‘Chhodna nhi’: Gundappa Viswanath recollects his epic partnership with Yashpal Sharma

Former India cricketer Gundappa Viswanath remembers his teammate Yashpal Sharma as a ‘total cricketer’. Together they’d battled for a whole day towards England within the 1982 Chennai Test and stitched a mammoth 316-run stand. While Viswanath scored 222, Sharma recorded his greatest rating in Test cricket by stroking his technique to 140.
Sharma, who would have turned 67 subsequent month, handed away on Tuesday, attributable to a cardiac arrest. He represented India in 37 Tests and 42 ODIs.
He is greatest recognized for his magnum opus with Viswanath within the Madras (now Chennai) Test as they grew to become solely the third Indian pair to stay not out all through a day’s play.
“Playing a whole day in Test cricket is a unique achievement and not many people have done it. The two of us playing the whole day was memorable. He was a very good cricketer, hardworking, a team man and I would say a total cricketer,” Viswanath instructed The Indian Express.
The Chennai Test, which started on January 13, 1982, noticed India in a spot of hassle early on.

Yashpal Sharma, who turns 66 as we speak, performed 37 Tests for India between 1979 and 1983 averaging 33.45 and 42 ODIs. His greatest efficiency got here at Madras in 1981-82 when he made 140 (his second advert ultimate Test ton) in a stand of 316 with Gundappa Viswanath towards England pic.twitter.com/clPy3IT6Z8
— Historic Cricket Pictures (@PictureSporting) August 11, 2020
“The pitch was a bit bouncy and we lost Sunil Gavaskar and Pranab Roy early on. Dilip Vengsarkar was hit by a Bob Willis bouncer and retired hurt,” recalled Viswanath.
India had been 150/2, however three of their batsmen had been again within the pavilion.
“It was then that Yashpal came in. At the start, we spoke to each other and decided to take a cautious approach and tried to be there in the middle.”
While Vishwanath along with his contact strokeplay scored 222 off 374 deliveries, Sharma’s knock was guts and willpower as he scored 140 in 298 balls and spent greater than 490 minutes on the crease. The total partnership lasted ten-and-a-quarter hours and that too towards an England bowling assault comprising Willis, Ian Botham and Derek Underwood.
“He performed beautifully and it was a lovely innings. He saved egging me on saying, “Vishy Bhai, chhodna nhi, hum dono aaj khelenge (don’t hand over, each of us will maintain enjoying). Towards the top of the day, he saved telling me to play the lengthy innings and impressed me by saying, “Ab pura din khelenge (we’ll bat the complete day)“.
“So that was in my mind and we both dug deep and remained unbeaten.”
Today Sharma’s demise has upset Vishwanath.
“The news is very shocking for me. I had never heard anything from anyone that he was unwell. So I am still not able to believe that he is no more. My condolences to his family and I hope they can bear through this pain” he signed off.