One of the finest players of spin, essentially a middle-order batsman, made his Test debut at Headingley, was slotted at different positions, could not capitalise, and never played a Test again. Ramesh Saxena, hailed by his contemporaries as a delightful player, received a raw deal from the National selectors despite earning the respect of all opponents in domestic cricket.
“Few could read the flight of the ball as he could,” said long-time colleague and friend Daljit Singh, himself an unfortunate victim of whimsical selection. He would step out on instinct when he saw the bowler toss the ball. “He was very dominating,” conceded Bishan Singh Bedi, who was famous for foxing the batsmen with his alluring trajectory of the ball.
He caught attention as a junior cricketer in Delhi and made his Ranji Trophy debut at 16 in December 1960 against Southern Punjab. He hit a brilliant 113 not out in the company of Man Mohan Sood (170) who incidentally also had a one-Test appearance (against Australia at Madras in 1960). Saxena played for Delhi until December 1965, his last match coming against Services at the Palam ground with scores of 29 and 122 as opener.
Saxena moved to Bihar with Daljit Singh and Anand Shukla, both reputed first-class cricketers and unfortunate not to have earned a Test cap. “I knew Ramesh from the time we played Ranji Trophy together. I used to see his name in the local newspapers and he once hit a triple century. We moved to Tatas because of a good job offer and Russi Mody’s desire to raise a strong team. At that stage, Ramesh was seen as a potential candidate to play international cricket,” said Daljit.
The elegant Saxena was not known to endure long sessions in the nets. “He was a natural. He made batting look so easy and I know he would just tap a few balls in the nets and go out and play some classy knocks in the middle. Watching him from the other end was a great learning experience for me. He was so fluent and stylish, a great player of spin, and attacking against the quicks,” remembered Tamil Nadu bastman V. Sivaramakrishnan, who played 100 first-class matches and spent one season with Bihar in 1975-76 when it made its only appearance in a Ranji Trophy final.
According to Daljit, the striking aspect of Saxena’s batsmanship was his ball sense. “He had amazing reflexes to judge the flight and length of the ball. He could pick the line early and his flawless shot selection would allow him to dictate. If I had to pick one flaw it was against the moving ball outside off, but then Ramesh was also a fantastic batsman against the fast bowlers. His drives, especially the on-drive, were a treat. He avoided the hook but played the ball with great finesse.”
Old-timers remember Saxena’s back-lift. “He was a big back-foot player,” said leg-spinner Rakesh Shukla, who got his wicket in the farewell innings at Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur in March, 1982. It is said his back-lift had the flourish of Zaheer Abbas and as Daljit recalled, Saxena was “never yorked. He just killed the spinners, audaciously whipping the armers and googlies.”
Cricket was an integral part of Saxena’s life. He would not miss a match, for office, club or state. He was also adept at playing on surfaces, matting, uncovered, bouncy or slow. “He was amazingly gifted. I remember West Indies fast bowler Chester Watson calling Ramesh the best batsman against fast bowling (in 1963). He had so much time to play the ball. Ramesh was only 19 then and there were no helmets,” said Daljit.
His Test experience in 1967 was disappointing. He was bowled in both the innings, by Basil D’Oliveira and John Snow in a match that saw Geoff Boycott compile an unbeaten 246. Boycott was dropped after that Test for slow batting while Saxena’s fate was sealed after those two failures. In 1971, he made a classic 90 in the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone boasting of EAS Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar, S. Venkataraghavan and Abid Ali. He was sadly not considered for the tour to the West Indies a few months later. “It broke his heart,” said Daljit. Loved by his friends as a generous human being, Saxena died at 66 of brain haemorrhage in 2011.
(Ramesh Saxena played 1 Test (25 runs), 149 First Class Matches (8155 runs, 17 centuries, 42 fifties); Career span: 1960-61 to 1981-82).
