It was a night of celebration, stuffed with fascinating anecdotes and a visit down reminiscence lane through the launch of a e-book on former India leg-spinner V.V. Kumar to commemorate his 90th birthday.
The e-book titled Celebrating V.V. Kumar @ 90 options articles by former cricketers and different eminent personalities, together with G.R. Viswanath and S. Venkataraghavan. It was launched by C.D. Gopinath, the one surviving member of India’s first Test win in 1952 towards England, with Kumar receiving the primary copy.
“He and I played together for several years. He was a good team man. He was not only very popular but cheerful and made a lot of people laugh,” stated Gopinath. “His bowling was phenomenal. He had so much control over his bowling that he could do anything he wanted. The way he was dropped was unfair. He would have been highly successful and won a lot of matches for India,” he added.
Kumar scalped a five-for on debut towards Pakistan in New Delhi (1961) however performed only one extra Test, versus England in Mumbai.
N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group, who has written a chapter within the e-book, highlighted Kumar’s immense contribution to home cricket regardless of being neglected by the selectors. In 129 First Class matches, Kumar scalped 599 wickets and was the primary to go previous the 400-wicket mark within the Ranji Trophy.
Speaking on the event, Kumar expressed his gratitude for the friendships he had cast throughout his cricketing days.
“I am grateful for this emotional meeting. I owe a lot to Gopinath, who was my captain and mentor. I have great respect and affection for my captain, who gave me the confidence in my first game against Bombay (Mumbai),” stated Kumar.
“The next best thing that happened to me was always the company that I had during my cricketing days, whether it was juniors or State matches. The team moved as one, and the days were enjoyed.”
The thought for the e-book originated from a dialog amongst former Tamil Nadu cricketers V. Krishnaswamy, P. Mukund, A.G. Satvinder Singh, and P.R. Ramakrishnan, and was compiled by Partab Ramchand.
