Mohinder Amarnath: I wanted to do it a long time ago, but it didn’t happen. I believe when the right time comes, things take shape. We’ve been working on this for the last two and a half years. And I’ve tried it with other people, but it didn’t work. So finally Rajender and I decided to go ahead and I don’t think I could have found a better person to write this book.
Q. Rajenderji, you had the difficult task of straddling a personal relationship and holding up the objective lens of a writer. How did you do that?
Rajender Amarnath: It’s never easy because you have to balance yourself at various corners, when there comes a time when you have to decide between facts and fiction.
Mohinder had everything written down. He had notes right from the time he started playing. Those came in very handy. But one thing I realised while writing his autobiography is that he is far more than what I thought of him. When you have a celebrity at home, you don’t value him, he’s just a brother. It’s only when I started writing that I said, “Oh my god, I didn’t know all these [things]”.
Q. What made you keep notes from an early age?
MA: One, I still remember everything very clearly. And then it was more or less like my habit. Whenever I was on a tour or playing, I would pen down my performances or any other incidents. I would maintain a small diary, [although] not in great detail as such. But everything has always remained fresh. If I flash back, I can clearly remember what I did at, say, the SCG, or what we did as a group when we went out.
The other thing that also helped me write from my childhood is that I’ve always been very fond of music, listening to songs and humming them all the time. Probably that helped me in registering things quickly and letting them stay with me.
Q. Your autobiography is titled Fearless. How did you acquire this definitive trait of yours?
MA: My dad was fearless in his life, he wouldn’t give a damn to anything—if something was right, he would say it. I saw that at a very young age, and it stayed with me all the time. Being fearless means you have to be honest to yourself and not be worried about anybody or the end result, being fearless means never being calculative. I’ve always been a straight talker—I would see it and say it—and I don’t compromise easily. These kept me going all these years. When the name for the book came up, Rajender and I discussed it, and also with the publisher, and all of us thought this was the best title for the book.
(L to R) Rajinder Amarnath, Surinder Amarnath and Mohinder Amarnath at Delhi Captain Felicitation ceremony during the DDCA’s 1st Annual Conclave 2017 at Ferozshah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Image: Manvender Vashist / PTI
Q. Was he [Mohinder] equally fearless while growing up as he was later on the cricket field?
RA: Jimmy was the quietest person in the family. Unlike me—I was outspoken right from my childhood—he didn’t speak much. But he was the one who never feared anything, even when it came to childhood practices or games. My father played a very prominent role in that. He told us, “If the ball hits you, you’re not going to show, you’re not going to express pain. If you do that, you’ve lost half the battle.” Once that was imbibed in early childhood, us three brothers [Surinder, Mohinder and Rajender] never had the fear of the cricket ball. We have been hit in the head a number of times, but we weren’t scared. One statement of our father saying “nothing worse will happen, you will not die on the field” removed the fear from us.
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Q. Your cricketing journey flourished under the guidance of your father, the legendary Lala Amarnath. What are some of your key learnings from him?
MA: Our father believed in discipline and he would tell us stories about his playing days. He spoke about the greatness of other players and what made them great. He trained us in the right direction, which he thought would help us in the long run. In cricket, one must learn how to handle pressure, how to be aggressive on the field without saying much, how to talk with your performance. And how to be a good player of genuine fast bowling because in international cricket you don’t go and play friendly spinners. He trained us in a way that we don’t go wrong when we upgrade from one level to another. And, like Rajender said, he taught us never to fear the cricket ball. He would say, “if you get hit, chhod do usko (leave it). Don’t rub it, just put some ice.”
Q. Given the stature your father had in world cricket, was there pressure to match up to him?
MA: Never. Because once I stepped onto the field, I never thought about anything except the cricket ball. My focus was never on who my father was. [Even when the three of us used to play], it wasn’t a competition among brothers, but against opponents. We wanted to go one up against the other. Of course, when somebody did well, we would congratulate the other, but our practice sessions were never playful and always serious. That was the mindset we had from the beginning.
