'Hazare never got ruffled'

Polly Umrigar, one of Vijay Hazare's team-mates, recalls the legend

Vijay Hazare was one of our great cricketers and rendered meritorious service to the game.

The thing that appealed most to me about Hazare was that he was a gentleman cricketer of few words and had tremendous concentration while batting. He never got ruffled when he was in a tight corner and kept his cool.

If he got out to a bad shot, one would see he did not repeat the same mistake. This clearly indicated his power of concentration.

It was a treat to bat with him as he had a very sound defence and gave you a lot of confidence when batting with him. Whether he scored a century or got out early he had the same stoic expression on his face.

One thing he hated doing as captain was giving after dinner speeches during Tests. He would often say he would be more comfortable in the centre batting than standing before the mike.

I vividly remember two instances when I played a Test with him. One was the Test against Pakistan in Mumbai in 1952-53 when we both got a hundred. I got a hundred before him. He was in his nineties when I asked for a glass of water. He came near and said, 'That's okay because you have got your hundred but I am still to get one.' His expression was as if to say that I had disturbed his concentration.

He had the habit of rubbing sandpaper on his bat after his innings in the dressing room. One day he had made a duck, and started rubbing his bat with the sandpaper.

So I asked him, "You have not even hit a ball, why are you using the sandpaper?" You know what an intelligent reply he gave? He said, "I am preparing myself for the second innings."

He was a great, great cricketer. India will always miss a player like him.

He had a cool temperament. He was a very defensive player in the sense, he never took risks. It was all the ability of concentration. In the beginning he would say don't go for the mighty sixes, build up your innings gradually and then you go for it.

Polly Umrigar represented India in 59 Tests from 1948-49 to 1961-62, scoring 3,631 runs at an average of 42. He also captained India in eight Tests. The former India player spoke to Cricket Correspondent Deepti Patwardhan in Mumbai.