V.Roger Prabasarkar :Cricket
The second Test begins today (Friday) in the small town of Sheikhupura, big enough to stage international cricket but not quite grown-up enough to boast an international hotel. The squad and accompanying entourage will be staying in the beautiful city of Lahore, no more than 25km from the ground but at least an hour’s drive – with a police escort!
The arrangement is less than ideal but the team are perfectly happy with it for a couple of very good reasons: first, they knew exactly what was in store for them and have had two months to prepare themselves. Secondly, it comfortably represents the biggest logistical inconvenience of the tour; in that light, it is hardly worth a raised eyebrow.
In six previous tours to the subcontinent the squad would periodically arrive in a town to discover that their hotel had no restaurant, the rooms no toilets, the beds no mattresses, the cricket ground had no nets and the distance between the two meant alarm calls at 6:00am to get there in time. This time, they knew they could expect comfort at best and adequacy at the very worst. The difference between then and now is Gulam Raja.
In May this year Raja “reccied” the full itinerary inspecting everything from kitchens to outfields to transport and toilets. “I had no brief, as such,” he says. “But I’ve been on enough tours and I know what we require. The players trust me, too.” The last comment, it transpires, is a massive understatement.
“Don’t call him that!” It was a comment directed at me twice, by senior players, when exploring the relationship between the players and the man officially titled “assistant manager”. The players, it seems, find this title demeaning to the man they regard as a sort of combination of mother/father /bodyguard/man-servant/best friend and school headmaster. “He is a legend,” chorus Allan Donald and Gary Kirsten together. “He gets things done. If there is a problem, he sorts it. There isn’t anything he can’t fix,” says Kirsten.
So why, then, the appointment of UCB and Natal executive SK Reddy as manager in Pakistan and the apparent demotion of Raja – who is manager on all international tours within South Africa? The answer is similar from whomever one asks – “because the UCB likes to send one of its executives on an expenses paid holiday to reward them for loyal service”. That may sound terribly cynical, but it is not meant to. There is an understanding of the need for “suits” on tour, and why not rotate the honour? At the moment, though, job descriptions and areas of responsibility between the UCB “suit” and Gulam Raja (the “real” manager) are fudged.
Raja is a humble and modest man, but he does acknowledge the difficulties: “It is no secret that I would appreciate a more job-related title when we tour. I am a “players manager”. I am there for them. The only thing that matters to me is that the players can concentrate on cricket, and only cricket, without having to suffer any distractions. I must look after all of their `in-between’ needs. In my four years with the team I’ve grown to realise that they need to be `pampered’ – I say that with respect – because that is the way they perform best.
“These guys take an enormous amount of pride in representing their country and its not fair to ask them to give their all if they’re worrying about their phone bill, or whether they’ll be able to eat the lunch.”
At every net practice Raja can be seen buzzing around the players like an over- protective but obviously proud mother hen. When the bowlers are tired he is on hand with a towel and a cool drink. When the batsmen have a bruise, he fetches the ice. When they can’t find their spare bat, “Goolie” knows where it is.
That role, though, while his most public and subservient, merely disguises a skin as tough as rhinoceros hide and a brain as analytical as it is logical.
He is a cutter of red-tape, an invader of tea-breaks and a general enforcer.
SK Reddy, or whoever else’s turn it is to tour, can play the opposite role, the perfect foil. The smile in front of the scowl, the “we’re naturally disappointed …” kind-of statement to cover the ” … we’ve been stuffed and treated terribly …” reality. There is more plastic smiling and hand-shaking to do in this part of the world than any other, and Raja is too busy with the nitty-gritty.
“I’m just not interested in hob-nobbing in a jacket and tie, wining and dining with the powers that be on this board or that committee. During matches I never leave the dressing room because that is where I’m needed. It’s no good having lunch in someone’s executive dining room if my players are downstairs.
“Whatever my job may entail, it will start in the dressing room. The UCB may pride itself on its modern image, but, by all accounts, there are still plenty of men with extensive experience of hearty lunches and gen-eral PRO chatter to fit in perfectly to the role.
There is no doubt that the players regard Raja as their manager and the press, too, seem to have formed a special relationship with him. He always tells the truth, even if he has to do so off-the-record. So far, apparently, he has never been let down. Except by Fanie de Villiers …
“It still makes me laugh now,” he chuckles, “but it was a great lesson to learn. Fanie came to me on tour in England in 1994 and said he’d lost his wallett and documents. I said `oh, well I’d better get busy … but don’t worry about anything!’ For 24 hours I called embassies, tried to get a new passport, cancelled travellers cheques, had new ones issued, cancelled credit cards, re-issued air tickets, spoke to travel agents. Finally, I thought I had done everything. The next morning I saw Fanie at breakfast. Of course, he had no idea of what I had been through, but that is the idea. He beamed a smile at me, took a mouthful of toast and said `Morning Goolie … oh, I found my stuff, by the way.’ Now I never do anything for about 48 hours because players are always losing things and they almost always turn up again!”
On the same tour Brian McMillan was running up an enormous laundry bill (some players don’t mind wearing socks, shirts for a couple of days, others need clean socks and shirts for each session of play!) and he was concerned about being able to pay it. Gulam called Ali Bacher in Johannesburg and resolved the situation.
It is a double-edged sword, though. The more Raja “pampers” and thinks for his players, the more likely they are to continue to lose things, leave things in their hotel room cupboard, forget to collect their laundry, forget to deliver their laundry, run up unpayable telephone bills and have absolutely no idea of what to do in an airport.
“I get criticised for that quite a lot. People say I spoil them but I think that’s nonsense. There is a big difference between spoiling and `pampering’.” And what is that difference? “I don’t know … but there is a difference!”
“Deep down you have to really love people to do this job,” he says.
“It really isn’t glamorous. Not much is noticed and you don’t get too many thanks. But the whole world falls on your head if there’s a cock-up of some description! But I get a personal satisfaction, I live and die each ball of every day’s play and I desperately hope to win, of course. But if I know that all 11guys in the team have been able to give their best, in comfort, then that is even more important to me. Yes, more important than winning or losing.”