New Delhi (TIP)- India’s 1983 World Cup-winning squad extended its support to top wrestlers protesting against sexual harassment on Friday, June 2, the loudest endorsement of the ongoing stir and one that added to mounting pressure for action against six-time parliamentarian and former wrestling federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh after grisly allegations against the strongman by the complainants became public.
In a joint statement, the world champions said they were distressed after seeing the visuals of wrestlers being manhandled but also hoped that the law of the land will prevail. The statement came on a day leaders from 170 khaps or clan-based bodies gave the government a week’s ultimatum to take action against Singh, and said they will march to Delhi and launch a fresh agitation.
“We are distressed and disturbed at the unseemly visuals of our champion wrestlers being manhandled. We are also most concerned that they are thinking of dumping their hard-earned medals into river Ganga,” said the statement released by the players. “We urge them not to take any hasty decision in this matter and also fervently hope that their grievances are heard and resolved quickly. Let the law of the land prevail,” it added.
The backing of the legendary team — led by Kapil Dev, and with Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, K Srikanth, Roger Binny, Syed Kirmani, Yashpal Sharma, Madan Lal, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Sandeep Patil, Kirti Azad, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Valson — is the most high-profile endorsement so far of the stir led by Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia, Rio Games bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, and double World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat. “Wrestlers have done so much for the country. They deserve respect. We feel this issue should be resolved swiftly. Both parties should come together and resolve it amicably,” Roger Binny, a member of the iconic team who is also the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief, told HT.
Madan Lal said the team decided to issue a statement after the dramatic developments on Tuesday, when the wrestlers made an emotional appeal and decided to immerse their medals in the Ganga. “Athletes should not be treated in this way. There has to be a better way to deal with this. To the wrestlers, I want to say, please continue your fight,” he added.
Despite growing demand for the arrest of Singh on charges of intimidation, sexual harassment and assault, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has remained defiant. Source: HT
Tag: Yashpal Sharma
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1983 cricket World Cup heroes back wrestlers
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Yashpal Sharma : Gutsy, improviser and a crisis man
New Delhi (TIP): “I shared a strange relationship with Malcolm Marshall. The moment I would come in, he would at least hit me twice on the chest,” the late Yashpal Sharma would narrate with a straight face while sipping tea at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
On Tuesday, July 13, as Indian cricket lost one of its gutsiest soldiers to a massive cardiac arrest, one couldn’t help but remember what a nice easy-going person Yashpal was, someone who was great at having a laugh or two even if it was at his own expense.
Yashpal was like that bridge between India being a horrible ODI outfit (he was part of the 1979 World Cup where they even lost to Sri Lanka) to their transformation into world champions and the ODI revolution that happened after that in the country.
He didn’t have Sunil Gavaskar’s class, Dilip Vengsarkar’s flair or Gundappa Viswanath’s elegance but anyone who knew “Yash paaji” would vouch that he was guts personified. A batting average of close to 34 in 37 Tests, with two hundreds, and less than 30 in 42 ODIs perhaps won’t give an idea about the impact he had between 1980 to 1983, his golden years as an automatic choice in middle order.
During numerous interactions with Yashpal on the sidelines of domestic games, his pride of standing up to Marshall’s barrage of bouncers and 145 plus inswingers stood out.
“You know I scored that 63 at Sabina Park Test in 1983 (just before World Cup) and was last out, I came back to dressing room, opened my T-shirt and there were Malcolm ka pyaar ka nishaani (the hits he endured from Marshall’s short balls). They were all great bowlers but Malcolm was special. He was scary,” he would recollect.
“You never felt set against that West Indies attack. You just had to trust your instincts and not leave a loose delivery as they were a rarity from bowlers of that ilk,” he once said when a couple of reporters, including this correspondent, asked him how it felt to face that Caribbean quartet.
The World Cup belonged to Yashpal as much as it belonged to Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath or Roger Binny, whose performances are often highlighted more.
Kapil’s 175 not out at Tunbridge Wells is a part of sporting folklore, more so because the BBC didn’t deem that game to be good enough to be covered live or even record highlights. Pakistan’s encounter on that very day (June 18, 1983) was duly covered.
But very few people remember that it was Yashpal Sharma’s 89 in India’s opening World Cup game at Old Trafford against the West Indies, which the team won by 32 runs, that set the tone for things to come.
“You know, I had contacted BBC a number of times to check if they have footage of that game. I was in fact ready to pay at least 5000 pounds if someone gave me a recording of that innings,” he once lamented during a chat with journalists.
He believed that 89 off 120 balls against a West Indies attack that comprised Michael Holding, Marshall, Andy Roberts and Joel Garner was his “best one day knock”.
“Roger (Binny) supported me a lot that day and by the time I think I was out, we would have been close to 250. So bowlers had something to bowl at. We won that match and that award was very special,” one could hear the 1983 stories from him in a loop.
He was also the top scorer in a final group league game against Australia at Chelmsford but the innings that made him immortal in ’80s cricket fans’ memory is the 61 not out in the semi-final against England.
That match was beamed live in India by Doordarshan and Yashpal entered Indian fans’ collective conscience forever, never to fade away. “Yash was a very methodical, copybook old school Test player. But that day, he did a Viv Richards. He shuffled towards off-stump and flicked a bowler like Bob Willis for a six.
“The other six was making room, moving towards leg-stump and hitting Paul Allott straight.
“And how can I forget his ‘Ravi Jadeja’ like throw from short leg to the non-striker’s end to get Allan Lamb when I was bowling,” his long-time North Zone teammate Kirti Azad nearly choked while speaking to PTI. Source: PTI