CricInfo: Could you please tell us about your junior days as a player I mean
growing up in Hyderabad as a junior player.
Shivlal Yadav: Well as a school kid, I initially started playing football. Then it
so happened that we were short of one player in the cricket team and I
was included in the side. I just fielded and that was the initial
stage where I got into the game of cricket.
[Audio]
CI: Did you start of as an off spinner?
SY: Actually, I started as a medium pacer, but my coach Eddie
Aibara, suggested that instead of bowling fast why
don't you bowl off breaks which will be ideal for you.
[Audio]
CI: Were your family and friends supportive of cricket for it must
have been very difficult to find encouragement in those days?
SY: Yes, in fact it is my father who encouraged me all along. Being
a sportsman himself he always encouraged me for he was a wrestler who
represented Hyderabad. It was his guidance which made me work hard.
[Audio]
CI: So, when did your first break for Hyderabad come through?
SY: I got my first breakthrough to represent Hyderabad way back in
the 1976-77 season under Abid Ali who was my first captain. Of course,
I did play under ML Jaisimha not for Hyderabad, but in other matches.
[Audio]
CI: What are your memories of your first Test series against
Australia 1979-80 in India?
SY: I have very fond memories of my first Test series for I took
24 wickets in five Test matches as I was selected for the second Test
of the six Test series. So it definitely was a good start to my career
as an youngster.
[Audio]
CI: What are your memories of the 1980-81 Australian tour in which
Greg Chappell was the captain?
SY: Well, it was a tough tour. Having got a reasonable success
against the Australians at home, going over there was not that easy.
But, in two Test matches that I played, I got about 8 wickets. So, it
was a fairly good series for me.
[Audio]
CI: During the Adelaide Test, Sandeep Patil made a big hundred and you
saved the match with your bat with Ghavri. What are your memories of
that match?
SY: It was a very tense moment we had during the match. Let me tell
you an incident which inspired me to hang on in the last stages of
that Test match. During a tour match I was trying to take most of the
strike. In the bargain I got out and we lost the match. After that,
Sunil Gavaskar fired me and said that being a professional cricketer
(I used to play in England as a professional), you should know to look
after yourself and leave the rest for the others. This
taught me a lesson so that I did my job and left the other player to
do his. That made me to hang on in the second Test, where in the
last 15 overs or so, I defended with Karsan Ghavri and ensured a draw
for the side.
[Audio]
CI: Do you remember the innings of Kim Hughes, who made 213 in the
Adelaide Test before you had him caught by Yashpal at long off of your
bowling?
SY: I remember very clearly the knock played by Hughes. I felt he
should have been out leg before on 88 off Kapil Dev, but he was
given not out. Later, he went on to score 213, which was a brilliant
knock.
[Audio]
CI: Your thoughts on the third Test match at
Melbourne which India won coming from nowhere...
SY: The wicket was a little bit dicey right from the start of the
match and we were lucky to have won the toss. On the first day, we
thought the wicket was good but somehow we lost wickets at
regular intervals but for a brilliant century from GR Vishwanth. I was
associated with Vishy in a partnership of about 70 odd runs, which was
crucial at that stage for batting last was always going to be
difficult.
[Audio]
CI: When you started your career the spin quartet had retired and you
had a new partner in Dilip Doshi. How was it bowling with Doshi at the
other end?
SY: Dilip basically was a bowler who tests the patience of the
batsman and keeps the batsman quiet. But to some extent it is always
good because he keeps one end tight and at the other end you can
experiment a little bit. I enjoyed bowling along with Dilip and
more importantly the time we played together, the wicket was totally
different for it was more helpful to batsman. Particularly in India,
the wicket was batsman friendly as there were hardly any wickets where
we would get a turner and therefore we had high scoring matches. One
had to struggle and bowl long spells and get whatever wickets by
remaining patient and waiting for the batsman to make a mistake.
[Audio]
CI: After the tour of Australia in 80-81, you were generally in and
out of the side. Then you made a brief comeback against the West Indies and again were dropped. Later you were selected for the tour of
Pakistan in 1984-85 where you had a long bowling spell at Faisalabad.
Tell us about the comeback game in Pakistan?
SY: Yes, it was in the Test match at Faisalabad. It was like bowling
on a cement track. If you could turn the ball an inch it was
a milestone. Unfortunately Kapil and Shastri were injured, so
we were left with only two and a half bowlers: myself, Maninder
and Anshuman Gaekwad who had to continue
to bowl till Pakistan either declared or were bowled out. So I had to
bowl about 75 overs.
[Audio]
CI: It seems like you played Australia a great deal. You joined Ravi
Shastri and Sivaramakrishnan for the 1985-86 tour of Australia. What
are your memories and especially the Test match in Sydney where you
did well?
SY: I did well in both Sydney as well as Melbourne. In the first
Test match at Adelaide I got just 1 wicket of, I think David Hookes.
In the Melbourne Test I had six wickets and in Sydney eight. In fact, we should have won the Test series 2-0 for it was just sheer bad luck
that both the Sydney match as well as the Melbourne game were washed
out when we were on the verge of winning.
[Audio]
CI: You had a big partnership with Sunil Gavaskar during
the first Test at Adelaide. He was injured and came back to score a big 100. You added 94
with him. What was it like to bat with Sunny?
SY: When Gavaskar came back, the third new ball was due and I was
batting along with him. It was a great experience batting along with a
batsman of Sunil Gavaskar's stature. But I had to be very careful that
we did not get run out, at least Sunil should not get run out. So I
had to make my call very clear, whether it is a yes or no. Definitely,
it was a great experience batting along with Sunny.
[Audio]
