The passing away yesterday of former Indian Test cricketer and Sheffield Shield player Rusi Surti has affected me deeply as he was a personal friend. I found him straightforward who would take no nonsense from anyone.
An elegant left-hander, he was referred to as poor man’s Garry Sobers. He could bat like a millionaire, bowl like a miser and field like a superman. He was India’s first agile fielder.
Even a short innings by Rusi gave endless pleasure as this short-tempered Indian was a panther on the prowl.
When he toured Australia and New Zealand in 1967-68 under Nawab of Pataudi, we saw a mature Surti, not flashy but doggedly consistent. He outscored all Indians on that combined tour by scoring 688 runs at 45.87 in eight Tests.
In the final Test against New Zealand at Auckland he made 99, which sadly remained his highest Test score. It was a case of nervous nineties as he was dropped twice on 99 and eventually caught without reaching his century.
Summed up New Zealand’s eminent cricket writer Dick Brittenden, “Surti looked the best of them as a batsman and comparisons made with Garry Sobers were in many respects valid. For watchfulness and sub-conscious elegance, he stood alone.”
His statistics were not impressive. In 26 Tests he scored 1263 runs at 28.70 with 9 fifties, took 42 wickets at 46.71 and 26 catches. But it was his intensity that caught the eye. In the 1969 Bombay Test he had an on-field argument with Bill Lawry.
The next season he was invited to play Sheffield Shield for Queensland, the first Indian to be asked. Soon he was making headlines. Against Western Australia in Perth in 1969 he scored 63 and took six wickets including the hat-trick.
It was the first hat-trick taken by a Queensland bowler in Sheffield Shield. In 1980s he represented Australia in an indoor cricket match as a wicket-keeper, something even the great Sobers did not achieve in his career!
Rusi was a respected coach for top clubs in Queensland.
When I asked him about his most exciting moment in cricket he mentioned neither a Test match nor a Sheffield Shield clash.
“My finest hour was in 1975 as a batsman in the semi-final of Channel O Knock-out Tournament. This ‘thrilla on Gabba’ was played between Easts and University. The ending was nail-biting. Universities made 175 and we were in strife at 5 for 58 when I entered.
“But soon I pulled my leg-muscle and retired. I returned as last man as Easts needed 41 to win in 27 balls. In a dramatic countdown we added 16 runs in one over, 13 by me.”
Frank O’Callaghan wrote in the Courier Mail, “Surti was in charge, dominating the strike like a military strategist.”
He would have made an ideal T20 player.
Once in 1980s, he took me round the Gabba. Everyone on the ground greeted him Aussie-style, “Good-day Rossi Serti.” He got along with his mates like meat pie and sauce.
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