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“Cricket as a passion is distinctly contagious” is a popular saying in the sports fraternity. Many Indians dream to be a cricketer one day with the rising fandom for the sports day by day. But the sport or should I say life is not fair to every youth dreaming to become someone in life. Today we are gonna speak about a cricketing career that had a hell lot of potential but never bloomed due to unfortunate circumstances and not many of us would even know this name, Vijay Bharadwaj, the former Indian cricketer.
The summary of Vijay’s recollection of his international career, lasting just three Tests and 10 ODIs, can easily be found in Oscar Wilde’s famous words: “Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.” A delightful addition to the Indian team for cricket trivia-lovers because of his scholarly spectacles, R Vijay Bharadwaj could not quite convert his all-round brilliance at the domestic level into an international success.
He was an excellent domestic league player and had some amazing figures. He was capable of coming up high in the order, and his off-spin, without being incisive, was more than handy. In 1998-99, he scored 1,463 runs at 81.27 with 4 hundred and captured 21 wickets at 24.04.
In Ranji Trophy alone he scored 1,280 runs, thus becoming the first batsman to score 1,200 runs in a single edition of the tournament.
Vijay Bhardwaj’s arrival into the international arena was meteoric. And with the obvious baggage the idiom carries perhaps, he disintegrated intosmithereens soon enough. Bhardwaj was included in the team on the back of some commendable performances in the Ranji Trophy. That procured him a place in the national side. Getting the international cap is a huge moment for any cricketer who swears it out in the nets, in the domestic seasons for that once chance to impress and this was his chance to do so. He left no stone unturned and entered the field for his debut all guns blazing.
With 1000 runs and a handful of wickets justifying his India cap, he made his ODI debut in Nairobi against South Africa in 1999.
The tournament, LG Cup featured along with the Indians and Proteans, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. India’s below-par show in the recently concluded World Cup called for an influx of talent who would replace the aging Robin Singh.
His ODI debut is more remembered for Sunil Joshi’s absolute blinder of a spell. He gave away only six runs in his ten over quota and snapped a fiver. Those figures remained the best in his bowling career. While everyone was talking about Joshi, Bhardwaj staked his claim with a niggardly spell of 1/16 in his ten overs. He then held on to his nerve at the later end of the game to score a crucial 18 not out and guided India to a victory and also a place in the final of the tournament.
Match scorecard here: –
India made it to the finals of the tournament losing to South Africa. Bhardwaj was adjudged man of the tournament in his very first one. With 89 runs and 10 wickets which made him the highest wicket-taker as well. Owing to these amazing performances he received a lot of appreciation by cricket analytics around the globe and it also gave him a test cap for India’s test against New Zealand at Mohali.
It was his falter on the international stage as he failed to capitalize on the chance that had been bestowed upon him and scored a duck. He did not get to bowl enough in the match and it was a terrible day at work for the Indian. Eventually, his test career ended after two more failed ventures.
The last one being against Australia at Sydney on 2nd January 2000 which aficionados remember for VVS Laxman’s coming of age 167. Bhardwaj didn’t even come out to bat after India was asked to follow on. The reason? A slipped disc problem that wreaked havoc on his lower back. Not only did his career fall apart due to slight falters on the international stage but also owing to unfortunate injuries which he could no longer sustain as they were fiddling with his play style.
After 3 years, he returned to Indian side once again only to play his last ODI against Zimbabwe in which Dinesh Mongia stole the show with a match-winning unbeaten 159, a career highest score and man of the series trophy to go with. Bhardwaj didn’t impress on comeback and was runout without scoring and was expensive in bowling too, giving away 32 runs in 4 overs for a wicket.
Check the scorecard here :-
He kept on scoring runs and taking wickets in the domestic front but was never “good enough” to make it back. He hung up his boots in 2006 at the age of 31and took up coaching Karnataka, the team he represented all through his career.
Perhaps choosing to go by the low profile he has maintained over the years and not becoming a dolled up, epigram-spouting cricket analyst.
Highest run scorer for Karnataka from 1993-1998 and three hundreds in 3 Ranji Trophy finals, talks the hardship and dedication Vijay Bharadwaj did in the domestic circuit to get selected for Indian team.
A failed tour of Australia in which everyone including Dravid, Ganguly failed except Sachin who was also the captain, Bharadwaj got a slip disc problem and he was bedridden for 1.5 years and no one enquired about him.
Recovering from the back injury, someone suggested him to do an eye operation that got horribly wrong. He was never the same cricketer and he acknowledges that as the hand eye coordination got wrong.
A failed cricketer is what twitter bio says and Bharadwaj is little too harsh on himself as he was loaded with untimed injuries. He went on to become level 3 coach and occasionally do commentary in his native language Kannda.
“Its okay to fail and not regret it, just try it out!!, nothing will happen” – is the message of 52 year old promising allrounder to youngsters to not be afraid of what other people are saying and just keep working on yourself.
Representing India in 90s when there was no IPL and only way was to toil hard in domestic which Bharadwaj did for 6 straight years, he certainly will remain an inspiration for youngster to never give on their dreams.
