Amarjit Kaypee

कर्मण्ये वाधिका रस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।

मा कर्म फल हेतु र्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्व कर्मणि॥

Translation: You have a right to “Karma” (actions) but never to any Fruits thereof. You should never be motivated by the results of your actions, nor should there be any attachment in not doing your prescribed activities.

In the previous editions, we discussed domestic champions from relatively potent and sought-after sides. So this week we zeroed in on a domestic legend who didn't represent a glamorous team. On the contrary, he raised the bar for the team he played for and helped them win their maiden title. This week, the spotlight is on Amarjit Kaypee, the run machine. If you don't know him, let me tell you that he was the highest run getter in Ranji trophy, before Amol Mazumdar outstripped him.

Mr Kaypee was born in Jalandhar, Punjab on 2nd October 1960. He made his debut for his home team in the 1980-81 season against Jammu and Kashmir. He served Punjab for five years and then moved to Haryana and played rest of his cricket there from 1986 to 2000. He was a blessing for Haryana and helped them win their only Ranji title in 1990-91.

The most fruitful season for Amarjit was 1990-91, where he scored 940 runs, which was the highest that year and the outcome was Haryana being crowned the Ranji champions for the first time. This also helped him win the Indian cricket cricketer of the year. He carried on with his merry ways next year as well and piled up 812 runs. He also captained Haryana for 31 matches. There was never a dip in his form, but still he was picked only twice in the North Zone team for the Duleep trophy, playing two matches each in the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. This massively impacted his chances to get picked for the national side and unfortunately he missed out on the India cap.

He called it a day in 2000 and his career aggregate of 7894 runs(including 27 centuries, with a best of 210*) topped the Ranji runs table till 2009. After retirement, he served as the coach of Haryana for 2008-09 season and was a match referee for BCCI for a number of seasons.

Unlike other domestic legends who were at a touching distance from the coveted Indian cap, Amarjit never came close to getting a call from the selectors. However, he was a part of the Indian veterans XI, captained by Azharuddin, which toured Pakistan in 2006 for a four match limited overs series. That was his swansong.

Amarjit's exclusion also busted the age old myth that the selectors of 90s only considered players who won trophies for their respective states. I seriously need to interview one of the selectors from the 90s to understand what were they thinking.