M. J. GOPALAN

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M. J. GOPALAN
(6 Jun 1906/9 - 21 Dec 2003)

A multi-sporting personality from the erstwhile Madras State, Morapakkam Josyam Gopalan from Chingleput district performed in an era where sport used to be an art irrespective of outcomes...

A right-handed allrounder who bowled medium pace, capable of moving the ball both ways, he represented India both in cricket and in hockey...

Discovered by one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket, C. P. Johnstone, Gopalan made his first class debut for Madras Presidency against the Europeans in 1926/27, shining with the cherry, literally, with 5 wickets in each innings and match figures of 10/153...

Another two performances in 1930 for Madras against Vizianagaram XI which included Jack Hobbs, and the first hat trick in Chepauk against Ceylon in 1933 propelled him into the reckoning...

Gopalan played his only Test in January 1934 against England at Calcutta. He scored 11* and 7, got one wicket in the 19 overs that he bowled conceding 39 runs, and held 3 catches...

Gopalan had the honour of sending down the first ever delivery of the Ranji Trophy tournament, the inaugural match being between Madras and Mysore in November 1934. In 78 First-Class matches, Gopalan scored 2,916 runs @24.92 with one hundred (101*) and 17 fifties. He took 194 wickets @24.20 a piece, and held 49 catches over a career that spanned 26 years...

Like C. P. Johnstone, it was Robert Summerhayes who spotted Gopalan's hockey prowess. A specialist centre-back, Gopalan was part of the highly successful Indian team that toured New Zealand in 1935...

Gopalan, finding himself in the Indian hockey squad for the Berlin Olympics of 1936 as well as for the Indian team to tour England in the same summer, decided to go for his first love, and opted out of the Olympics squad...

This decision (or blunder, according to many), was the reason why Gopalan failed to become a household name. It was quite obvious at the outset that with Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh in the tour of England, Gopalan would have a small role for himself with the ball, and in fact did not play a single Test. The tour, marred by internal politics, returned in disgrace. The hockey team on the other hand, captained by the legendary Dhyan Chand brought home the Olympic gold. Winning all 5 matches, scoring 38 goals and conceding just the solitary, that team is regarded as one of the greatest in history...

A stalwart of Madras cricket in every sense of the term, the M. J. Gopalan Trophy was instituted in 1952 in honour of Gopalan's 25 years in sports. It took the form of an annual cricket match between Madras and Ceylon (later Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka). This continued till 1982/83 when Sri Lanka got Test status. It was revived in 2000 for two years as a match between Tamil Nadu and a Colombo District Cricket Association. The trophy saw it's last game in 2007...

Gopalan served as a national selector in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. He remained a respected iconic figure in Indian cricket, being the oldest living Test cricketer at the time of his death...

Gopalan passed away in Chennai on December 21, 2003 at the age of 97 (according to Gopalan he was born in 1906 but the year of his birth was recorded wrongly in the school records as 1909...

NS Ramaswami, the well known sports journalist, The Hindu, wrote:
"Gopalan's art takes the senses by assault by its bravura. As the off-drives thunder over the grass pursued by an unavailing fieldsman, he elevates the game to the highest regions of thought."

And Prof. DB Deodhar had this to say of him:
"The present day generation of players will do well if they copy Gopalan in his regular life, clean character and devotion to work undertaken. He rarely wasted his time and energy in any vain and loose talk of the games, action being his watchword."

One of the entrances to the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is named after Gopalan...

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