Photo: Meta
Guwahati, May 14: When 19-year-old Naba Kamal Bhuyan took guard at the crease for Assam in 1948 against the United Provinces team, he unwittingly entered the record books.
He became the batter to face the first ball for this Northeastern state in its maiden Ranji Trophy outing, playing at Garrison Field in the then state capital city of Shillong.
The youngster was asked to face the first balls so that his opening partner, the more experienced B B Bose, could get an understanding of the pitch and the bowler before taking on them.
“I was asked to open but was also given the clear instruction – ‘don't you dare take runs in the first three balls, let Bose read the pitch and the bowler'. It didn't matter to me, for the team had chosen me over others to open the innings,” a lucid Bhuyan, now in his mid-90s, recounted here during an interactive programme with the veteran cricketer.
He recalled vividly how the first ball was an outswing, the second over a maiden and he was out on the third ball of the third over.
“I had the courage but lacked experience. I was bowled out for one run in the third over,” Bhuyan said.
Born in 1929 in Dibrugarh, Bhuyan had made his debut in competitive cricket at the inter-school level and his years at Scottish Church College, Kolkata, further exposed him to the game.
“When I returned to Guwahati and enrolled in the Cotton College (now university) and later at Gauhati University for my further studies, the cricketing scene was nascent but there were people involved with the game who were determined to take it to heights,” Bhuyan said.
There was not even a single cricket pitch in Guwahati in mid-40s, he said.
“We laid the first pitch at New Field combining knowledge from cricket books and our own innovations in the absence of required raw materials,” Bhuyan said.
Money was also a constraint and donations from different individuals, organisations and even the state government were collected for the purpose, he added.
The pitch was prepared for a match against the Bihar team, which was led by Shute Banerjee, the country's top pacer of the era.
Cricket has come a lot way in the state since those initial days and Bhuyan expressed his happiness at development of playing infrastructure in rural areas too.
“Dudhnoi (in Goalpara district) was a place in the 1930s where perhaps no one had even seen a cricket ball. I used to visit there due to my father's posting. And now, the same place has a cricket stadium,” Bhuyan said, praising the recent office bearers of Assam Cricket Association (ACA) for putting in the efforts.
The nonagenarian, however, rued that “politics” had been a part of cricket since its initial days and Assam had lost many promising players as they were never given proper opportunity.
“When cricket administrators work with their vested agenda, the game suffers. I have seen it happen right from the early days of ACA, when it was formed in 1948 to enable Assam to play its first Ranji match,” he added.
Bhuyan's professional cricketing career was short-lived as he joined the state police force soon. Later, he moved to England for higher studies and was engaged by private firms there.
He continued to play for his company's team and remained associated with the game after returning to India a few years later, though his exploits on the field came to a pre-mature halt.