This ‘Chand’ deserves the ‘Ratna’ first

It is official now. Indian Sports persons are eligible to receive the Bharat Ratna the highest civilian honour in the country. The award was earlier given only for artistic, literary, scientific achievements or "public service of the highest order."


Which means two of India’s finest sporting legends, Sachin Tendulkar and the late hockey wizard Dhyan Chand are being considered to receive the honour.


Incidentally, Don Bradman, the legendary cricketer said that his wife felt that Tendulkar played cricket very much like him. But the  great Don thought that Dhyan Chand “scored goals like runs in cricket” way back in 1935 when both of them met in Adelaide.


However, I think the three-time member of the gold medal winning Indian teams at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, and the 1936 Berlin Olympics (the last of which he captained), Dhyan Chand stands first in the line to receive the much coveted award.


Not only that, for a man who was born Dhyan Singh and re-christened Dhyan Chand (The Hindi word 'Chand' literally means the moon), Dhyan Singh used to practice in the night after his duty hours. He invariably used to wait for the moon to come out so that the visibility in the field (obviously with no floodlights) improved. Hence he was fondly called Chand by his fellow players, as his practice sessions at night invariably coincided with the moon rise !


At a time where a majority of the youngsters are getting carried away by the ball being hit out of the park in the T20 brand of cricket, it is high time we restore the glory of Indian Hockey by awarding Bharat Ratna to Dhyan Chand, the magician of hockey who made the ball dance on the ground like a serpent. Even today, Padma Bhushan Dhyan Chand remains a legendary figure in Indian and world hockey for his magical control over the ball and the way he dribbled with it. 


Chand’s birthday on August 29, is celebrated as National Sports Day in India. The President gives away sport-related awards such as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award on this day at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.


India's highest award for lifetime achievement in sports is the Dhyan Chand Award which has been awarded annually from 2002 to sporting figures who not only contribute through their performance but also contribute to the sport after their retirement. Dhyan Chand holds record for the most international goals, i.e. more than 1000. The National Stadium, Delhi was renamed Dhyan Chand National Stadium in 2002 in his honour.


Anecdotes (Courtesy Wikipedia)

• Once, while playing a hockey game, Major Dhyan Chand was not able to score a goal against the opposition team. After several misses, he argued with the match referee regarding the measurement of the goal post, and amazingly, it was found to not be in conformation with the official width of a goal post (as prescribed under international rules).

• After India played its first match in the 1936 Olympics, Dhyan Chand's magical stickwork drew crowds from other venues to the hockey field. A German newspaper carried a banner headline: 'The Olympic complex now has a magic show too.' The next day, there were posters all over Berlin: Visit the hockey stadium to watch the Indian magician Dhyan Chand in action.

• After seeing his prolific play at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler offered Dhyan Chand, a Major in the British Indian Army, German citizenship and an offer to promote him to the rank of a Colonel (which Dhyan Chand, of course, refused).

• In Holland, the authorities broke his hockey stick to check if there was a magnet inside.

• Residents of Vienna, Austria, honoured him by setting up a statue of him with four hands and four sticks, depicting his control and mastery over the ball

• On one occasion, a lady from the audience asked Dhyan Chand to play with her walking stick instead. He scored goals even with it !

(Pic courtesy : www.netindian.in)

Tendulkar & Ponting: A tale of two cricketing legends

Team India’s tour to Australia that starts on Boxing Day (December 26) is special for more than one reason.


It might well be the last time that we see the three top-runner getters in Test Cricket history – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting in action.

For that matter, the headline for the story should have been `A tale of three Cricketing legends’, but I will go ahead with the story since all the hype is around Sachin Tendulkar and his 100^th international ton and Ricky Ponting who is not sure about playing against India in the series. As usual, Rahul Dravid remains the unsung hero.

How strange! Just a couple of years ago, Dean Jones and Ian Chappell were vociferous about Ponting being on the verge of dislodging Tendulkar as one of the greatest to have played the game after the legendary Don Bradman.

Cricket is a gentleman’s game. Not playing the game as it ought to be may be the biggest difference that sets Tendulkar and Ponting poles apart, I feel.

Leave alone comparison with Tendulkar, Ponting’s 39 centuries in Test cricket was overwhelmed by the South African all-rounder Kallis (40) and another Indian, Rahul Dravid (13094) has surpassed him (Ponting 12656) as the second highest run-getter in Test Cricket history.

Both Ponting and Tendulkar in a way endorse how cricket is played by their respective countries. Long ago, Javagal Srinath who was spearheading the Indian pace attack then bowled a bouncer to Ricky Ponting that hit him on his head. Srinath was courteous enough to go down the pitch to enquire about how Ponting was feeling, rather apologetically. To Srinath’s dismay, Ponting shot back aggressively asking Srinath to carry on with his job.

A rather similar incident occurred when India toured Australia a couple of years back. Australia was trying desperately to get rid of Sachin Tendulkar who was on the verge of getting a double century. Brett Lee bowled a beamer that hit Tendulkar on his head. There was a big hue and cry in the commentary box with Ian Chappell accusing Brett Lee of using such cheap tactics to unsettle batsman when he (Lee) is not able to dismiss them. Later in a press conference, Tendulkar went on to say that he knows Lee too well as he (Lee) would never do such a thing.

Ponting, thanks to his aggressive approach (as was evident in the `monkey-gate’ scandal and the Sydney Test in 2008 when India toured Australia) has many a critic in Australian Cricket  gunning for his head after stripping him of the captaincy. He on the other hand is in no mood to let himself go even after failing to reach the three-figure mark in the last two years making his life all the more miserable.

Tendulkar (15183 test runs) in the last two years added about 13 centuries to his kitty in addition to a record first double century by any player in one day internationals to take his tally of centuries to 99 (51 in tests and 48 in one-day internationals).

No wonder Tendulkar got accolades from across the globe as a great ambassador for the game of cricket. With due respects to Ponting the cricketer, I do not see him matching up to Tendulkar in this aspect even if he goes on to find his form like Tendulkar did.

All the best Punter !