David Johnson: A tale of possibilities and harsh realities

India’s one-off test match against Australia at the Feroz Shah Kotla in 1996 will probably be best remembered for Nayan Mongia’s career best effort of 152. But not very many recall the sight of a young debutant steaming up to the crease to bowl what were perhaps the fastest deliveries bowled by an Indian at the time. David Johnson’s moment under the warm Delhi sun arrived when Michael Slater edge a wide half-volley to slip. Azhar, nonchalant as if in a practice session, pulled off a one-handed stunner.

From across the vast plains of the country, where thousands of young boys play cricket, several stories emerge. While the success stories are fabled in print and repeatedly fed to the masses via glorified essays, the tales of those that saw less of the spotlight are forever lost. If the former are instances of opportunities and growth, the latter are accounts of misdirection and neglect – often contributing to an inevitable and tragic loss of a talent.

Despite the contrasting conclusions, the beginnings are often similar. Like most kids in the country, Johnson started playing cricket with a tennis ball. The youngest of four children in the family, Johnson played with his siblings in the backyard of their home at the railway quarters at Bangalore. “Cricket was always a passion in the family,” recalls David. “We used to choose teams and play. One brother used to play as Australia, the other brother as Pakistan and my sister as West Indies. I would always play as India.”

Transition to competitive cricket

The backyard games later spilled over to dusty playgrounds across Bangalore. And when a 17 year old Johnson picked up 8 wickets at a flood-lit tennis ball game, a friend had seen enough. He had Johnson enrolled at the Swastic Union Cricket Club. But it took repeated coaxing for the reluctant teenager to eventually given in.

Day one at the nets was to be eventful. Wearing a pair of canvas shoes purchased the previous day, the teenager castled the stumps of a Ranji Trophy batsman off his very first ball. “I came with my usual tennis ball run up. When I took my run up of 24 steps, Mamatha Maben – the former India Women’s captain - was bowling in our net and she had a run up of 5 steps more than me”.

Unbeknown to him, Johnson was bowling in the midst of state stalwarts and drawing attention. “I didn’t know who they were and neither was I concerned. I was just bowling. ” Soon enough, Johnson was drafted into playing league cricket and he made rapid strides under the tutelage of club captain and mentor Irfan Sait. Playing for “Combined City XI” against the “State XI” in the Safi Darashah tourney, he faced a formidable Karnataka Ranji Trophy side that had future India stars in Rahul Dravid, Sujith Somasundar and Venkatesh Prasad. “I was bowling in canvas (shoes) again, on turf and still I managed to get 8 wickets. Seven of them were bowled. We beat them,” recalled a beaming Johnson.

From there, Johnson steamrolled into the Karnataka Ranji trophy side. “The Ranji standard was different, but I would just concentrate on bowling fast. I never used to concentrate on swing. I just wanted to come and bowl as fast as I could.”

A case of “so near, yet so far”

After his first Ranji Trophy season, David was picked to play the Challenger Trophy and it was here that he first laid his sights on a white cricket ball and more importantly, on Sachin Tendulkar. “We played the game at Hyderabad. Sachin opened with Manoj Prabhakar. I bowled 10 overs on the trot.” This stint did his confidence a world of good.

“I then played against Saurav Ganguly at the RSI Grounds (Bangalore),” recalled Johnson while adding that he was undeterred by the pedigree of the batsman on strike. “If you hit me for a boundary, I bounce you or get you out – it was as simple as that. For me, bigger the name, more the challenge it was. That’s how I played the game.”

Superlative performances in the subsequent Ranji Trophy season meant that Johnson was picked to play for India-A. But things weren’t going to be rosy. The team toured UAE to play Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the hosts. “I didn’t play a single game. I was a water boy, I just toured. I would go to the nets and they would make me run some more. It was very clear, there was something wrong. And you could not tell anyone.” The tour constituted 7 games and despite India-A qualifying for the final with a game to spare, Salil Ankola and Paras Mhambrey continued to play.

The disappointment notwithstanding, Johnson returned home and trained at the MRF Pace Foundation. “Dennis Lillee taught me how to control the ball and I learnt to bowl inswingers.” He put his newly acquired skill to test at his second outing at the Challenger Series. “We played at Mohali and I got Sachin bowled with an inswinger, which he never expected. It was a good battle.”

