Mulvantrai Mankad, known affectionately and universally as “Vinoo” is not just the first but the quickest Indian player to have achieved the all-rounder's double in terms of matches played: taking only 23 Tests spread out over five years due to the much fewer Tests India played in his time.

In fact Mankad’s record for the all rounder’s double was also the world record for a very long time, and among his peers, including greats such as Keith Miller, Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson and Sir Garfield Sobers, none was quicker to the double than Vinoo.

Only decades later in the late 1970s was Mankad’s world record broken by the young Ian Botham, who in a turbo-charged start to his career managed to reach the double in only 21 matches.

Mankad, however, is still the holder of another world record which he shares with his fellow opener, the stylish Bengali Pankaj Roy. The pair put together 413 runs for the opening partnership against New Zealand at Madras in 1955-56. This world record points to the fabulous contributions of Mankad to his team. He not only was a superb orthodox left arm spinner, the near equal of the great Bishan Singh Bedi in that category, but was also a very good Test match opening batsman who averaged 40.74 in the opener’s slot! Mankad also scored all five of his Test centuries including his two Test double centuries as opener.

Mankad’s bowling action was simple, though a bit round armed, and he imparted tremendous spin off a very stable pivot foot. His short run up and hustling action meant that his overs seldom exceeded 90 seconds, giving batsmen hardly any time to get comfortable. As a batsman, the right-handed Mankad was correct and could both defend or attack as the situation warranted. His fielding was also top class. But most of all, he was a team man at all times.

Mankad’s heroics on the cricket field were plenty. He made his Test debut in 1946 in England where he established himself as a competent all rounder, batting anywhere from 1 to 10 in the order and became the lone tourist to achieve the double for the season. He scored 1120 runs at 28 and took 129 wickets at 21 in all first class matches on tour. He also hit a bright 63 at Lords on Test debut, and in his second Test match at Old Trafford took 7 for 146.

Next, Mankad traveled to Australia in 1947-48, with the Indian team under the leadership of Lala Amarnath, to take on the Australians for the first time. In Australia he was again the best Indian all rounder with nearly 900 runs at 39 and 61 wickets at 24 in all first class matches. He scored 116 in the third Test at Melbourne, taking on all the fire and brimstone of Lindwall and Miller to become the first Indian centurion against Australia. Mankad repeated that feat with his 111 in the fifth Test also at Melbourne, which further stamped his class against top class pace bowling.

After this series, India played the West Indies at home in 1948-49 and Mankad suffered a dip in form. But in the series that followed against England at home he came into his own, especially with the ball. Mankad spun his way to 34 wickets at just over 16 runs each, and India under Vijay Hazare achieved her first Test triumph ever at Madras, in India’s twenty-fifth Test match. Mankad contributed heavily to this win as he skittled the Englishmen with figures of 8 for 55 in the first innings and 12 for 108 in the match.

Mankad was also a key contributor in India’s first ever Test series against Pakistan when that newly formed nation toured India in 1952-53. In the very first match, in New Delhi, Mankad scalped 13 Pakistani batsmen including a career best 8-52 in the first innings that sent the visitors reeling to defeat by an innings and 70 runs. Pakistan however got immediate revenge when at Lucknow on a matting wicket, Fazal Mehmood swung and seamed his way to a 12 wicket haul that helped Pakistan down India by an innings and 43 runs. India then bounced back with a win in Bombay, where hometown hero Vinoo Mankad grabbed another five wicket haul, helping India hold on to a series win.

Mankad’s final hurrah came when New Zealand visited India for the first time in 1955-56. Against an admittedly weak and inexperienced side, Mankad became the first Indian to score two double centuries in the same series. In the process he also reclaimed his title as the scorer of the highest individual score by an Indian from Polly Umrigar, with his 231 at Madras in the final Test where he and Pankaj Roy established the world record opening stand of 413. This was to be the highest individual score by an Indian until Sunil Gavaskar scored 236 not out, also at Madras, against the West Indies nearly three decades later in 1983. In the Madras Test Vinoo also picked up 4 wickets in the second innings to complement the spin of Subhash Gupte who mesmerized the New Zealanders with his magical leg spinning skills to the tune of 34 wickets in the series. India won the series quite easily, dominating with both bat and ball.

But the one contribution of Vinoo’s which stands out even amongst all these achievements is what has since come to be known as Mankad’s Match. The year was 1952, and the horrors of World War II were slowly fading. England though still devastated by war’s aftermath, was on the mend, and still the strongest cricketing nation. The English side bristled with legendary batsmen, led by Len Hutton and including Dennis Compton, Peter May, and a young Tom Graveney. The side also featured the great Alec Bedser, a young and fiery Fred Trueman, as well as the spin twins Jim Laker and Tony Lock in the bowling department, all backed by the keeping of the immaculate Godfrey Evans. Predictably, the Indians lost to this powerful side 0-3 in a four match series. But at least one Indian stood tall among the ruins. In the second Test at Lords, in a tour de force individual performance, Vinoo Mankad scored 72 and 184 opening the batting, and took 5 for 196 bowling 73 overs in the first innings followed by 24 overs for 35 runs, including 12 maidens, as England chased down a modest 78 for victory in their second innings. But impressive as the cold figures are, a better appreciation can be had through veteran Indian writer B.B. Mama's writing.

