Former pacer Ashis recalls battles against touring Aussies

Ashis Sinha isn’t too pleased to see the Kerala bowlers toiling on the lifeless wicket against Jharkhand at the Keenan Stadium. He says, “I have never seen a wicket as flat as this one.”

His empathy is understandable. He was a seamer who played for Bihar — Jharkhand would be carved out of the State several years later — as well as East Zone. And he also played football for Bihar in the Santosh Trophy; he was a defender.

Injury may have cut short his career as a cricketer, but not before he could pick up the wickets of former Australian captain Kim Hughes and opener Graham Yallop. Ashis has also scalped a couple of West Indies Test players, as well.

He had played those matches for East Zone. Those days, Test sides used to play several First Class games during tours. Cricketers used to get breathing space between international fixtures.

Ashis has fond memories of removing Hughes and Yallop. “It was my swing that got Hughes lbw and Yallop bowled,” he recalls. “I was clean bowled by Rodney Hogg, who shared the new ball with Geoff Lawson. We won that match at Cuttack in 1979, by four wickets.”

That Australian team also had Allan Border, who had only made his Test debut less than a year ago. “He looked very good even then,” says Ashis. “I also had the opportunity to play against great West Indians like Malcolm Marshall and Alvin Kallicharan on this ground.”

Marshall, in fact, took 11 wickets in that match. “It was indeed a privilege watching him bowl,” says Ashis, who has also been a coach and selector. He was part of the selection committee when India won its maiden under-19 World.