Utpal Chatterjee: A spinning magician India never had

It is hard to miss the lanky man with the moustache even in a crowd, but out here at the age-old Deshbandhu Park his towering presence can be felt more as the batsmen take strike in the nets with his huge shadow overseeing proceedings.The man here is iconic former India spinner and Bengal captain Utpal Chatterjee who runs an academy at the park, where young kids in the weekends gather to play cricket.

Chatterjee has inspired many to take up the leather and the willow but a question which pops up first is what brought him to the game?“ Bengal is known for its football but I somehow fell in love with cricket. Why ? I actually don’t remember. I have crossed fifty now so it is difficult to recall what got me to the sport,” he told Sportskeeda.

“I started off as a pacer. But then got injured. It was a pain in my hips that got me to bowl spin,” he said when asked why he chose to bowl spin with a height that would put a fast bowler to shame.After walking a few paces, he sat down on a wooden chair to answer the next few questions, his eyes, however, still fixed on the net session which was in progress in front of him.

“Batsman ke khelao (let the batsman play),” he shouted out to one of the tweakers bowling Chinaman.“That’s a tough art (bowling Chinaman),” he said.During his prime, he featured in three One-Day Internationals for India in 1995 where he picked up three wickets. But he never made it into the team again.In 1996 the great Sourav Ganguly made his debut in an India shirt and Chatterjee’s name slowly faded away.

No regrets about not getting an India callback again

“If with my performances, I could not satisfy the selectors then obviously I would not get selected. You have to impress to get picked for the national team, which I could not, unfortunately. But there are no regrets,” Chatterjee said. He, however, said he had no regrets about failing to get a recall back into the national side again after 1995. He also said maybe the ones who replaced him were better.

“Not getting a callback? It can happen to the best of the lot. There were other spinners in the fray who got selected. Maybe I wasn’t quite suitable for the team. You can’t balance players saying he is bad he is good, maybe the ones that were picked were better than me,” he said.“It is like who’s best suitable for certain conditions. You might see three seamers performing well but one you might sacrifice on a turning track to have a spinner. Does that make him a bad bowler? No.It depended on the team set up. I have no regrets.”

Except for Chatterjee there have been very few spinners from Bengal who have gone on to represent the country, asked why there is such a dearth of spinners from the state, the 52-year-old said:22 states play cricket. If there are two spinners from each state, there will be 44 bowlers. Every state then can ask a question as to why their spinners are not getting a chance. But can 44 spinners ever get a chance to play for India? Even a powerhouse like Bombay doesn't have spinners in the Indian team.”“Do you question why from Bengal only one wicket-keeper (Wriddhiman Saha) and a pacer like (Mohammed) Shami can play for India. Why not a batsman. Situations have changed, a lot of players are getting opportunities from Bengal nowadays.”

Wriddhiman must keep on scoring runs remain a part of the Indian Test team

The wicket-keeper from Bengal, who Chatterjee was pointing out to is Wriddhiman Saha, who recently scored a brilliant hundred in the West Indies. Though it was an innings to savour for the wicket-keeper batsman Chatterjee believes he has to keep performing with the bat to remain in the Test team.“See he got a lot of runs and scored a century. But, this is a very weak West Indies squad so scoring against them was easy. Also, you see there is a familiarity between the subcontinental wickets and the wickets there,” he said.

“West Indies wickets were tough to play on before, but they have flat pitches now. Scoring a century in New Zealand and England is a tougher challenge, I believe.“In Tests, West Indies team are playing like Bangladesh. It is no more the side you would fear to face like the one in the 80s and 90s.Saying that I am not taking away anything from him. But he has to last, keep on performing. He must convert the 40s and 50s to big hundreds.”

Chatterjee also heaped praises on Indian spinning talisman Ravichandran Ashwin who was instrumental in India’s success in recently concluded series against the West Indies. Ashwin picked up 17 wickets in the series.“Ashwin is bowling at his peak. He now has the variety. See how he is mixing his deliveries. Flighting it more and sometimes bowling the legspinner. With time he has become a better bowler. In T20s, ODIs a batsman can play rash shot and give you your wicket but in Tests you have to earn one. Test cricket is the biggest test for a spinner and Ashwin is passing every stage quite successfully,” Chatterjee said.

He signed off with advice to young spinners where he mentioned to be a better spinner one needs to be “fearless and have a big heart”.“A batsman can hit you anytime. A spinner must be courageous have a big heart. A fast bowler gets respect but a spinner has to earn it,” concluded Chatterjee who had himself picked 504 First Class wickets.