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Some readers of The Roar may not remember Vinay Verma but from 2009 to 2011 he was one of the mainstays of this website, popular as well as provocative.
He wrote without mincing words, yet he was eloquent and lyrical. ‘Cricket writing with a moral imperative’ was his slogan.
Why am I writing on him today? March 6 is the fourth anniversary of his death, and I would like to share my feelings of loss with his family and Roar colleagues.
The Cricket World Cup reminds me of him. During the 2011 tournament he was watching Australia play Sri Lanka in Colombo on television when he suddenly passed away.
What a shock for his family, friends and countless readers.
Although Vinay and I only knew each other for a few years, it seemed we were friends forever. We discussed everything under the sun, at times heatedly.
Only three days before his passing he had given me a lift home after a cricket society meeting. When I waved goodbye to him, I had no idea that this was to be our final wave.
We rarely called each other by our first name. He called me ‘Nostradamus’ as once I had correctly, and by a fluke, predicted that Ricky Ponting would score centuries in both innings in a Sydney Test. I called him ‘Cardus’ after Neville Cardus, the greatest cricket writer of all time.
I also coined a new phrase, ‘Vinayism’, to describe his colourful metaphors. Two examples:
“Michael Clarke is impersonating Superman Clark Kent but is reluctant to don the cape and tights.”
“Virender Sehwag is cricket’s original BASE jumper. It is not a flight of imagination to picture him as the stuntman jumping off the Eiffel Tower in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill. At the top of India’s fabled batting line-up Sehwag has a license to thrill.”
Vinay will be remembered for writing and editing Seriously Cricket Chronicles, for which Mike Coward, Gideon Haigh and Ayaz Memon also contributed. He also wrote insightful articles for Inside Cricket, the Adelaide Advertiser, and hard-hitting columns on The Roar.
He admired Test greats but did not kowtow to them. When Kevin Pietersen showed hesitancy in being interviewed, Vinay told him over the phone, “I won’t ask you questions on your personal life but as to how you developed your cover drive!”
Pietersen laughed, relented and the interview went for hours in a Sydney hotel.
Vinay’s proudest moment was meeting Sir Donald Bradman in an Adelaide restaurant a few decades ago. After hesitating, he approached The Don. To his delight Bradman asked him to join him for a glass of wine.
Bradman asked him, “Show me your hands, young man. Ha, you have got to be a spinner.” And he was spot on – Vinay was an off-spinner. Bradman readily autographed Vinay’s visiting card. “This for me was like an audience with the God,” Vinay recalled.
There is a postscript to this story. Vinay always carried that autographed card in his pocket and one day as he was walking along a beach in Goa, India, when he met a close elderly friend who was his mentor. This mentor regretted never meeting Bradman so Vinay presented his prized possession, the signed card, to the old man.
He was so overwhelmed he thanked Vinay and said, “I will now die a happy man.”
For this noble gesture Vinay must have died a happy man too, watching World Cup cricket on television.
Right now, I can imagine him having a glass of wine with Sir Donald up above, taking his autograph and passing it on to someone less fortunate.
Also, I can listen to him hotly discussing the current World Cup and recent controversies with other cricketing personalities Tony Greig and Peter Roebuck, who are now in a better world.