Gautram (Gatt) Chakraborty
A Profile of the First Rainham Overseas Player
A small man from Calcutta in Bengal India, Gautram Chakraborty had a good pedigree. After all, he had once been on the verge of the Bengal state team and had opened the batting with Indian Test player Saurav Gangooly for his Calcutta based club. This became plain to see when the small, left handed batsman completed the 2001 season for Rainham with more than 1,000 runs to his credit.
Gatt had originally come to England in 2000, had played for Medway club Frindsbury, had found accommodation in Chatham and was looking to play a full season in 2001. Coming to a match at Bapchild towards the end of the 2000 season, he liked what he saw and applied to join Rainham the following season.
The former Indian train driver who could speak good English, Bengali and Hindi had a great start to the season with 99 against Broadstairs and 95 against Old Stacians and also showed his ability as a spin bowler. This was unfortunately hindered by a back injury that he developed so he had to stick to batting. An ever present member of the 2001 league side, Gatt fitted in very well in with the rest of the team and enjoyed participating in some exciting matches.
As a very correct and accomplished batsman Gatt had all the shots and a very strong defence. He could be a little vulnerable early in his innings but once he had his eye in he became very difficult to dislodge. Being strong on the back foot he was particularly severe on short pitched bowling. Although he played some very good innings during the 2001 season perhaps his most remarkable was in a midweek match at the Mote. In a game where virtually nobody made double figures for Rainham, only Chris Taylor with 28 was able to give him any real support. Gatt stuck it out for 91 not out and in partnership with a nervous Liam Kelly who had to survive the final two overs and help score six runs, he managed to secure a penultimate ball one wicket victory chasing a total of 151 against the odds.
With a batting average of 38.72 and 426 runs to his credit, Gatt recorded a successful league season with Rainham who finished in sixth position. Overall, he scored a total of more than 1,000 runs which included one century and he proved to be a very successful key batsman.
Although Rainham hoped that he would be available for the following season, Gatt was unable to secure permission from the Immigration Department for his wife to come to England and had difficulty finding employment so he returned to his native India where he resumed his job as a train driver and played cricket in Bengal.
