Tulsidas Balaram

Tulsidas Balaram (born 30 November 1936), also known as Tulsidas Balaraman, is a retired footballer from India who had represented the country in international competitions including Olympics games. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football strikers, India has ever produced. Balaram made his mark playing football for the East Bengal Club in Kolkata. He was one of the best players of the golden age of Indian football of 1950's and 1960's. His playing position was as a center forward or as a left winger.^[3]

Balaram’s performances against International teams are no less spectacular. He was one of the prime components of India’s Gold winning team of 1962. He played every single game and scored goals against Thailand and Japan.

Balaram came during Rome Olympics anticipated his pass to make the scoreline 2-1. India didn’t defeat Hungary but almost upset ’58 World Cup semi-finalists France few days later. Balaram was again unstoppable as India held on to a 1-0 lead deep into second half. Sadly, a mistake from Ram Bahadur denied India a famous victory.

According to Balaram’s best game for India came against Hong Kong in 1958 Asian Games. The match went into extra time after the scoreline was 2-2 during normal time. Balaram showed peak performance in extra time, assisting two goals and scoring once as India ran out 5-2 victors.

Famous journalist Ajay Basu described Balaram as superb inside forward. Basu further said that his improvisation, industriousness and ability to hit curling shots were second to none. While Chuni Goswami had more flair in his play, Balaram had more variety and versatility.

Former India International and eminent defender Arun Ghosh described Balaram as a man who had two eyes on the back of his head – so good was his ball distribution. He was also the heart of his teams, directing every attacking move.

In 1961 Balaram was selected as East Bengal captain – he led from the front and played one of his best ever seasons. He top scored with 23 goals, won the league’s best player award and also led his club to do a double over Mohun Bagan. His popularity among the Red & Golds faithful knew no bounds. In early 60s, Mohun Bagan’s Dhiren De once tried hard to sign Balaram for the club.

Balaram retired in 1963 owing to health related issues. His absence was strongly felt by the Indian team in Asian Cup the following year.

For a footballer whose popularity and performances in all versions of the game has few parallels, Balaram’s life is full with far too many cases of shoddy treatment. Some of it took place during his playing days, incredibly.^[4]

As coach of Calcutta Mayor’s XI Balaram played a part in bringing up players like Basudev Mandal and Sangram Mukherjee. However, he had to face hurdles in every step. When a youth team under his coaching got an invitation to play in Germany, his visa was denied by Indian Govt. AIFF under Priyaranjan Dasmunshi refused to clear his visa on time. His team eventually played wonderfully in Berlin, remaining unbeaten in four games. Two years back he finally received some much needed recognition from East Bengal club though he is yet to receive his Padma Shri, according to a short interview published in Anandabazar Patrika in 2001.

References

External links

• Tulsidas Balaraman – FIFA competition record