Friday, June 12, 2015

PK Dharmalingam

After a Reverse Sweep ended his Playing Career, he turned to coaching and played a role in India’s 1983 World Cup Victory

One hopes TNCA President will recognise his contribution to Indian cricket

Kapil Dev’s catch, running back to the mid wicket boundary, to  dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup Final is still talked about as one of the greatest catches of all time and also the turning point of that final. It is a little known fact that Kapil credits the man from the far corner of the Vedanta Desigan Street in Mylapore for that catch.

Describing that catch, Kapil said that the specific technique of running back to a high ball was taught to him by the diminutive PK Dharmalingam in a fielding session. So pleased was Kapil with the technical aspect of that catch and the fact that it helped clinch India’s biggest moment in cricket that he later told Dharmalingam during a test match in Madras that he would even give his life for this great coach and presented him with a personally autographed bat.

To-date it remains Dharmalingam’s most cherished moment and he lives in the nostalgic memory of having played a role in India’s victory in the 1983 World Cup.

Those days, during his coaching engagement with the Indian team, Dharmalingam would give 50catches to each player and would restart from scratch if a player dropped a catch. It was amusing to find Kapil Dev dropping the 48th catch each time so he could take 50more. Such was his commitment to fielding. No wonder, he took that catch in the World Cup.

In an earlier series, Madan Lal, fielding as a substitute, ran sideways to his right at Square leg to pluck a one handed catch of Graham Yallop. After picking the catch, he ran away from the fielders who were coming to congratulate him, with his right hand held high and pointing in some direction. He shouted ‘Dharmaji’ much to the bemusement of all his team mates.

Madan Lal says that that catch too similar to the one that Kapil took belonged to Dharmaji and he had held his right hand in the direction of Madras to thank Dharmaji for the catch. It was again a wonderful gesture from the Indian cricketer to have passed on the recognition to one of India’s greatest fielding coaches.

Madan Lal says that it was because of the finer technical aspect of ‘how to go for a high catch to the right and left’ that he was able to pounce on this improbable opportunity this at a time when Indians fielders were not necessarily known for great outfield catches.

Coaching Session with Bedi
With Bishen Singh Bedi, it was a different approach. Bedi had just dropped a return catch in the Delhi test and was very upset about it. Dharmalingam faced Bedi’s bowling at the nets for well over one hour and every now and then he would surprisingly hit a ball in the air to Bedi’s left and right and help Bedi practise the return catch.

Breathed Cricket all his life
As a teenager, Dharmalingam spent almost all his time on the cricket field prompting his mother to ask him one day if cricket was going to feed him.  Well over 6decades later, the slim man, who still looks quite fit despite two operations, looks back and nods in happiness that indeed ‘cricket fed him’ through his life.

Worried that his lack of focus on studies (he did his schooling at RKM) and his constant ‘teenage’ craze for cricket could prove a stumbling block later in his career, his father, a customs official, put him on to Indian Air Force to instil discipline into his life. While he was still a teenager, he joined IAF.

Despite this effort from his father to try and get his son away from cricket, Dharmalingam was determined to make a mark as a cricketer.

Ranji Cricket for Services
Shortly after joining IAF, a string of strong scores in the inter Services tourney got him into a strong Services Ranji team that comprised of Hemu Adikari, Dhani, Sengupta and Gadkari, among others. He was the most outstanding fielder in the unit and would walk into the team just for his fielding.

Century in Ranji and Batting promotion
In chilly weather conditions in Delhi, Dharmalingam scored 162 batting at No.8 that prompted his captain Hemu Adikari to promise him a promotion in the batting order. In the next match, he was sent in at No. 7 leaving Dharmalingam completely stunned!!!!!! Good scores in Ranji Trophy also earned him a place in the North Zone Duleep Trophy team.

He was however transferred from Delhi to IAF Tambaram.

By the mid 60s and before he had turned 30, Dharmalingam had qualified as a cricket coach from NIS Patiala.

Joins India Cements
Once back in Madras, he met an old school friend who was employed in India Cements. It was about the time that India Cements had started promoting cricket in Tamil Nadu including a first division team in Madras. Just ahead of the completion of his contract period, Dharmalingam quit IAF (losing his pension status!!! He would have received pension had he stayed on for two more years) and joined India Cements.

Playing for Madras against Ceylon in the Gopalan Trophy in Colombo he scored a run a ball 73, one that he rates as his best. He moved to IC Tirunelveli and played in the SS Rajan Trophy where he scored 233 against Madurai, still a record for the highest individual score.

