Morappakam Josyam Gopalan (6 June 1909 – 21 December 2003) was an Indian sportsman who represented India in

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and hockey. Gopalan hailed from the village of Morappakam in Chingleput district, some 50 kilometres from Chennai. His family moved to Triplicane in Chennai when he was young. Gopalan was discovered by

C. P. Johnstone Conrad Powell Johnstone (19 August 1895 – 23 June 1974), known as CP Johnstone or Con Johnstone, was an English businessman and amateur sportsman who played first-class cricket between 1919 and 1948. After serving in the First World War he sp ...

, one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket. As was his practice with promising players, Johnstone gave him a job in the

Burmah Shell The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". BP Amoco (now BP) purchased the company in 2000. Histor ...

. Gopalan soon switched his allegiance to the Triplicane Cricket Club. He owed his fame in local circles mainly to his performances here. He was a fast medium bowler who moved the ball both ways. When he was selected to make his first class debut in the Madras Presidency tournament, it was not a popular decision. The crowd barracked him when he did not take a wicket till lunch on the first day, but he went on to take five wickets in each innings. He also impressed against

Arthur Gilligan Arthur Edward Robert Gilligan (23 December 1894 – 5 September 1976) was an English first-class cricketer who captained the England cricket team nine times in 1924 and 1925, winning four Test matches, losing four and drawing one. In fi ...

's MCC team which was touring India at the time. Another performance of some significance were the two matches in 1930 for Madras against the Vizianagram XI which included

Jack Hobbs Sir John Berry Hobbs (16 December 1882– 21 December 1963), always known as Jack Hobbs, was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Mast ...

. In the first, Gopalan dismissed Hobbs in both innings; in the second he clean bowled the great man with a leg-cutter that pitched on the leg stump and took the off bail. Against

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in 1933, he took a famous hattrick, the first in Chepauk. This came in his eighth over when he took wickets with his first, third, fourth and fifth balls, hitting the middle stump each time. When

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

was inaugurated in 1934, Madras and Mysore (now

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

) played the first match. To Gopalan went the honour of delivering the first ball of the tournament. His only Test match was against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in early 1934. Gopalan's hockey career was helped by Robert Summerhayes who was to hockey in Madras what Johnstone was to cricket. In 1935, he toured

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

with the Indian hockey team which enjoyed enormous success. The next year he was selected for the cricket team to tour England. It was known beforehand that Gopalan would have a small role to play in the England tour because of the presence of

Mohammad Nissar Shaikh Mohammad Nissar (; 1 August 1910 – 11 March 1963) was a cricketer, who played as a fast bowler for the pre-independence Indian cricket team and domestic teams in India and Pakistan. He was born in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, and is considered ...

and Amar Singh. He might have been picked in the hockey team for the Berlin Olympics but chose to skip the Olympic trials. This turned out to be a terrible decision. The hockey team captained by Dhyan Chand, one of the finest teams in the history of the sport, won the gold medal with little difficulty. As it turned out, Gopalan did not play a Test in England. The tour was marred by internal politics and the team returned in disgrace. Gopalan's batting improved with time. Johnstone wrote later that it featured a "stance at the wicket with his left toe cocked up in the air. Since it was the stance adopted by England's most famous cricketer,

W.G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

, he could hardly be faulted on this account. He was then about a No.10 batsman, but by steady application he showed what improvement a bowler who really tries can make in batting and later on played many fine innings". The most celebrated of these 'many fine innings' was a 64 against the

West Indians A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

in 1949 which featured some thrilling driving. In 1952, a silver jubilee fund was started to celebrate Gopalan's 25 years in cricket and hockey. An annual cricket match was instituted between Madras and Ceylon (later

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

) for the M. J. Gopalan Trophy. This yearly tournament continued with a few interruptions till Sri Lanka got Test status in the early 1980s. It was revived in 2000 as a match between Tamil Nadu and a Colombo District Cricket Association. This also lapsed after two years. He served as a national selector for a few years in the 1950s. Gopalan was the oldest living Test cricketer at the time of his death. According to him, he was born in 1906 but the year of his birth was recorded wrongly in the school records. One of the entrances to the

M. A. Chidambaram Stadium M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, commonly known as the Chepauk Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1916, it is the second oldest cricket stadium in the country after Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Formerly known as Ma ...

is named after Gopalan.

References

External links

*
Sportstar obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gopalan, Morappakam Indian cricketers India Test cricketers Tamil Nadu cricketers Hindus cricketers South Zone cricketers Tamil sportspeople 2003 deaths 1909 births Cricketers from Chennai Field hockey players from Chennai Indian male field hockey players Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports