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Vinoo Mankad, spirited cricketer who gave the world ‘Mankading’ in 1947, right upto 2019

The man from Jamnagar was Wisden's Cricketer of the Year in 1947 and never left the limelight.

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The cricketing term ‘Mankading’ is typically used when a bowler runs out a batsman at the non-striker’s end even when he finds that the batsman has left the crease before the delivery.

Mankading has made it to the headlines many times over the years as its ethics have often been disputed. But what is more interesting, is the man and the story behind its origin, Indian cricketer Vinoo Mankad.

On his 103rd birth anniversary ThePrint takes a look at the life and career of the great all-rounder and the birth of Mankading.

Becoming the greatest all-rounder

Mulvantrai Himmatlal Mankad, popularly known by his childhood nickname Vinoo, was born on 12 April 1917 in Jamnagar in the erstwhile princely state of Nawangar (present-day Gujarat). Mankad started playing cricket during his days as a pupil of Nawanagar High School. It was during this time that he learnt how to bowl from cricketers Albert Wensley and KS Duleepsinhji, nephew of the legendary batsman Ranjitsinhji after whom the Ranji trophy was named.

While Wensley taught Mankad to bowl, Duleepsinhji instructed him on how to bat. According to a 1947 profile of the cricketer by Wisden magazine, Mankad attributed much of his bowling success to Wensley. Mankad reportedly bowled legspin in his teenage years before he met Wensley who convinced him to move to a left-arm orthodox.

In November 1935, 18-year-old Mankad made his debut in a match for the Western states against a touring Australian side. It wasn’t a spectacular start. He was dismissed in both innings for just 8 and 4 runs by medium-pacer Ron Oxenham. He didn’t get a chance to bowl either. He was just as unimpressive in his first Ranji Trophy match during the first-ever season of the tournament, in December that year, as he failed to take a single wicket.

The tides finally changed in the subsequent season of the tournament. Mankad scored 185 runs against Bengal, sealing a victory for the Western states in the 1936-1937 Ranji Trophy.

But it wasn’t till the following year, during the 1937-1938 tour of Lord Tennyson’s famous cricket team, called Lord Tennyson’s XI, that Mankad became a prominent name. He headed both the batting (62.66) and bowling (14.53) averages in the five unofficial test matches. Lord Tennyson is said to have been so impressed by the 20-year-old that he remarked that Mankad would become a part of the World’s Best XI.

He officially made his Test cricket debut during India’s 1946 tour of England in the year following World War II. He opened the batting for the Indian side in both innings, scoring a total of 107 off 48 overs. He also took two wickets. The match became the precursor to an issue the all-rounder would face throughout his career — shouldering the dual workload of a batsman and bowler.

The Indian management tried to settle the issue in the second test at Old Trafford by dropping him further down the order. Mankad bowled for 46 overs, and took five wickets. And although he didn’t manage to score a substantial number of runs, being dismissed for 0 and 5, the Indian team managed a draw. Mankad’s performance, however, was recognised and he was deemed as one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year for 1947.

“Mankad, of slightly round-arm action, takes only a few steps before delivery near the extreme edge of the crease. He imparts an unusual amount of spin to his stock ball, the leg-break to right-hand batsman. His batting varies from the stolid to the adventurous according to the situation and his place in the order. This example of team spirit has characterised his constant approach to the game,” read an article in Wisden magazine about the 1947 Cricketer of the Year.

Then came his Herculean performance in the 1952 Lord’s Test against England, which is also referred to as the ‘Mankad Test’. Mankad was not a part of the original team as he was bound by contract to Haslingden in the Lancashire League. This direly cost the Indian side, who lost by seven wickets in four days. The team’s manager, Pankaj Gupta, convinced Board Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to negotiate with Haslingden for Mankad. He was finally allowed to play in the second Test.

In the first innings, Mankad, who opened the match, scored 72 runs within two and half hours. The team, however, managed to only score a total of 235. The cricketer then led the bowling charge in England’s first innings, bowling 73 overs. Mankad claimed five wickets for 196. He opened once again for India’s second innings, and scored a whopping 184 runs. In the next innings, Mankad bowled in 24 overs, giving away less than 1.5 runs in each. In all, the cricketer was on the field for 17 out of the 25 hours of play. “England won by eight wickets, but Mankad’s performance must surely rank as the greatest ever done in a Test by a member of the losing side,” noted Wisden in its obituary following Mankad’s death in 1978.

He continued to be one of the key players in the team even leading it as the captain in two Test series against Pakistan (1954-1955) and West Indies (1958-1959). In the 44 Tests matches that Mankad represented India, he scored 2109 runs and took 162 wickets.

The birth of Mankading

The cricketing term ‘Mankading’ came about during India;s 1947-1948 tour of Australia. Vinoo Mankad ran out Bill Brown after the latter backed up far from the crease. This unconventional run out led to an uproar within the Australian media, who criticised Mankad for going against the “spirit of the game”. They also coined the term ‘Mankading’.

Mankad was supported by none other than Australian captain Don Bradman, who in his autobiography, Farewell To Cricket, said that the cricketer was “so scrupulously fair that he first of all warned Brown before taking any action”.

Over the years, several cricketers have suggested that the term be expunged or redacted from the game’s lexicon. Rahul Mankad, the cricketer’s only living son, had last year said that it is unfair that his father’s name is dragged into the game every time such a run-out occurs. “It is not as if my father was the first person to run out a non-striker, and nor is he the last,” he had said.

His remark had been spurred by the controversy in the 2019 T20 game between India and England. Like Bill Brown, non-striker Jos Buttler had also been Mankaded by Ravichandran Ashwin after he drifted away from the bowling crease.

Several cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Nari Contractor had also thrown their weight behind Rahul Mankad. “He [ Vinoo Mankad] has been one of India’s all-time great cricketers. Our legend’s name should not be spoiled,” Gavaskar had once said.

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