Reverse Sweep ends his Ranji Career
His playing career however ended on a sour note one that the modern day cricketers might consider bizarre. Playing for TN in a Ranji match, he got out to a reverse sweep – Yes he played the reverse sweep in 1971- only to be told that evening by the TN Selector that he would never play for TN again. And he never did. 45years later, the entire cricketing fraternity thrives on that shot!!! That shot also led him to move into serious coaching.

He became an official coach for the BCCI and was assigned a coaching engagement with Central Zone. At the end of an U15 coaching assignment one summer, a young boy who was not selected came next to Dharmalingam and started crying. The coach consoled him saying that he had the potential and would definitely make it big. The boy’s response left Dharmalingam in tears ‘I am not crying because I am not selected but because you are leaving us and going back to TN after the summer engagement.’

That boy – Yusuf Ali Khan - later went on to the captain the Railways Ranji team (he also played in the Ranji Final against TN).

In 1977, Dharmalingam was the coach of the TN Ranji team but there was no provision for the coach to travel for an away match and only an administrative manager travelled with the team. It was a QF match against Railways in Delhi and a friend in Madras personally sponsored his train ticket. Hence, the official coach of Tamil Nadu travelled on his personal account and watched the match from the stands as a spectator.

TN was in a spot after having been bowled out cheaply in the first innings and with Railways on the lookout for a big lead. TN captain Venkataraghavan was at wits end on how to achieve the breakthrough. During the tea break, Dharmalingam walked into the dressing room and suggested to Venkat to bowl (Abdul) Jabbar for a few overs. And Venkat obliged by bring the offie on after tea. In his 2nd over, Jabbar looked at Dharmalingam who was up in the stands. The ‘spectator’ coach asked Jabbar to go around the wicket and a ball later Jabbar took a wicket. And TN came back into the match (TN won that match outright after conceding the first innings lead)

It was another of those memorable moments for Dharmalingam in his coaching career. He was one of the very few players in TN cricket to have taken on the fiery Venkat on the field when he had a different point of view. But that’s the way Dharmalingam has always been – forthright, vocal and a strong say on a cricketing aspect even if it wasn’t always in synch with what others thought.

Coaches TVS Madurai
Later TVS Madurai roped him in to coach their team. He would spend 5days of the week in Madurai coaching the TVS team and then return to Madras for his academy coaching at Sishya. Dharmalingam is credited with bringing in Venkatramana and Ramdas into limelight.

When R Ashwin was a young boy, his mother would carry his kit to Dharmalingam’s academy. Recently she remembered an incident that led to freedom from carrying the kit!!!

 ‘One day, when the coach spotted this, he asked Ashwin’s mother to hand over the kit bag to Ashwin. And that was the last time anyone ever carried Ashwin’s kit bag.’

Into Women’s Coaching
He was at the University Union ground providing fielding practise to the TN U22 team when a young girl walked up to him and introduced herself. She wanted him to coach the Women’s team as well and that’s how Dharmalingam got into Women’s coaching. Sudha Shah went on to play 21 tests for India. Dharmalingam coached women cricketers for over 3decades.

Rejects Professional offer from England
Once when he was coaching the Indian Women’s team to prepare them for a series against England, the opposition camp watching the rigour with which he was engaging with the players, came up to him and offered a full three year coaching engagement with the England Women’s team that covered his entire travel, stay and food expenses and a fee that would have held him in good stead in later years.

Dharmalingam refused the luring offer for he was interested to only coach the Indian team. The English team were in tears and as a token of their appreciation of the style of his coaching, they presented him with an English Tie.

Kalli on Dharmalingam


Former TN Fast bowler B Kalyanasundaram, who is now a Director at CSK, played alongside Dharamalingam during the late 60s and early 70s including for Jolly Rovers. 

Kalli has a lot of regard for the way Dharmalingam played his cricket. He says that being an Air Force man, he was an absolute disciplinarian. 'I cannot remember him being late even by a minute for any practice session or a match, this despite having to come all the way from Tambaram. Such was his commitment to the game.'

Kalli ranks him as one of the best fielders he has seen. 'Not just to Venkat, but even to my bowling he would take unbelievable catches at short leg.'  

'His dress code was impeccable and was always seen in sparkling white leaving most others embarrassed.'

Kalli rates Dharmalingam alongside Prabhakar in some of the biggest hitting he has seen during his playing days.

Dharmalingam has breathed cricket all his life with several firsts to his credit. He was the first to set up a cricket academy in Madras in the late 1970s. He was probably the first specialist fielding coach in India. He was also the first specialist women’s cricket coach. The greatest of Indian cricketers of the decades gone by have publicly credited him for their superior fielding technique. And yet, he may not have got the recognition that he richly deserves for his contribution to Indian cricket.

