The towering giant, Abey Kuruvilla, bowled with diligence and devotion for Mumbai in the domestic circuit. However, he got the chance to represent India late in his career. He still made cricket experts and fans alike sit up and take notice of his exemplary control and his ability to work out the batsman. He also had a well-disguised off-cutter up his sleeve.

Kuruvilla, who was coached by none other than the former England fast bowler, Frank Tyson, rose through the ranks quickly and played for Mumbai in the 1990-91 season. In the next season itself, he snared more than 50 wickets in First-Class cricket. Unfortunately, his credentials as a bowler was ignored by the national selectors for the next 5-6 years.

It was only when Srinath was injured after the tour of South Africa in 1996-97 that Kuruvilla got a chance to represent India. He made his Test debut against West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica in 1997. But it was his heart-warming spell of 5 for 68 in Barbados in the fourth Test that won him fulsome praise from everyone. The efforts of Kuruvilla and his pace colleague Venkatesh Prasad though, went in vain as India suffered a gut-wrenching defeat.

When India played in the subcontinent, Kuruvilla toiled hard, but without much success. He still had his moments like the four-for he took against Sri Lanka at Mohali at the end of 1997. Kuruvilla also played for India in ODIs. One of his better shows came against Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC) in 1997 when he picked up a four-for. India though, lost that match. He retired from the game in 1999-00.

He was a part of a strong bowling line-up in domestic cricket. Kuruvilla played along with Salil Ankola, Paras Mhambrey, Nilesh Kulkarni and later on Ajit Agarkar. All of them combined together to help Mumbai become a successful side during that period.

By Bharath Ramaraj