Noel David would be remembered as one of the
finest fielders in Indian Cricket. An all rounder who used to
bat in the middle order and bowl off breaks, Noel got his
break in International Cricket when he was picked following
the famous rotator cuff injury to Javagal Srinath just after
he landed in the Caribbean in the 1996/97 tour. Although Noel
David has played just 35 first class games along with 4 ODIs,
he had his moments on and off the field which are quite
interesting. Presently he is the Director of the M.L.Jaisimha
Cricket 365 Indoor Cricket Academy in Hyderabad. He is a Level
II Coach. Noel sums up his cricketing career as a short and
sweet one. In this interview with B.V.Swagath, he answers
about what he is upto nowadays and most importantly tells us
about the 'Who Noel is' episode along with other aspects. Here
we go...
Well
Noel, it has been more than six years since you last played for
Hyderabad. So what have you been to all these years?
Well you are right it has been six years since I had played any
first class game and it’s been an year since I had announced my
retirement. I had left for USA in 1999 when I knew I had no
chance to get back to the Hyderabad side. I was playing cricket
and coaching there in USA. After my contract was over, I was
back home to make a comeback to the Hyderabad One Day Squad.
Even after my good performances, I was ignored by the Selectors
for the Ranji Team who said that I was not fit to play the
longer version. So I was dropped, then I got an opportunity to
go to Dubai to work as sports coach. I had done so knowing that
the end of my career had come.
So are you trying to do the Level III
Coaching as well and aim to become the Coach of a first class
side?
Well every cricketer loves to give back something to the game
and I want to do so by becoming the Coach of the Hyderabad team
in the future and my aim is do get there. Yes I need to complete
my Level III Coaching to make strides towards my goal.
 Also
you have been a professional coach in the UK, UAE. Could you
tell us all about that?
Well I was not a Professional Coach in UAE or in the UK but I
did coach some schools and younger cricketers for a club. I use
to work for club called INSPORTZ in UAE, which also plays Indoor
Cricket, and I was one of the Cricket Coaches and employee.
Well so much about you as a Coach post
retirement, now lets focus on Noel Arthur David, the useful
Hyderabad all rounder who was a live wire on the field. So was
fielding that came natural to you or was it something you worked
hard at and started to enjoy?
I used to be an athlete doing the 100 and 200 mts, so I had the
natural speed in me and my hand eye co-ordination was very good.
My anticipation towards the ball was much quicker to any one in
the side and thus how I went on to become a good fielder. Yes I
did work out on the basic style of fielding with my coach, late
SAMPATH KUMAR sir who use make me run from one end to other as a
demo boy to show others how one should field, even that used to
give me an extra boost.
Do you remember the way Tony Cozier, a
well known commentator from the Caribbean was getting excited
whenever the ball was coming anywhere near you? Of course you
did run quicker than the ball at times…
When people came to know about me as a fielder who was quick
across the turf, my reputation as one of the best in that
department of the game started to grow. Well I still remember
Tony Cozier saying I was next to Jonty on the field and that was
a great gesture for a young lad making a debut in international
cricket. Even Sunny Bhai (Sunil Gavaskar) praised me saying ‘he
is the Indian Jonty Rhodes’ during his commentary stints. I
still remember running out Kapil Dev in one of the games in
Chennai, wow it was a nice gesture he gave me, saying ‘baapre
baap’. Even Azhar Bhai used to praise me a lot saying he is the
best. For me fielding was the most enjoyable thing and I still
love it. I thank the late Sampat Kumar Sir for this; he is the
one who helped me to become one of the finest fielders in India.
And I feel proud sometimes when people say "Noel David was one
of India’s best fielders". I hope I can give back something in
fielding to the young lads in our country. Yes I knew I was
sometimes faster then the ball for which I had misfielded on
some occasions.
 You
had played just 21 Ranji Trophy matches and had scored a hundred
and 3 fifties with a healthy average of 40+ along with 18
wickets before getting a call to join the Indian team. Did you
ever imagine that you were going to play for India so soon?
I never knew when I could make it to the Indian team but I
always thought I had a chance when I played for India "A", I
bowled well against all teams in the SAARC Tournament in
Bangladesh.
What was the feeling when you had heard
the news that you have replaced Javagal Srinath, the fastest
bowler in India those days?
I was playing for Syndicate Bank in one of the matches when I
had first heard the call about my selection. As Sachin had asked
for an off spinner to replace Srinath, I could make it to the
side ahead of Rajesh Chauhan and Aashish Kapoor. It was a dream
come true for me and for all my well wishers who backed me right
from my early days.
And most importantly, what was your
reaction when you had come to know about the then Indian
Skipper, Sachin Tendulkar asking "Who is Noel?"?
I did well in the West Indies; I bowled well and was not out on
the two innings I got to play. Well everyone asked me this
question about why Sachin had made such a statement. But for me,
I did clarify with him in Bermuda and he said he never made any
such statement. So it was the media who made that story. Well I
have played with Sachin before and he knew me well. I can say
that it was Mr. Ajit Wadekar who had asked ‘Who Noel is’ and not
Sachin. To be honest me and Sachin are good friends.
Now a test of your memory, you did play
your first game for the touring Indian side which was a warm-up
game against Barbados. We are not going to talk about that but
we will about a test match that had started at the Kensington
Oval three days later which was played under nasty pitch
conditions. Could you recall those moments for all the fans
worldwide?
