From 'divide-and-rule' selection to meritocracy in cricket

The Indian cricket team for the 1932 tour of England was picked on a quota basis and Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji and Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan of Pataudi could have played for India, but did not, according to Majid Khan, the graceful and attacking top-order batsman of the 1960s, '70s and '80s who also captained Pakistan.

- Ashis Ray

ISLAMABAD:

He was speaking on the basis of what his father, Dr Jahangir Khan, told him, he having been a member of the squad. The tour marked India's maiden appearance in official international cricket.

"The 1932 Indian cricket team for England was not picked on merit, but on a quota basis to give representation to the various communities. It was a 'divide-and-rule' system of selection," he said.

The one and only test match that summer was played at the home of cricket, the Lord's Cricket Ground, in June 1932. Majid, now 78 and quite a walking historian, elaborated that the tourists were considered in accordance with Britain's colonial policy in India of identifying Indians on the basis of their religion and caste and fanning division between them; and not on pure cricketing prowess as it ought to have been. Consequently, places in the touring party were distributed between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs reflecting their populations' strength. Not restricting recognition to their abilities, but also taking into account their faiths.

Among the examples Khan cited of cricketers included in the side, who were perhaps not deserving of inclusion, was Lall Singh, because he was a Sikh and according to the powers-that-were, there had to be at least one person from the community in the mix. To be fair, Singh didn't fare too badly, considering the general failure of the Indian batting in a contest they lost by 158 runs.

Singh was an outstanding fielder and brilliantly ran out Frank Woolley, a formidable left-handed all-rounder; in the first innings records, "he glided over the ground like a snake". He scored 15 and 29 in the test, batting in the lower order and was involved in an eighth wicket partnership of 74 runs in the second innings with Amar Singh. His first-class career, though, was short-lived, before he migrated to Malaysia.