A look back at Farokh Engineer in his heydays

One of the Indian Cricket Team’s original glamour boys was Farokh Engineer, who first arrived in England way back in 1966 as a promising cricketer. He was synonymous to charisma, and, in modern parlance, maintained a ‘swag’ of his own. Today, the 80-year old Engineer might not be the dashing young man he was back then, but he has definitely retained his outspoken personality.

Farokh Engineer was one of the first Indian cricketers to have professionally played county cricket. He had received offers from eminent clubs such as Worcestershire, Somerset, and Hampshire before he settled on Lancashire and made Manchester his home.

However, Engineer looks back at his cricketing life with a touch of disappointment, not having been able to play in his home country. While sipping on a cup of tea as Birmingham experienced a downpour during one of the matches in the ongoing Champions Trophy, Farokh Engineer might have realized that he essentially lived, perhaps not as an outcast, but someone who couldn’t make it back home.

“Outcast? That’s too strong a word. I first came to England in 1966. My Lancashire stint started in 1968. I stayed on. They wanted me to. Yet if you ask me if I would embrace India or England, I would proudly say India. I have retained my Indian nationality and passport. My soul is Indian,” Engineer told the Times of India.

Farokh Engineer and his first stint in Lancashire

“I couldn’t resist the prospect of keeping to the furious Brain Statham. Garry Sobers was in talks too but he and Lancashire agreed to disagree. Then Clive (Lloyd) came in and we had a remarkable time. They just wouldn’t let me go. They gave me three-year-contracts. At that time I would also play all Ranji games, all Duleep Trophy matches,” Farokh Engineer shared about his hectic days.

After 1976, he stayed on in England and purchased a house in Cheshire. He subsequently started a business of exporting textiles to the Caribbean and essentially became English.

“I get the feeling India cricket kind of forgot me. I kept wanting to go back, but the price of property kept going up in Mumbai,” he said.

Engineer’s wish to coach Team India

Farokh Engineer still regrets not having received an offer from the BCCI to coach the Indian Cricket Team, though he did mention that he had interacted with former skipper MS Dhoni regarding this matter.

“Sadly, I have never, ever got a coaching offer from India, though MS Dhoni himself came to me early on his career and we worked on a few things with his keeping. Some of the coaches I see there aren’t exactly top grade. I am appalled the CK Nayudu award has eluded me, and gone to Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel. All respect to them, but they didn’t play Test cricket,” Engineer stated.

Despite being a successful cricketer, Engineer revealed his life had almost crashed and burnt when he lost all his money sometime in the early 1990s. The incident took place when the Bank of Credit and Commerce collapsed. “I lost a million pounds in a day. It was a difficult time. I had to come to terms with it. My business collapsed. My lifestyle changed. But I recovered from that too. That’s life,” Engineer quipped.

Farokh Engineer’s unreserved attitude was on full display when he said, “Why weren’t my cricketing talents better used by India? I was the only Indian in the Rest of the World XI at that time.”

“We got a one-time payment, and people confuse the two. I get the BCCI pension, of course, around 300 pounds a month, and I’m grateful. But that’s not the point,” he concluded.

After all of this, does he believe Indian cricket considers him an outsider? “Yes,” says Engineer, with an air of perplexity. “But I’m Indian, you know. I just stay here.”