He loved to record the deeds – Mumbai Mirror

Fredun E De Vitre pays tribute to Mumbai's Vasant Raiji, who was the oldest surviving first-class cricketer until he passed away on Saturday aged 100

Vasant Raiji, who passed away at age 100, is remembered by most people for being the oldest surviving first-class cricketer. But there was far more to the man than merely his remarkable longevity. He was a cricketer, a cricket-crazy fan of the game, its historian, a cricketing author of repute, meticulous in research, with an easy, simple style, which somehow communicated to the reader his unbridled passion for the sport.

He loved to record the deeds of lesser-known cricketers like Baloo Palwankar and one of his favourites, LP Jai (who, in his day, is reputed to have been in the Victor Trumper mould as an elegant, free-stroking batsman). He wrote on hitherto little-researched subjects like the Parsee teams visits to England in 1886 and 1888. Raijis classic book, Indias Hambledon Men, published in 1986, revealed to a large readership charming nuggets relating to those tours and set the tone for future histories of the development of the game in India.

The Raiji I would like to remember is the gentleman who held forth sitting at the Cricket Club of India for many years, always soft-spoken but with an obvious passion about the game in his voice that was infectious and started many an interesting conversation, particularly about players and events of the old days. He believed that Indias first Test captain, CK Nayudu, was the greatest cricketer he had seen, though he acknowledged the sterling abilities of the modern greats as well and was never dismissive of their genius, as some others of his vintage were wont to do. He was knowledgeable and discerning and not willing to praise any and every cricketer who may have had a brief moment in the sun. He held strong views on various aspects of the game, but invariably expressed them in a very persuasive, non-hurtful way.

I met him for my book Willow Tales, which focusses on the lighter side of Indian cricket and in the process, I discovered Raijis wry sense of humour. He added four hilarious anecdotes to my collection.

He told of the time at the start of the 1940-41 Ranji season, when the Bombay selection committee was meeting to select the squad. The name of CH Chandrana came up. Vijay Merchant, the captain, was not enthused. Hes 51-years old, he said. How can he possibly be selected? Pat came the reply from LP Jai: Gentlemen, are we match-making or selecting a cricket team?

Raiji also narrated the story of Jimmy Lawyer, who played for the Parsees in the Pentangular. One day, an Englishman in army uniform walked up to the nets at the Brabourne Stadium, and politely asked if he could bowl a few balls. Wanting to humour the Englishman, Lawyer agreed. Much to his consternation, he was beaten ball after ball, he couldnt read the spin at all. At the end, he told the Englishman, Well bowled, young man, you bowl quite well. Thank you, was the reply, Im Hedley Verity. Lawyers jaw dropped. This was the man who dismissed the great Donald Bradman 8 times in 16 Tests!

Raiji spoke with pride about his exchange of letters with the greatest batsman of all time, Bradman, and often wondered, with great modesty and a childlike delight, why the great man had deigned to consider him worthy of being the recipient of more than a handful of letters on cricketing matters.

He was one of the two persons I knew personally who had watched the first-ever Test Match on Indian soil, at the Bombay Gymkhana in December 1933, the other being Dady Patel, the formidable lawyer who strode the corridors of the rent courts in Mumbai like a colossus.

His family firm of Chartered Accountants, NM Raiji & Co took up a great deal of his time too. I believe that Raijis lasting legacy to the game will be his books. His penmanship had few flourishes and no memorably great turn of phrase; he used simple, direct language and he researched long and deep, with an enviable eye for detail. He drew a great deal on the books he had personally collected to make his cricket library and his love for cricket literature no doubt was an asset in bringing his characters alive for readers, particularly to a much younger audience, with books on Ranji, Duleep, LP Jai, CK Nayudu and a host of others.

Although it is now several decades past, I well remember how much I enjoyed reading his book on LP Jai, a cricketer about whom I knew very little until Raiji gave him his deserved place at the top of the hierarchy of Mumbai crickets stylists at the batting crease. Indias Hambledon Men also remains a personal favourite, not just as a reference book but also to be read for the sheer pleasure of revelling in just how adventurous and far-sighted the men from my great community, the Parsees, were way back in the 1880s.

It is an irony of life that an opening batsman who never reached a century on the field of play (his highest score was 68) in fact ended up reaching that great landmark on the field of life. Vasant Raiji RIP.

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He loved to record the deeds - Mumbai Mirror