Recently, N Srinivasan, largest stake holder at CSK and the CMD of India Cements announced the creation of a fund to support the players who had contributed to the growth of the India Cements team over the decades. Dharmalingam was one of the earliest players to have played for India Cements. It is hoped that the TNCA President would consider recognising this true servant of the game.

Dharmalingam played 29 first class matches for Services and TN.

18 comments:

  1. Wonderful article about a brilliant coach.

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  2. This is a great story. Well researched and rich in detail :)

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  3. One of the best I have read recently man.Reserved your best for this man.some times it happens...

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  4. I read the article about PKD and needless to say it was informative and quite interesting.

    I am happy that Cricket Writers like you are able to think of former First Class Cricketers of earlier era and write about their deeds and performances on the field.

    It is very commendable and please accept my sincere appreciation.

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  5. Super story !! Tweeted the link... https://twitter.com/rajab/status/610096203464740866

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  6. I still remember those coaching days in Sishya school Adyar. With his hands on his hips he used to be witty and cracks jokes among kids like us. I am grateful to be a student of this humble man. Thanks for the article.

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  7. I am one of the fortunate cricketers to have been fine tuned by the great p.k.dharmalingam sir,,he was an absolute task master and was my best ever coach....sincere prayer to God for a long and healthy life to Dharma sir..

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  8. Ramsubramaniam.P VFriday, June 03, 2016

    Nice to have read about Great personality who gave all for the passion for the Game.

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  9. Who can forget PKD sir. My love for cricket and fielding especially grew after coming under his tutelage. Thanks a lot for everything and wish you a long, happy and health life.

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  10. The best gentleman cricketer and coach I have seen.He was instrumental in my son,Vijai,who was a tennis player,change to cricket at 11 years of age and straight away he was able to play in the TN u13,u16,u19 and u22 teams.I am happy that I did my small contribution by leasing the sishya school ground to Dharmalingam Sir and running it for many years

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  11. Nice to hear comments about my Dharma sir. I was fortunate enough to be under his guidance for 5-6 years actively to thirst my passion in cricket. Though it may have been too late to shine as a cricketer, he encouraged me in umpiring and gave an opportunity in shishya to start my umpiring career. My first match as an umpire in Sishya and thereafter I became a regular feature in the tournaments held there. My first earning also from Dharma sir tournament. I heard lots of things said about sir in cricketing circles, many great things and some say negative things as well. But since I know my guru well I could dismiss those people's comments. He would say only few words, but that could change our Perspective. He advised me to be authoritative and assertive in my umpiring career during the initial days of when I umpired matches in Sishya. I followed it religiously. TNCA should recognise and throw light on people like Dharma sir, so that cricketers from this generation should also understand on their contribution

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  12. And who would argue that Dharma's cricketing skills as an attacking batsman and a brilliant close in fielder. His contribution to Indian Cricket as a fielding coach needs little emphasis. I am grateful to him for shaping my son's cricketing skills at Sishsya. May this humble man's contribution to Indian Cricket receive its well deserved recognition.

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  13. Nice detailed article on Mr.PKD about the work done by him for the growth of Indian cricket across all spectrums ,both men and women .I did not have the opportunity to see him playing ( while I have seen Mr. KR Rajagopal playing for Tirunelveli Dist in SS Rajan Trophy during 70s at ICRC ground , Sankarnagar, where I have done all my schooling ). I have read about Mr.PKD in bits and pieces earlier . This article gives complete information about him .Particularly , Kapil crediting him for 1983 world cup finals catch is an interesting information . Very happy to read about him . Two earlier incidents , What I read abour Mr. PKD comes to my mind . First one, in one Ranji match against Kerala in Sankarnagar during late 60s , he along with Mr.AG Satvinder Singh, played a crucial role in TN winning the match. Second one was an earlier " Hindu " article which said the sixers he hit from Marina ground normally landed not just outside the ground , but landed in " Madras Beach " . Long Live Mr. PKD .

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  14. My Guru����

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  15. Mr. Dharmalingam was a passionate cricket lover. He was my neighbour in Chitra குளம் north street and I still remember watching 1983 finals at his house. He used to encourage a lot of players like me. I was a close friend of his son. I must admit that we did not know much then and now after reading this we understand more about the legend he is.. I'm proud to have known him. RIP sir.

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  16. Excellent article on P.K.Dharmalingam.He was very fit during his playing days and insisted on physical fitness as a coach.

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  17. A legend.my childhood hero after seeing him hit sixes for RKM in their ground

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