisimha’s father Motganhalli Lakshminarsu and his endeavour to set up a construction business in Hyderabad. The business flourished. It was while the family was living in Marredpally that Jaisimha was born in March 1939, a few months before the start of the Second World War.
There are many interesting incidents that happened during his childhood. On one occasion the family dog prevented a Cobra from biting the toddler Jaisimha. He was a pampered and well loved child and from an early age he developed a love for sports.
During his schooldays, among Jai’s closest friends were S.P. Misra who later became an internationally famous tennis player and captain of India’s Davis Cup team. On one occasion when the Hollywood musical Rock Around The Clock was being played at the Tivoli theatre in Secunderabad, Jai and some of his friends climbed onto the stage to dance to the music. But the youngster himself had to face the music when his father came to know about it.
When Jaisimha was emerging as a cricketer he was once tested by Lala Amarnath who was visiting Hyderabad to spot talent. During practice, Ghulam Ahmed introduced Jaisimha as a future international prospect and so Lala decided to put him to the test. Lala took the ball himself and began bowling to Jai. The youngster was no match for the veteran and Lala frequently had him clean bowled. That experience taught Jaisimha to become more serious and work harder to improve himself.
After Jai became a senior player he and his teammates once tried to get the better of Gary Sobers with a prank one evening. They invited the great all rounder for a few drinks and began filling him with alcohol. If the hosts had one drink they would ensure that Sir Gary had three. The idea was to make him so drunk that he would not be fit to play the next day. But when the party ended, the Indian hosts were fully drunk. The West Indian captain was still fit and fine.
During another match, the famous leg spinner B.S. Chandrasekhar happened to comment to Jai that the shirt he was wearing was a lovely one. The next day, to his surprise, Chandra found the shirt was sent to him as a gift from the hero of Hyderabad.
The stories in the book are based on painstaking research. The author has gathered anecdotes from friends, family members and former cricketers such as Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Gavaskar and others. Their memories of Jai have enlivened the story and revealed the swings of fortune in the life of one of Hyderabad’s most loved cricket players who died of lung cancer at the age of sixty.
The book My Way — The Biography of M.L. Jaisimha written by A. Joseph Antony is available on Amazon, Apple Books and Flipkart.
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