Hazare won the toss and India decided to bat first. Mama writes: “Vinoo missed the first five balls of Alec Bedser’s superb opening over, and just managed to survive a lightning fast stumping attempt. (Evans had moved up to the stumps for the last ball.) Such then is the paper thin margin between a memorable passport to greatness and cruel oblivion.”

Mama continues “Only 16 runs accrued in the first half hour. Hutton then made the first bowling change, bringing on leg spinner Roley Jenkins – and Vinoo exploded into action. He lifted the fourth delivery, perfectly pitched on the middle stump straight over the Nursery End sight screen for an effortless six. Jenkins gasped in astonishment at this impudence, and the crowd sensed somehow that this had all the makings of a good fight.”

Vinoo fell for 72 a little after lunch on the first day, and following that India collapsed from 106 for no loss to 235 all out as the young and fiery Freddie Trueman, cut through the Indian line up. The next day Vinoo and Ghulam Ahmed the off spinner bowled with masterly control and uncanny accuracy to Len Hutton and Reg Simpson, who were allowed only 13 runs in the first hour. However England slowly built its innings, and ended up with 537 in reply, including a hurricane 98 before lunch on the third morning by the keeper Evans. Mankad through this onslaught bowled tirelessly to take 5 for 196 off 73 overs with 24 maidens.

Facing a deficit of 302 India battled to 137 for two with Mankad on 86 not out at the end of the third day. Mama writes, “Resuming on the fourth morning Vinoo dismissed with lordly disdain the fearful prospect of an innings defeat with India still trailing by 165 runs. He attacked the bowling with the zest and panache of a conquistador or buccaneer, unleashing a full repertoire of dazzling strokes – drives, sweeps, glances, pulls, hooks, cuts, even swipes and slashes! Lords was ablaze!”

This incredible display of batting power prompted Charles Bray to write in a local London paper: “No wonder he roused the crowd to a pitch of excitement and appreciation which I have rarely seen in any part of the world. I can still see that flashing blade, the speeding ball and the quiet unassuming demeanour of this great player as he thrashed the English attack in a manner that could be likened to Don Bradman at his best.”

Mankad raced to 184 in four hours while the next highest Indian score was Vijay Hazare’s 49, which he scored in a 211 run stand with Mankad. The MCC members, not ones to be easily impressed, gave Vinoo a standing ovation, and even the young Queen Elizabeth had a warm word of commendation during the tea interval.

After the Test, according to Mama, the famous Indian journalist Berry Sarbadhikari reported this incident. He said that he met a very old man in an English pub, who accosted him. “I don’t know you, sir, but you are an Indian. Will you have a drink with me?” The old man then according to Berry raised his glass and said in an emotion-choked voice: “I have seen Ranji and Duleep and Pataudi. But here’s to Vinoo Mankad.”

Suffice to say that the manner in which Vinoo Mankad played his cricket was an inspiration to his contemporaries and successors, including his son Ashok, who played for India under Ajit Wadekar as part of the Bombay brigade of the early 1970s that included Sunil Gavaskar, Farokh Engineer, Eknath Solkar, and Dilip Sardesai, and which helped change the face of Indian cricket with back-to-back overseas series wins over then powerhouses West Indies and England, as well as sons Rahul and Atul who played first class cricket at the Ranji Trophy level but didn’t make the higher grade. Even Ashok was only a moderate success at Test level after a very promising start, but he was a phenomenon in domestic matches, with a batting average higher than that of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar in Ranji Trophy cricket. So far none of the progeny of the Mankad brothers has taken to cricket in a big way, though one, Harsh, the son of Ashok, now represents India in Davis Cup Tennis.

However there is another way in which the Mankad name will remain long remembered in fame, or infamy, depending on how you look at it. The term “Mankaded” which the Australian media coined has now become part of cricket’s jargon. During India’s tour Down Under in 1947-48 in the second Test match at Sydney, Bill Brown was run out by Mankad, who in the act of delivering the ball held on to it and whipped the bails off with Brown well out of his crease. This was the second occasion, as Mankad had done this once before in the match against Queensland. Sections of the Australian media criticized Vinoo severely and questioned his sportsmanship for running out batsmen in this manner.

Many years later when Australian captain, Greg Chappell, instructed his bowler to deliberately bowl an underarm delivery to prevent the other side from any possible chance of victory a similar outpouring of criticism occured, although the Australian media didn't coin the term “Chappelled” for that underhanded tactic!

Technically, both actions were within the laws of the game when they were taken. Mankad’s, however, was also within the game’s spirit. The doyen of Australian cricket, the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, elaborates. In his autobiography Sir Donald Bradman writes: “For the life of me I can’t understand why [they questioned his sportsmanship. 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? By backing up too far or too early the non-striker is very obviously gaining an unfair advantage. On numerous occasions he may avoid being run out at the opposite end by gaining this false start.”

Bradman then continues “I am well aware that few bowlers ever seek to take advantage of such an opportunity. It would be well nigh impossible for some of them to do so. Imagine, for instance, Lindwall stopping himself right at the bowling crease. He could not do it. Only the slower types of bowlers have a chance. Mankad was an ideal type, and he was so scrupulously fair that he first of all warned Brown before taking any action.”

Sir Donald through his insightful assessment of Mankad and his motives, has correctly and succinctly summed up this great cricketer, quite possibly India’s finest all rounder, and most certainly its finest spin bowling one.

Gaurang
© Indian Cricket Fever

Cricinfo database on Vinoo Mankad
CricketNext: Vinoo Mankad: A career unfulfilled
Indian Cricket Fever Hall of Fame

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