Hopping onto Delhi’s short-distance trains to travel from a remote Palwal village to various cricket grounds across the Capital, Rajinder Madan has been silently plying his tricks for more than three decades.

Now 40 years old, he had reconciled to leading a life of obscurity — being a “different” bowler only evokes an indifferent response from the orthodox Indian cricket hierarchy — but with Ajantha Mendis making heads turn, Madan is feeling the pinch all over again.

Once called Jaadugar (magician) by his colleagues, Madan has all the deliveries in Mendis’s arsenal, and even a stock ball — the leg-break. He can bowl off-breaks, flippers, googlies, top-spinners, zooters and doosras, and can camouflage them behind slight changes in action. “When I saw Mendis, I was in tears. He bowls just like me, and the commentators were hailing him as refreshing talent. But when Kapil paaji and Navjot Sidhu had openly called to fast-track me into the national scene because I was a different bowler, it wasn’t welcomed. I never got a proper opportunity to showcase my skills,” he says.

Madan’s ‘India cap’

Madan’s first-class career for Haryana ended after just four matches, in which he picked five wickets at an economy rate of 2.6. Though he has never represented India at any level, he has an India cap presented to him by a Test cricketer who was impressed with Madan’s bowling. He still carries the cap with him all the time. Recently, Madan wanted to join the Indian camp in Bangalore to help the Test team counter Mendis, but he didn’t get permission.

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