Chuni Goswami and M.J. Gopalan, 2 Indian sporting legends who also kicked ass in cricket (Chuni passes away)

[Gollum]

I guess most of us are familiar with Ric Charlseworth the legendary world cup winning Aussie field hockey player who also represented Western Australia in cricket and and got a 100 against Bedi's team in one of the warm ups in our 1978 tour downunder. Ellyse Perry is another cricketer who has distinguished herself in football. Also WG Grace was another freak who was great across many sports. 

 

In India we have had 2 such prominent examples, absolute legends who don't get any credit/recognition/fame whatsoever today.

 

Chuni Goswami

 

Football- Mohun Bagan legend who captained his club side to 4 CFL titles, 3 IFA shields, 3 Durand Cups plus numerous minor titles. Also part of India's golden generation of footballers. Was part of the team that finished 4th in the 1956 Olympics besides captaining India to Asian Games Gold medal in 1962 and Silver in 1964 AFC Asian Cup. He is an Asian football legend who was chosen as Asian player of the year twice by FIFA in his career. 

 

What many won't know is that after retiring from football he took cricket seriously and became Bengal captain. He led his side to 2 Ranji finals, both times falling short of the erstwhile superpower Bombay. His batting average was 28+, bowling average was 24+...decent I would say. He also led the East Zone side against Sobers' WI in a warm up match and stunned the visiting party, Chuni took a 5fer and a 3fer in that match .

 

M.J. Gopalan

 

Part of Dhyan Chand's immortals in the 1930s, toured all over the world with the hockey GOAT and had a brilliant career. He was a part of the legendary Indian team's 1932-33 Australasian tour, unquestionably the most dominant sports team to have ever taken the field. He was also chosen for the Berlin Olympics but chose to tour Eng thanks to persuasion by his close ones, 'hockey team will manage without you, cricket team won't' quipped his father. He came in for grand praise in Dhyan Chand's autobiography who called him the greatest centre back of his time with larger than life persona. 

 

Surprising thing was his unique feat in cricket. Ranji Trophy was inaugurated in 1934 and the 1st ever Ranji match was between Madras province and Mysore province. Gopalan delivered the 1st ball of the tournament !!!! He also played a test for India later that year against England in Calcutta (dismissed Hobbs in both innings). He was selected for our 1936 tour to England (the cricket team was captained by the notorious Maharaja of Vijayanagaram ). He was a decent batsman and India's 3rd best quick behind Amar Singh and Mohd Nissar, his 1st class average was 24. As it turns out he would live to regret this decision. While his hockey colleagues got a gold in the legendary Berlin Games, Gopalan had a bitter fallout with the Maharaja and got benched for all games, incidentally even the great Lala Amarnath was sent home because he dared to question the royal highness...total comedy tour with a buffoon as captain .

 

Anyway he retired from hockey soon after because of injury and concentrated on cricket. He led Madras to 2 Ranji finals and retired as the greatest Tamil cricketer till the emergence of Venkatraghavan (or Roy Dias ). In his honour the Gopalan Trophy was played between Ceylon and Madras, later Sri Lanka vs Tamil Nadu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._J._Gopalan_Trophy

 

Legendary feat, not many can claim to have shared the dressing room with Dhyan Chand as well as Merchant/Nayudu/Lala/Mushtaq Ali 

 

This thread was just spur of the moment but I thought it would be a nice bit of info, all Indian cricket fans should know about these 2 extraordinary gentlemen associated with Indian Cricket .

 

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Gollum

[Vijy]

3 hours ago, Gollum said:

I guess most of us are familiar with Ric Charlseworth the legendary world cup winning Aussie field hockey player who also represented Western Australia in cricket and and got a 100 against Bedi's team in one of the warm ups in our 1978 tour downunder. Ellyse Perry is another cricketer who has distinguished herself in football. Also WG Grace was another freak who was great across many sports. 

 

In India we have had 2 such prominent examples, absolute legends who don't get any credit/recognition/fame whatsoever today.

 

Chuni Goswami

 

Football- Mohun Bagan legend who captained his club side to 4 CFL titles, 3 IFA shields, 3 Durand Cups plus numerous minor titles. Also part of India's golden generation of footballers. Was part of the team that finished 4th in the 1956 Olympics besides captaining India to Asian Games Gold medal in 1962 and Silver in 1964 AFC Asian Cup. He is an Asian football legend who was chosen as Asian player of the year twice by FIFA in his career. 

 

What many won't know is that after retiring from football he took cricket seriously and became Bengal captain. He led his side to 2 Ranji finals, both times falling short of the erstwhile superpower Bombay. His batting average was 28+, bowling average was 24+...decent I would say. He also led the East Zone side against Sobers' WI in a warm up match and stunned the visiting party, Chuni took a 5fer and a 3fer in that match .

 

M.J. Gopalan

 

Part of Dhyan Chand's immortals in the 1930s, toured all over the world with the hockey GOAT and had a brilliant career. He was a part of the legendary Indian team's 1932-33 Australasian tour, unquestionably the most dominant sports team to have ever taken the field. He was also chosen for the Berlin Olympics but chose to tour Eng thanks to persuasion by his close ones, 'hockey team will manage without you, cricket team won't' quipped his father. He came in for grand praise in Dhyan Chand's autobiography who called him the greatest centre back of his time with larger than life persona. 

