When a Team India cricketer was accused of theft from a London store, what happened and who helped?

Cricket News Desk. One of the most controversial incidents in Indian cricket was not even mentioned. Perhaps also because this allegation was so shocking and the image of the cricketer against whom it was leveled was such that no one believed the allegation either then or later. Perhaps one reason for not mentioning this story is that how can one write about a person who is always praised? Due to this mentality this cricketer got into trouble.

A cricketer who was considered extremely dutiful and even played with 'his' torn gloves but had so much self-respect that he did not even ask for useless gloves from anyone, so who would believe this allegation during the England tour? Will do. , he bought 2 pairs of socks from a shop 3/4- different counts written in different places) tried to steal a pair?

Lala Amarnath: Whose foresight left a deep impact on Indian cricket
It is even more important to mention this incident today because in the condition of Indian cricket today, no one dares to make such an allegation and even if the matter had come to light, BCCI would have taken steps to save its honor. Cricketers and Indian cricket, what happened here will not happen later. A bad team manager, a bad board, no help from the Indian High Commission in London and the fear of being late for dinner at the Indian High Commissioner's house that evening, these were the big charges.

The cricketer was Mumbai opening batsman and 1970-71 Ranji Trophy-winning captain Sudhir Naik, who was around 78 years old. In 1974-1975 itself, he played 3 Test and 2 ODI matches in his career. It was Sudhir who hit the first four for India in One Day International cricket at Headingley, Leeds, England in 1974. Last year, in Dadar, he got injured after falling in his house and went to the hospital and never came back.

A lot can be written about his active cricket and subsequent cricketing career, but let us go back to that shameful day of that failed tour. Ajit Wadekar was the captain and the team lost all three Tests and both ODIs on the tour. It was a game worse than a defeat, with open fighting between the team's top players and even once in a Test the entire team was out for just 42 runs. Many years later, Sudhir also said – For people like Brijesh Patel, Madan Lal and me, who were on an international tour for the first time, seeing all this… was very disappointing.

No one believed the allegation that he had tried to steal a pair of socks from Marks & Spencer's Oxford Street store, but no one made any reasonable effort to protect him from the charge. Rather than supporting this cricketer's explanation, to put the matter to rest, they convinced the cricketer to admit his mistake as it would only result in a cash fine and nothing would happen to anyone outside. Explained in many ways – the story of theft will be published in newspapers, there will be a big scandal in India, if we fight the case then who will pay the huge lawyers' fees, we will have to stay in London till the trial. It has been decided who will bear the expenses. Even then, the story was big news in the British newspapers.

Furthermore, when the team arrived late to the Indian High Commissioner's party that evening due to being late and stuck in traffic, the team was humiliated in front of everyone. Meanwhile, Wadekar left the party with the players and boarded the bus parked outside. After explaining, when the anger subsided, he once again returned to the party to calm down the growing issue of the incident.

All this is a big story on which a lot can be written, but if we base it on the truth that one of the team players Sunil Gavaskar has written in his book Sunny Days, then all this is also true. Gavaskar wrote that Sudhir Naik should not have been forced to plead guilty before a magistrate. Would have provided a good lawyer to fight the false allegations. The then team manager was former Test cricketer Colonel Hemu Adhikari. He was polite anyway. In those years, the arrangement was for the manager to accompany the team, not the coach. The then BCCI chief was PM Rungta. Another fact that the team management did not utilize properly was the presence of an eyewitness. It was also not mentioned that during the shopping in that store, another cricketer of the team was also with him – this was Pandurang Salgaonkar.

Along with the news of this alleged theft, the mother of French tennis star François Dur was also accused of a similar theft from the same store. To save her son from humiliation, she also confessed to the crime at the behest of the storekeeper – she was accused of stealing two children's clothes and fined £25. Sudhir Naik was fined 75 pounds. A general play was done on the mistakes made by people coming from abroad due to not understanding the store's system and hence the store had no sympathy towards anyone. Besides, this was 50 years ago and visiting London was not as common then as it is today. If BCCI itself does not support then what should others say?