Remembering C D Gopinath, the last link with the first Test victory
Without his defiant 35 and 93-run stand with Polly Umrigar in the second innings, India’s wait for the first Test win would have lasted longer
With the death of C D Gopinath — the last member of the team that won India’s first Test victory in Chennai against England in 1952 — the IPL milieu has lost its surviving link with cricket’s amateur era. Behind India’s rise as the dominant force in the game was the love and labour, sweat and tears, of men like Gopinath. The Test win Gopinath and his team engineered is a landmark in Indian cricket, the coming-of-age moment that instilled belief in a nation just five years old.
He was a dashing batsman with a whiplash square cut. Affable and articulate, he made strong friendships with teammates and rivals. His Test career lasted eight games where he shone sporadically. But without his defiant 35 and 93-run stand with Polly Umrigar in the second innings, India’s wait for the first Test win would have lasted longer. Three years later, he captained Tamil Nadu to their maiden Ranji Trophy title in 1955.
He regaled his audience with stories, and talked poignantly about the pre-Independence era. He was born on a curfew day in 1930, and the doctor, when prescribing medicine for the newborn, named him “Baby Gun”. Even after calling time on his career, he didn’t sever his ties with the game. He became a selector and spotted Gundappa Viswanath, one of the all-time greats. Even in his 80s, he would turn up for Test matches in Chennai and patiently sit through them. With his departure, Indian cricket has lost its last link with its first Test victory.