Yes I did play my first game against Barbados and it was before
the Test Match. Coming to the Test Match, I can still remember
it was a match in hand for us when we needed just 120 runs to
win with I think 8 wickets in hand or so. Sachin, Jadu (Ajay
Jadeja), myself and the family were at the beach just to relax
from the pressure, so we went up to the beach resorts bar not
for drinking but for just chilling out. And that’s where one of
the ladies from there said “well Sachin mon, tomorrow Ambo and
others will get you out man, and we will win the test” and it
did become true. When Sachin got out we thought we had lost,
also thought that we had some bad decisions. I think Franklyn
Rose bowled well in that match. It was a dreadful wicket to play
cricket on with the batsmen getting hit all over their bodies
with the parts of the pitch exploding whenever the ball hit the
turf.
And April 27 was a big day in your
life, fabulous start it was to your international career, taking
a neat 3 for 21 in 8 overs along with some amazing speed display
across the outfield. You did answer most people ‘Who Noel is’.
You were helped by the fact that Windies were struggling after a
loss of early wickets, but Noel how was ODI Cricket compared to
all the league games or Ranji Trophy matches you had played
before?
After my performance in the side game leading upto the One
Dayers, I knew I had a chance of making my ODI Debut. With Sunil
Joshi and Robin Singh dropped for the second ODI, I got my big
opportunity. To my good luck, Venkatesh Prasad and Abey
Kuruvilla ran through the first half and when I had come to bowl
I had Bishop, Ambrose, Rose to blow away. So when Sachin gave
the ball to me, I was excited. Kumble gave me lot of confidence
by asking me to bowl like I do in any Ranji matches, he just
asked me to bowl my stuff and not to go after wickets. I knew
Bishop was a decent bat, for my luck, I just flighted the ball
and he tried to hit me and it was good catch taken by Prasad at
mid off.
Well Noel, I see that you have hardly
done anything wrong in the other three ODIs you have played. Yes
one match you got clobbered for 38 in 6 overs, that’s just over
6 runs per over, but why do you think your international career
lasted for just the four ODIs? And then your Hyderabad career
also faded out quickly was that loss of focus or anything else?
Well I think every one thought I had my feet up in the air after
I played for India. Yes I do agree that I was doing badly with
the bat but I never got a chance to bowl as much as what I used
to do before playing for India. And it was frustration and anger
following that and I eventually lost out. Everyone used to talk
about me and my behaviour but I think it was their talking that
had let me down. I used to feel bad when I used to hear people
talking nonsense about me. As I said in my previous interviews,
people couldn’t digest seeing a boy riding a Kinetic Honda to a
Maruti Zen. All eyes were on me, they thought I was showing off.
I was not! It’s the people who don’t play cricket talk all these
kinds of nonsense and that was bad.
So what are the fond memories that you
remember life long in those four days you had played for India?
I have great memories; I never knew I would play under the great
Sachin, and that I will be his close pal. Next is that I got to
meet great players like Lara, Arjun Rantunga, Carl Hooper who
were all great players of spin. Bowling to them was a great
experience and also to Shivnarine Chanderpaul who looks a bit
like me. And I did meet the maestro of off spin – Muttiah
Muralitharan and also Saqlain Mushtaq during the Asia Cup.
What do you have to say about the
serious allegations made by Vanka Pratap during the Abhijit Kale
Scandal; Vanka Pratap had cited you as an example…
Well whatever he (Vanka Pratap) said was utter nonsense. And I
think we got over it now. Some people do such things to get
highlighted in the media and gain some publicity…
Now back
to the tall moments of your career, a double century in just
your second game and what’s more Hyderabad plundering a record
944, anything interesting you would like to share with us
regarding that match?
It was one of the greatest moments in my career; a double in my
second game followed by the then quickest hundred in the Ranji
One Day game, man what more could I have asked at that stage? I
had scored my century in 74 balls, a record which was broken by
Sachin Tendulkar who scored his century in 71 balls. We never
knew it would be a world record, as for us we knew we needed
more than 1000 odd runs to pass the record set by Victoria. But
it was a world record for two double hundreds from myself and
Vivek Jaisimha and one triple hundred from MV Sridhar. We all
felt sad when we couldn't get past the 1000 runs mark thanks to
Arshad Ayub, the Captain who had to declare to gain some bowling
points.
One final
question, how did cricket start with you. If I am not mistaken
you were from the same school in Hyderabad that had produced a
few test players like Abid Ali, Syed Kirmani, Azhar, Raju…So how
important was your stay in your Alma Mater - All Saints High
School. And how good or bad a student you were?
As I said I was an athlete from
the 4th class onwards. I was a bad student in Hindi, never
couldn't get it in my brain. But I always thank BRO. KM Joseph
who was the god father for all of us - Azhar, Raju and me. We
took studies very easy and always use to get canning from the
Principal for failing. I still could remember an incident when I
was in 7th standard when I had failed in Hindi, and during that
time I was playing for my school in a tournament. So my mom went
to Bro. KM and told him "my son failed and I want him to stop
playing cricket". Then KM said no way, you are his mother in
your house and I am his father in my school so whatever I do
with him, don't question me and that's what made me continue to
play cricket.
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