 

Surprising thing was his unique feat in cricket. Ranji Trophy was inaugurated in 1934 and the 1st ever Ranji match was between Madras province and Mysore province. Gopalan delivered the 1st ball of the tournament !!!! He also played a test for India later that year against England in Calcutta (dismissed Hobbs in both innings). He was selected for our 1936 tour to England (the cricket team was captained by the notorious Maharaja of Vijayanagaram ). He was a decent batsman and India's 3rd best quick behind Amar Singh and Mohd Nissar, his 1st class average was 24. As it turns out he would live to regret this decision. While his hockey colleagues got a gold in the legendary Berlin Games, Gopalan had a bitter fallout with the Maharaja and got benched for all games, incidentally even the great Lala Amarnath was sent home because he dared to question the royal highness...total comedy tour with a buffoon as captain .

 

Anyway he retired from hockey soon after because of injury and concentrated on cricket. He led Madras to 2 Ranji finals and retired as the greatest Tamil cricketer till the emergence of Venkatraghavan (or Roy Dias ). In his honour the Gopalan Trophy was played between Ceylon and Madras, later Sri Lanka vs Tamil Nadu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._J._Gopalan_Trophy

 

Legendary feat, not many can claim to have shared the dressing room with Dhyan Chand as well as Merchant/Nayudu/Lala/Mushtaq Ali 

 

This thread was just spur of the moment but I thought it would be a nice bit of info, all Indian cricket fans should know about these 2 extraordinary gentlemen associated with Indian Cricket .

 

 

gopalan made a horrible blunder by playing on that cricket tour.

 

on a side note, balbir singh (sr) is also a serious contender for the GOAT of hockey - somewhat better and wider competition in hockey when singh played (compared to major chand) and his knock-outs record is phenomenal. i'm not downplaying the major here - ind was blessed to have top genuine GOAT candidates in immediate succession.

 

you could also mention CB Fry in place of grace - an even more diverse/bizarre record.

[Gollum]

14 minutes ago, Vijy said:

gopalan made a horrible blunder by playing on that cricket tour.

 

on a side note, balbir singh (sr) is also a serious contender for the GOAT of hockey - somewhat better and wider competition in hockey when singh played (compared to major chand) and his knock-outs record is phenomenal. i'm not downplaying the major here - ind was blessed to have top genuine GOAT candidates in immediate succession.

 

you could also mention CB Fry in place of grace - an even more diverse/bizarre record.

Yup can't go wrong with either one, Balbir Sr had tougher competition but Major had a mythical status like Bradman. 

 

And thanks for the info about CB Fry, wow what a guy !!! Pretty sure I am missing a few more, just now remembered that Jonty Rhodes was in the field hockey squad of SA IN 1992 Barcelona. 

[Vijy]

3 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Yup can't go wrong with either one, Balbir Sr had tougher competition but Major had a mythical status like Bradman. 

 

And thanks for the info about CB Fry, wow what a guy !!! Pretty sure I am missing a few more, just now remembered that Jonty Rhodes was in the field hockey squad of SA IN 1992 Barcelona. 

there have been a good number of dual-sports players in cricket. from Oz and NZ, there were a decent number of rugby double-internationals. Dennis Compton, if not for his knee, would have played for Eng in footer as well. He was also a brilliant batsman (avg > 50), a fine fielder and useful bowler.

 

Searching for "List of cricket and rugby union players" and "List of English cricket and football players" on Wiki will give you full list of players. But, amongst the entire list of int'l cricket players, CB Fry is usually considered to have been the most versatile (even did well in politics).

 

For hockey, amongst the Africans - Russell Endean, Tsolikele and Dave Houghton (along with Rhodes) played at int'l level. Maurice Turnbull played cricket, hockey, rugby at the int'l level and football at national level.

[NameGoesHere]

What a lovely thread. To my eternal shame I knew about many of the foreign multi-sports athletes mentioned in the OP, but never knew until know about Goswami's career apart from his footballing prowess, and not at all about Gopalan.

 

One's never too old to learn. 

 

Five star thread.

[Gollum]

When Chuni Goswami demolished the mighty West Indies

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/news/when-chuni-goswami-demolished-the-mighty-west-indies/articleshow/62503718.cms

 

When Indian football legend Chuni Goswami rejected English giants Tottenham Hotspur to play in India

https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/when-indian-football-legend-chuni-goswami-rejected-english-giants-tottenham-hotspur-to-play-in-india

 

Lost opportunity for Goswami and Indian football

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/lost-opportunity-for-goswami-and-indian-football/article5414779.ece

 

 

 

[Gollum]

A puny Padma Shri for this great man when far inferior sportspersons have been given greater honour by GOI. Even Vijay Amritraj got only a Padma Shri, Sania has a Padma Bhushan and Paes a Padma Vibhushan.  Recency effect?

[Vijy]

On 2/5/2018 at 9:18 AM, Gollum said:

A puny Padma Shri for this great man when far inferior sportspersons have been given greater honour by GOI. Even Vijay Amritraj got only a Padma Shri, Sania has a Padma Bhushan and Paes a Padma Vibhushan.  Recency effect?

Well, that and the fact that Indians rate singles and doubles GS on par - not saying that it's "correct" but that's the way of thinking. And as per this approach, both Sania and Paes (and Bhupathi) would rank "higher" than Veejay Amritraj.

[Gollum]

7 hours ago, Vijy said:

Well, that and the fact that Indians rate singles and doubles GS on par - not saying that it's "correct" but that's the way of thinking. And as per this approach, both Sania and Paes (and Bhupathi) would rank "higher" than Veejay Amritraj.

That is the main reason why we have declined as a tennis power. Once upon a time we were Asia's best, now look at us. 

[Gollum]

End of an era, Om Shanti.