Brave Hearts

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Eye Care Foundation

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A Man of Grit And Determination
thought was more enjoyable than keeping wickets.
Once it so happened that his school was playing a match with another school. The match had reached a crucial point at and his school was facing the prospect of a certain defeat. The rival team needed only a few more runs to register a victory. It still had a few batsmen waiting for their turn to bat.
Bhagwat Chandrashekhar At such a crucial time, the wicket-keeper of the team that was facing defeat requested the captain to hand over the bowling to him. What he said to the captain was, 'Look, either way we are losing the match. Why not allow me to try bowling ?' The captain saw some point in what the wicket-keeper was saying and conceded his request on the condition that he would be allowed to bowl only one over.
The wicket-keeper justifiably thought that if he were to bowl only one over, why not deliver the six balls with the right hand? It was paralysed now, but it was the same hand with which he had bowled prior to the disease he was afflicted with ! The wicket-keeper turned bowler delivered the first ball of the over that was allotted to him. It was a yorker.* The batsman at the crease could not even see the ball, nor could he judge its speed. The result was that his middle stump was uprooted. The bowler then started delivering the remaining balls with his polio affected right hand with such a speed that the bowler himself was perplexed at it. The wickets of the rival team started tumbling one after the other. The team which at one point was at the threshold of certain defeat turned the tables
* It is a ball which is pitched at or very near the batting crease.
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