M. J. Gopalan
Encyclopedia
Morappakam Josyam Gopalan (June 6, 1906, Morappakam, Tamil Nadu
, India
– December 21, 2003, Chennai
) was a sportsman who represented India in cricket
and hockey
.
Gopalan hailed from the village of Morappakam in Chingleput
district, some 50 kilometeres from Chennai. His family moved to Triplicane
in Chennai when he was young. Gopalan was discovered by C. P. Johnstone
, one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket. As was his practice with promising players, Johnstone gave him a job in the Burmah Shell. Gopalan soon switched his allegiance to the Triplicane Cricket Club. He owed his fame in local circles mainly to his performances here.
He was a fast medium bowler who moved the ball both ways. When he was selected to make his first class debut in the Madras Presidency tournament
, it was not a popular decision. The crowd barracked him when he did not take a wicket till lunch on the first day, but he went on to take five wickets in each innings. He also impressed against Arthur Gilligan
's MCC
team which was touring India at the time.
Another performance of some significance were the two matches in 1930 for Madras against the Vizianagram XI which included Jack Hobbs
. In the first, Gopalan dismissed Hobbs in both innings; in the second he clean bowled the great man with a leg-cutter that pitched on the leg stump and took the off bail. Against Ceylon in 1933, he took a famous hattrick, the first in Chepauk
. This came in his eighth over when he took wickets with his first, third, fourth and fifth balls, hitting the middle stump each time. http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/14/14532.html
When Ranji Trophy
was inaugurated in 1934, Madras and Mysore (now Tamil Nadu
and Karnataka
) played the first match. To Gopalan went the honour of delivering the first ball of the tournament. His only Test match was against England
at Calcutta
in early 1934.
Gopalan's hockey career was helped by Robert Summerhayes who was to hockey in Madras what Johnstone was to cricket. In 1935, he toured New Zealand
with the Indian hockey
team which enjoyed enormous success. The next year he was selected in the hockey team for the Berlin Olympics
and the cricket team to tour England
. It was known beforehand that Gopalan would have a small role to play in the England tour because of the presence of Mohammad Nissar
and Amar Singh
. Still he chose the latter, which turned out to be a terrible decision. The hockey team captained by Dhyan Chand
, one of the finest teams in the history of the sport, won the gold medal with little difficulty. As it turned out, Gopalan did not play a Test in England. The tour was marred by internal politics and the team returned in disgrace.
Gopalan's batting improved with time. Johnstone wrote later that it featured a stance at the wicket with his left toe cocked up in the air. Since it was the stance adopted by England's most famous cricketer, W.G. Grace, he could hardly be faulted on this account. He was then about a No.10 batsman, but by steady application he showed what improvement a bowler who really tries can make in batting and later on played many fine innings. The most celebrated of these 'many fine innings' was a 64 against the West Indians in 1949 which featured some thrilling driving. http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/18/18769.html
In 1952, a silver jubilee fund was started to celebrate Gopalan's 25 years in cricket and hockey. An annual cricket match was instituted between Madras and Ceylon (later Tamil Nadu
and Sri Lanka
) for the M. J. Gopalan Trophy
. This yearly tournament continued with a few interruptions till Sri Lanka got Test status in the early 1980s. It was revived in 2000 as a match between Tamil Nadu and a Colombo District Cricket Association. This also lapsed after two years. He served as a national selector for a few years in the 1950s.
Gopalan was the oldest living Test cricketer at the time of his death. According to him, he was born in 1906 but the year of his birth was recorded wrongly in the school records http://content.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/102836.html.
One of the entrances to the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
is named after Gopalan.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
– December 21, 2003, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
) was a sportsman who represented India in cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
.
Gopalan hailed from the village of Morappakam in Chingleput
Chingleput
Chingleput or Chengalpattu or Chengalpet is a city and a municipality in Kanchipuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The name of the city is derived from the old nomenclature 'chenkazhuneer patru'...
district, some 50 kilometeres from Chennai. His family moved to Triplicane
Triplicane
Triplicane also has the famous powerful Ellamman temple in SMV Koil street. A beautiful Sundaramurthy Vinayagar temple is right opposite to the Ellamman Temple....
in Chennai when he was young. Gopalan was discovered by C. P. Johnstone
C. P. Johnstone
Conrad Powell Johnstone was an Indian cricketer of British origin who led the Madras cricket team in the Ranji Trophy during the 1930s.- Biography :...
, one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket. As was his practice with promising players, Johnstone gave him a job in the Burmah Shell. Gopalan soon switched his allegiance to the Triplicane Cricket Club. He owed his fame in local circles mainly to his performances here.
He was a fast medium bowler who moved the ball both ways. When he was selected to make his first class debut in the Madras Presidency tournament
Madras Presidency Matches
The Madras Presidency Matches were annual first-class cricket matches played in Madras from the 1915-16 season to 1951-52 between the cricket teams of Indians and the Europeans . The matches were played in the Chepauk Grounds usually in mid-January around the time of Pongal festival...
, it was not a popular decision. The crowd barracked him when he did not take a wicket till lunch on the first day, but he went on to take five wickets in each innings. He also impressed against Arthur Gilligan
Arthur Gilligan
Arthur Edward Robert Gilligan was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Sussex, Surrey and England....
's MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
team which was touring India at the time.
Another performance of some significance were the two matches in 1930 for Madras against the Vizianagram XI which included Jack Hobbs
Jack Hobbs
Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930....
. In the first, Gopalan dismissed Hobbs in both innings; in the second he clean bowled the great man with a leg-cutter that pitched on the leg stump and took the off bail. Against Ceylon in 1933, he took a famous hattrick, the first in Chepauk
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is a cricket stadium in Chennai , India, named after M. A. Chidambaram, the former President of BCCI and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. The stadium was formerly known as Madras Cricket Club Ground or Chepauk Stadium. Commonly known as Chepauk, its first match was...
. This came in his eighth over when he took wickets with his first, third, fourth and fifth balls, hitting the middle stump each time. http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/14/14532.html
When Ranji Trophy
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
was inaugurated in 1934, Madras and Mysore (now Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu cricket team
The Tamil Nadu Cricket Team ; , competes in the Super League of the Ranji Trophy, the top cricketing competition in India. The team finished as runners-up behind Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons establishing themselves as one of the strongest teams in the country...
and Karnataka
Karnataka cricket team
Karnataka cricket team is a cricket team that represents the Indian state of Karnataka in domestic first class cricket. One of the strongest teams in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group, it has produced many of the Indian cricket team's leading players throughout its existence...
) played the first match. To Gopalan went the honour of delivering the first ball of the tournament. His only Test match was against England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
at Calcutta
Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata , India. It is the home of the Bengal cricket team and the Indian Premier League's Kolkata Knight Riders, as well as being a Test and One Day International ground. It is the largest cricket stadium in India by seating capacity...
in early 1934.
Gopalan's hockey career was helped by Robert Summerhayes who was to hockey in Madras what Johnstone was to cricket. In 1935, he toured New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
with the Indian hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
team which enjoyed enormous success. The next year he was selected in the hockey team for the Berlin Olympics
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...
and the cricket team to tour England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was known beforehand that Gopalan would have a small role to play in the England tour because of the presence of Mohammad Nissar
Mohammad Nissar
Shaikh Mohammad Nissar was a cricketer, who played as a fast bowler for the pre-partition Indian cricket team and domestic teams in India and Pakistan. He was born in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, and is considered the fastest pre-partition Indian pace bowler. He was arguably one of the fastest bowlers in...
and Amar Singh
Amar Singh (cricketer)
Ladhabhai Nakum Amar Singh Lodha was an Indian Test cricketer.A right-arm fast-medium bowler and effective lower-order batsman, Amar Singh Lodha played in seven Tests for India before World War II. He took 28 wickets in these matches. He was the first Indian Fast bowler and All-rounder, and the...
. Still he chose the latter, which turned out to be a terrible decision. The hockey team captained by Dhyan Chand
Dhyan Chand
Dhyan Chand ; born August 29, 1905 in Allahabad, United Provinces, British India. – Died:December 3, 1979), was an Indian field hockey player, regarded as one of the greatest field hockey players of all time...
, one of the finest teams in the history of the sport, won the gold medal with little difficulty. As it turned out, Gopalan did not play a Test in England. The tour was marred by internal politics and the team returned in disgrace.
Gopalan's batting improved with time. Johnstone wrote later that it featured a stance at the wicket with his left toe cocked up in the air. Since it was the stance adopted by England's most famous cricketer, W.G. Grace, he could hardly be faulted on this account. He was then about a No.10 batsman, but by steady application he showed what improvement a bowler who really tries can make in batting and later on played many fine innings. The most celebrated of these 'many fine innings' was a 64 against the West Indians in 1949 which featured some thrilling driving. http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/18/18769.html
In 1952, a silver jubilee fund was started to celebrate Gopalan's 25 years in cricket and hockey. An annual cricket match was instituted between Madras and Ceylon (later Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu cricket team
The Tamil Nadu Cricket Team ; , competes in the Super League of the Ranji Trophy, the top cricketing competition in India. The team finished as runners-up behind Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons establishing themselves as one of the strongest teams in the country...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cricket team
The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...
) for the M. J. Gopalan Trophy
M. J. Gopalan Trophy
The M. J. Gopalan Trophy is a bi-annual cricket tournament played between Ceylon and Madras . The idea of the competition came about with the starting of a silver jubilee fund in 1952 to celebrate M.J. Gopalan's 25 years as a cricket and hockey player...
. This yearly tournament continued with a few interruptions till Sri Lanka got Test status in the early 1980s. It was revived in 2000 as a match between Tamil Nadu and a Colombo District Cricket Association. This also lapsed after two years. He served as a national selector for a few years in the 1950s.
Gopalan was the oldest living Test cricketer at the time of his death. According to him, he was born in 1906 but the year of his birth was recorded wrongly in the school records http://content.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/102836.html.
One of the entrances to the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is a cricket stadium in Chennai , India, named after M. A. Chidambaram, the former President of BCCI and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. The stadium was formerly known as Madras Cricket Club Ground or Chepauk Stadium. Commonly known as Chepauk, its first match was...
is named after Gopalan.