A debut beckons

The domestic success earned Johnson an India call. He was thrilled to bits. He toured Sri Lanka for the Singer World Series in 1996 and then travelled to Toronto for the Sahara “Friendship” Cup later that year. But a debut eluded him as he fell prey to India’s two-seamer policy with Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad as the preferred pacers.

Johnson found himself stranded in the middle of what was to be a golden period for Karnataka. “There were seven of us from the state (in the Indian team). There were rumours going on. I was unlucky because of this.”

And just when the outlook appeared grim, Johnson received a call out of the blue. Srinath was carrying an injury ahead of the one-off test match against Australia and Johnson was hauled up as a possible replacement. But this wasn’t going to be a seamless initiation either. “A cricketer who is part of the playing eleven does a set of exercises and those not playing do a lot more. The game was at 9.30am. I was made to exercise like a player not in the eleven and then at 9am, was told that I was playing.” But Johnson was unperturbed. He was like a kid in a candy store.

The speedster has fond memories of that game. Soon after the Slater dismissal, he troubled Ricky Ponting but a confident appeal for caught-behind was turned down. “That would have been a great wicket. I wanted that wicket.”

A solitary wicket in the test and a fit-again Srinath meant that Johnson was out of consideration when South Africa visited in 1996. Not one to relent, Johnson kept the pressure on the selectors by picking 5 wickets in a tour game for Karnataka against the visiting Proteas. Johnson ran in with gusto and cut Gary Kirsten’s forehead open with a bouncer. Clearly disturbed by the blow, Kirsten spooned a catch to Dravid at covers soon after.

It was during this game that Johnson found a mentor in Allan Donald. “He used to spend more time in my net, telling me what to do. I used to run with the chest up, he asked me to start bending down.” That performance in Kochi earned him a spot on the tour to South Africa in December 1996. Picked in the first test at Durban, Johnson returned figures of 2 for 52 in the first innings. But misfortune would return to haunt him again.

Struck on the shoulder when batting and barely able to raise his arm, Johnson struggled through his spell in the second innings. Subsequently, he lost his place to D Ganesh in the second and third tests. “In the tour game against Orange County, the management told us it was down to Ganesh and me. I got 5 in the first innings and 3 in the second. Ganesh got one and 2 in the second innings. I dismissed Hansie Cronje in both innings. Ganesh played the third test and I was dropped”.

The ouster and life thereafter

The dubious circumstances surrounding his ouster left Johnson convinced that the writing was on the wall. Once back home, the domestic establishment was gunning for him too. On being told that he was blocking youngsters in the Ranji team, Johnson voluntarily stepped aside. But Kumble, out from the Indian side with an injury, picked him.

A couple of wickets in the game against Hyderabad kept him in the side against Goa. Here, in partnership with left-arm spinner Anand Katti, Johnson did the unimaginable – he scored a 101 not out. But he was in for a rude shock as he was dropped for the very next game against Tamil Nadu. “You should’ve got wickets and not scored runs,” he was told. Later that year, the fast-bowler hung up his boots.

Johnson now wants to give back to the game as a coach.

Johnson is today employed with the KSCA as a scout in their talent research development wing. He has also been appointed the U16 coach for the South Zone at the NCA in Bangalore. “I’ve played cricket at the highest level and I want to give back to the game,” he said.

And true to his cavalier approach, Johnson doesn’t agree with the modern conservative approach towards training fast bowlers. “The more work you put in, the stronger you get and with the right work, you learn. I was always used to bowling in the nets for 3 hours. I played for 11 years and I am playing still. I still don’t feel anything. I haven’t broken my back or my shoulder.”

When asked if he regrets not having played more games for the country, Johnson responds without batting an eyelid. “I could’ve played much more and not just two games. Frustration does come in when you sit back and think about it now. We can’t blame one person only. Everywhere you went, it was like this.” Battle hardened over the years, he now has a philosophical approach - “this is what life is. At the end of the day, you accept it. You can’t do anything beyond that. You take it in and see what’s next. If you had given me more opportunities, I’d have some records. Whatever small opportunities I was given, I have not let you down.”

That said, he does see the bright side of things as well. “India is such a large country and cricket is like God. Put three bats (and make a shrine), people will start worshipping there. When the country is like that, to play for India is a great thing.”

From pretending to play for India as a kid in the backyard, to actually donning the test cap and rubbing shoulders with the greats, Johnson realised an improbable dream. And despite all the travails and the perpetual feeling of having been hard done-by, David Jude Johnson had the last laugh. “I get to die as an Indian cricketer. No one can take that away from me.”