Q. You were overlooked for selection a number of times, yet you made a comeback every single time. How did you keep yourself motivated through these periods?
MA: When someone said my career was over I always thought it was their opinion, not mine. I never asked them for their opinion, it was they who would tell me that I was past my prime etc. And all that actually made me more determined. Because I knew how good I was and how fit I was. The way to prove people wrong is to just keep performing. If you do that, nobody can keep you out of the team for long. The good thing about Indian people is that they are very emotional, and I’ll never forget their support—they always motivated me to do better. That also helped.
I always believed age was never the criteria for anybody to play, provided they were fit and performing. And consistency was the key. So, I would just listen from one ear and let it out of the other.
Q. Two of India’s top cricketers now—Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli—are facing a lot of criticism about the loss of form and how far they would be effective in Australia. What would you tell them?
MA: I won’t bother to. When you play at the international level, conditions change from one place to another, which probably the general public or the media or those who haven’t played the game at the highest level may not understand. And the criticism usually comes from people who aren’t great achievers in the sport. If somebody has played the game, they understand this can happen to anybody at times. For example, in the last series [against New Zealand], we played on pathetic wickets. I don’t think it’s because of the lack of talent that the players failed, it’s the wicket that made it difficult for established players. I’m sure things will turn around very quickly once they are in Australia.
Q. You were one of the key players in the 1983 World Cup victory. But when you started, no one gave the team a chance. What were some of the key factors that helped India overcome a hopeless situation?
MA: There had never been any hopeless situation. There was always positivity in the team, in the attitude. Whenever we played, we just played that game on that day. We never thought [about] who we were playing against—we were playing against teams and not names. Once you start playing a couple of matches and when you’ve been together for a long period of time—in 1983, the good thing was most of the guys were together for the twin tours of Pakistan and West Indies—you grow an understanding of each other, and know the strengths and weaknesses.
But, even if you plan a million things, once you are on the field, you are on your own and have to give your best. I think we all did it at the right time.
Q. The book sketches the characters of several cricket captains. Who was your favourite international captain?
MA: I never had any favourite captains or players. For me, my dad was the only cricketer I would consider to be the best captain, player, mentor, guru. He guided me in the right direction.
I believe in one thing though–a captain is only as good as his team. But a good captain can make a difference when the situation demands, and will lead by example.
Q. In the book, you write about the rise of Kapil Dev as a quality new-ball bowler, the first one after Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh in the 1930s. Over the past decade or so, India has been a powerhouse of pace bowling. What has contributed to it?
MA: There were pace bowlers earlier, but everyone perhaps felt at that time that bowlers from overseas were better. And then the time came when we started relying more on spinners, whether playing at home or even abroad. So our bowlers never got the due that they should have got if they had gotten more opportunities, and to play overseas. In those days, India was never considered a good team to tour many countries, and the team played a minimum number of matches. But now that has changed remarkably. Every year, we play 14-15 Test matches, and a lot more ODIs and T20Is.
The other thing that is helping the Indian team is the system. Now, we have the facilities which we didn’t have in our time or times before us. Also, you’ll see most of the pace bowlers are coming from small towns, and not big cities, where they have the hunger to do well. Hunger is the key to achieving success. TV broadcast is also a contributing factor. You can now watch people all over the world and you can learn from watching them.
RA: Also if you look at the background of most of the fast bowlers, they come from lower middle class or struggling families and look at cricket as the route to escape their situations. It also helps that the wickets are conducive to bowling pace, unlike in the 60s or 70s which were rank turners.
Q. Among India’s top three victories in your career—the Trinidad Test of 1976, the 1983 World Cup victory and the 1985 World Championships—you call the last one the sweetest. Why?
MA: 1983 probably was when people didn’t expect us to win. That was a fantastic dream for us. But I thought 1985 was very well planned, although we were in the doldrums after losing a series against England at home. But I think the way we played in Australia and the way Sunil Gavaskar, especially as a captain, handled the team and planned it, made us champions right from the first game. And that became the sweetest when we beat Pakistan in the final. Nothing can be better than playing your arch rival in the final and beating them.