They arrived together—all the five siblings. Two sisters and three brothers. At one time, there used to be six of them. It didn't take a moment to discern who they were—their resemblance to late cricketer Raman Lamba was striking.
It was a poignant moment for Delhi cricket. It was also a celebration of the player that Lamba was, especially for Delhi cricket. This was an occasion for remembering him for his cricketing feats, which were innumerable and unforgettable. The home team's dressing room at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground, now located in the new pavilion building was long ago christened the Raman Lamba dressing room. However with time and an apathetic administration, it lay forgotten, unnamed with nary a mention of him inside or outside the dressing room. The Delhi & District Cricket Association, under its court-appointed administrator Justice Vikramjit Sen, recently decided to reinstate the dressing room in the late cricketer's name as part of an effort to recognise the contribution of Delhi's former cricketers and revive the city's cricketing atmosphere.
Emotions ran high as Sunita, the elder sister of the dashing late cricketer, unveiled a plaque outside the dressing room, displaying a finely etched portrait of Lamba. And then in the middle of the dressing room was a photograph of a smiling Lamba, with his his trademark shoulder length hair.
His youngest sister, Amita, couldn't hold back her tears. She insisted these were tears of joy. “All these years, every time Raman's name came up, it was in context of an injury or accidental death due to cricket. It was very painful. Today, this is about honouring him and remembering him for his cricketing achievements. I'm happy about that,” she noted.
There were many moist eyes around and choked throats in the room as in a small moment of silence the inescapable thought came up: he just did not deserve to go when he did at the age of 39. For someone who had declared he would play for Delhi till he was 45 at least, this was a cruel hand fate dealt to him.
Former India all-rounder and Lamba's close buddy in the Delhi team Manoj Prabhakar's voice choked as he spoke about his senior and close friend later on. “Its like he is still around. Memories of him haven't faded. I remember him as the stickler for fitness that he used to be, always encouraging us to push ourselves to run harder, get fitter.”
Lamba, a dashing cricketer, both in cricket and personality, played from 1978-79 to 1997-98, serving Delhi cricket for two decades. He was a fearless opener whom many feared when he got going with his bat. In 121 first class matches, Lamba amassed 8,776 runs, with a highest score of 320. He scored 31 centuries and 27 half-centuries and had an average of 53.84. He was part of four Ranji Trophy–winning Delhi Teams. These wins were in 1981-82 versus Karnataka, 1985-86 versus Haryana, 1988-89 versus Bengal and 1991-92 versus Tamil Nadu. Indeed, Lamba is associated with one of most glorious periods of Delhi cricket.
Apart from his family, those present included his 'guru,' coach Tarak Sinha, who nurtured Lamba at his famous Sonnet Club. There were former Ranji cricketers, some his seniors, many of his contemporaries and a few of his juniors. These included Madan Lal and Hari Gidwani and contemporaries like K.P. Bhaskar, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma, Bantoo Singh and Sunil Valson and a bevy of former Delhi cricketers such as Raj Kumar Sharma and Robin Singh Junior.
Also present was Rishabh Pant from the current set of players from Delhi. Present-day cricketers tend not to pay much attention to history but for the dashing wicket-keeper/batsman from Delhi, there is no escaping the connection—he is also from Sonnet Club.
