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Published on Nov 13, 2005

M.L. Jaisimha was a right handed batsman who was noted for his style on and off the field. He bowled medium pace, often opening the bowling for India, and off breaks and was a brilliant fielder. But it was the way he went about things that caught the eye.

Partab Ramchand, a noted Cricket writer wrote after Jaisimha’s death that his slim figure, which he maintained till his last day, the boyish good looks, the inimitable gait, the trademark silk shirt and scarf, the sleeves buttoned at the wrist or the collar turned up – all these traits attracted immediate attention and he was called a ‘cultivated stylist’.
 

Jaisimha made his first class debut at the age of 15 scoring 90 for Hyderabad against Andhra. After two indifferent seasons, he cracked hundreds against Madras and Mysore in the Ranji Trophy, two of the premier teams in the South Zone and took 20 wickets in the same season. This performance found him a place in the Indian team that toured England in 1959. His debut at Lord’s was nothing to write home about, but the next two Tests he played won him notice. In the final Test against Australia in 1959/60 at Calcutta, he went on to bat all five days of the Test Match, a unique world record which stayed many years and was later emulated by Boycott, Hughes, Lamb and Shastri. Two years later at Kanpur against Pakistan he batted through a whole day for just 49 runs, a world record. This innings which lasted 505 minutes for 99 runs ironically ended when he attempted a quick single to complete the hundred.
 

Meanwhile he was forced to convert himself into an opener as he was not being considered for a place in the middle order with the likes of Vijay Manjrekar, Chandu Borde and Polly Umrigar dominating the middle order. As an opener, Jaisimha scored hundreds against England in 1961/62 and 1963/64 and a 134 against Ceylon. In the latter series against England he made 444 runs. In 1964/65, he batted in the middle order for Hyderabad and hit 713 runs but still did not get considered for a place in the middle order. He was surprisingly not part of the team that toured Australia in 1967/68, but injuries to Chandu Borde and B.S.Chandrasekhar and loss of form of the other batsmen resulted in Jaisimha being flown to Australia. He went straight into the third Test and scored 74 and 101, nearly pulling off an improbable win for India. Curiously, each of his three hundreds came in the third Tests of the respective series. His last series was the tour of the West Indies in 1970/71. Captain Ajit Wadekar was to write later that he found Jaisimha’s counsel invaluable. In his last innings at Port of Spain he stayed for an hour scoring 23 and helped Sunil Gavaskar save the Test. Jaisimha holds the world record for opening both the batting and bowling in the most consecutive Tests.

Jaismha led Hyderabad for 16 long seasons and 76 matches. The Indian captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was more than happy to play under Jaisimha for Hyderabad and South Zone. This was probably the only occasion that the captain of the country played under another cricketer for both the state and zone for several years. He was considered to be the best captain in the country who never got to lead the country because of the then politics in Indian cricket.

Jaisimha was a selector between 1977/78 and 1980/81, and managed the Indian tour to Sri Lanka in 1985/86. MCC made him a life member in 1978. He was also a TV commentator and regaled television viewers with his deep voice and articulate commentary. Both his sons Vivek Jaisimha and Vidyuth Jaisimha played first class cricket.

 

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