Who is the first Bengali to represent India in Test cricket? I believe most answers to this question will be Pankaj Roy. Few more knowledgeable ones will get it right – the diminutive wicket keeper Probir ‘Khokon’ Sen who made his bow in the winter of 1947/48, against Sir Don Bradman’s Australia no less.
Yet more than 12 years before Sen, a Bengali cricketer was about to get this honour which was cruelly denied to him. This is the story of Sarodindu Nath Banerjee, better known by his nickname – Shute: possibly the unluckiest cricketer ever born in this cricket-crazy nation.
Summer of 1936.
The all-India cricket team is on its first full tour of England. They are scheduled to face the hosts in 3 official Test matches besides a host of other matches. Among the tour party is 24-year Shute Banerjee. Only the previous winter, Banerjee had made a mark, taking five wickets for Bengal against an Australian touring side led by Jack Ryder, Don Bradman’s first Test captain. He is rewarded with a place in the touring party. However, with Mohammad Nissar, L. Amar Singh and Jahangir Khan in charge of the pace department, his probability of being picked for the Test matches is low.
But ahead of the third Test match, luck smiles on Banerjee. He is informed that he will make his debut at the Oval. Sadly, backroom politics of which he was no part of would claim a victim of Banerjee. The tour was an unhappy one, marked with power struggle between the undeserving captain – the notorious Maharajakumar of Vizianagaram and the man he had replaced, the venerable Col. CK Nayudu. Vizianagram promised Baqa Jilani, another member of the party, of a Test debut if he would insult Col. Nayudu in public. At breakfast on the morning of the 1st day, Jilani abused Nayudu in vile words and was duly rewarded with a Test cap. The man to suffer: poor Shute Banerjee.
Sadly, this would become a regular feature of Banerjee’s career in the coming years. In the 1936-37 Ranji Trophy, Banerjee was a cornerstone of the Bengal team, picking up six wickets against Central India and then following it up with a solid all-round showing in the semi-final defeat of Hyderabad. Bengal was set to take on Nawanagar in the final. Ahead of the big match, Banerjee received a job offer from the royal state of Nawanagar. It was too good an offer to refuse. But the Nawanagar cricket body raised an objection to his featuring in the final on account of conflict of interest. Banerjee was ruled ineligible for both sides and missed the match which a weakened Bengal lost. It was strongly rumoured but never conclusively proven that the job offer came in at an opportune time to deny Bengal one of their main weapons in the big match.
The World War II brought all international cricket to a standstill but Shute Banerjee remained in fine form in domestic cricket. In the inaugural match of the 1941-42 Ranji Trophy, Shute Banerjee, representing Nawanagar, produced an astonishing spell of 8/25 that saw Maharashtra shot out for just 39.
For good measure, he also top-scored in both innings. In 1945, at the end of the war, an Australian Services team toured India. Banerjee was selected to play in one of the unofficial Test matches and picked eight wickets in the game. This earned him a place in the touring party for England in 1946.
Unlike 10 years back, the Indian pace attack was rather weak with Amar Singh deceased and Nissar no longer playing. Banerjee and Ranga Sohoni were the only two specialist pacers in the side. With his prior experience of English conditions, Banerjee was expected to spearhead the new ball attack for India. Surprisingly, although Sohoni was picked for two Tests, Banerjee was overlooked once more. Wisden observed that Banerjee appeared to be under bowled in the tour matches. Was there a sinister motive behind this? We will never know.
The tour of 1946 though provided Banerjee with a permanent place in the record books. In a match against Surrey at the Oval, Banerjee walked in at no. 11 to join no. 10 Chandu Sarwate and the pair both hit centuries – even today, it remains the only occasion of nos. 10 and 11 both making centuries in a first-class cricket match.
Despite advancing years, Banerjee remained a consistent performer in domestic cricket where he now represented Bihar. But he was again overlooked for independent India’s first cricket series: in Australia where Prabir Sen made his debut. In the winter of 1948/49, for the first time, a West Indian cricket team toured India. At Allahabad in January of 1949, Banerjee, by now in his 38th year, took 7 for 67 to lead East Zone to a 10-wicket win over a Caribbean side that included the legendary Clyde Walcott in its ranks.
It was the tourists’ only defeat of the tour. This performance earned Banerjee a much-delayed Test debut at Bombay a month later. After picking a solitary wicket in the first innings, he snared four the 2nd time around.
Sadly, India were not to play a Test match for another three years by which time Banerjee was past 40. Although he remained active in domestic cricket till the late-1950s, and despite the fact that India often were handicapped by lack of good fast bowlers, Shute Banerjee was never again considered for national duty.
A gallant man by all accounts, Banerjee remained a loyal servant to the beautiful game and never complained about the unfair cards fate dealt him. He passed away in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1980.
References:
Speed Merchants: The Story of Indian Pace Bowling 1880s-2019, Gulu Ezekiel & Vijay Lokapally
Eden Gardens: Legend and Romance, Raju Mukherji