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[caption id="attachment_89329" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image Courtesy: Lalchand Rajput[/caption] Debasis Sen: The entire country is witnessing a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic. The lockdown has forced everyone to stay indoors. Most current and former cricketers are spending their time on social media. Former India cricketer and Coach Lalchand Rajput recently took his time to share a couple of rare photographs of him in Scottish attire. You must be wondering why he would do that. Well Rajput had the distinction of representing the Scottish national side against Pakistan in 1986. Speaking to this correspondent from his residence in Mumbai, Rajput said, “It was a traditional dress, kind of a skirt made of woolen clothes as it was very cold. I think it was called Tartan and kilt. But it was only for the photoshoot” He added, “I was going through the albums and found the photograph. It was kind of refreshing the memories, so I shared it. An article was also published on me in local newspapers.” The former cricketer from Mumbai also got a local name in Scotland. According to Rajput, “They used to have Scottish names so I was called Lalchand Mac Rajput (laughs).” Rajput was the first Indian cricketer to represent both India and Scotland. Former India captain Rahul Dravid too played for Scotland in 2003. Dravid turned up for the Scottish side in as many as 11 ODIs. He got an offer from Scottish Cricket Board to play for their national side as a marquee overseas player and also to inspire the young cricketers of the country. Another Indian cricketer Budhi Kunderan also played for Scotland but he did so after getting the citizenship. He went to Scotland after retiring first class cricket and settled down thereafter. “Before me Budhi Kunderan played for Scotland after settling down there. So he was a Scottish but I played as a professional. I played for India and went there and again came back to represent the country in 1985. I made my test debut against Sri Lanka in 1985,” said Rajput. Rajput replaced South African Omar Henry as the overseas professional in 1986. Scotland had the provision of playing an overseas cricketer then. They used to play Benson & Hedges cup, Natwest Trophy and also against the touring sides. He opened the batting against the touring Pakistan side and scored 18 runs. Rajput returned from Scotland after playing for one season. Prior to that he made his test debut against Sri Lanka where he opened the batting with Krishnamachari Srikkanth. He scored 32 & 61 respectively in the first test match at SSC. In the following test match though he only scored 0 and 12 and was never given an opportunity. He is currently appointed as the coach of Zimbabwe national team.