For BG Joshi, hockey is a number game

Sudheendra Tripathi

MUMBAI: In recent times, hockey great Dhanraj Pillay has been the face of Indian hockey. So, do not blame the hockey fan if he believes that Dhanraj is the most-capped hockey player in the country.

But BG Joshi, sitting at the quaint Bombay Gym, watching BPCL maul ONGC in the final of the Aga Khan hockey tournament on Saturday evening, informs that ” Dilip Tirkey, the Orissa-based legend has turned out for India a record 412 times.”

Joshi, 57, is the unofficial statistician of Indian hockey. For, the Superintendent engineer with Madhya Pradesh’s Water Resources Department posted in Bhopal, the love for numbers began with an innocuous conversation at a tea stall in Rajgadh, 120 km away from Bhopal, four decades ago. “Bulbul chaiwallah pointed out to me and a few group of gawky hockey enthusiasts that the national game’s fans had no number trivia to mull over,” he says.

That set him thinking and what followed was a journey of hockey-related number game. “Since 1970, I’ve spent every Sunday at home, computing the latest hockey results from all over the world,” he says.

He had difficulties raising funds to transfer his information from paper to an expansive database, but with time he has managed to create one. So, if someone wants to know how many goals the legendary Dhyanchand has scored, Joshi is the man to turn to. Just call him and he will oblige. “Dhyanchandji scored 570 goals in 185 appearances for India,” he beams. And says: “In 12 Olympic matches, he scored 39 goals. Kamal ki baat hai. It is impossible to duplicate this feat,” he says with an unmistakable sense of pride.

With an eye on the match, Joshi keeps tossing interesting information. It is thanks to Joshi that people become aware of interesting facts and trivia. For instance, former women’s hockey player, Shirin Khusro, has represented India in three different disciplines – Hockey, Basketball and Cricket. Keep up the good work Mr Joshi. Oh, just for the record, BPCL won the final by defeating ONGC 4-1.

Results: BPCL 4 ( Ravi Pal Singh 17, Sher Singh 31, Ajay Saroha 46, 63) bt ONGC 1 (Gurvinder Singh Chandi 67).