My Life with Cricket-2

My next memory, albeit faint, is India Pakistan series in October – November,1983. I did not watch all the matches which were becoming more regular on the TV now. I only recall that I learnt how difficult it was to dismiss Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas. Another live moment that I remember is when Miandad got out at 99 in one of the test matches. By rule those days, all test matches which India played against a team not called West Indies were drawn. India simply could not win a test match.

After this series, I got an inkling of what Sunil Gavaskar meant for India’s batting and what Kapil Dev meant for bowling. I seriously believed nobody else meant anything in the team. Gavaskar was obviously more important because his batting could draw the tests, but Kapil Dev’s best bowling would not win a test match for India (this happened in the next series). In a way, Indian fans were and for a long time, remained mainly concerned about batting.

Then came the series -my first series. West Indies arrived in India for a six test match series (the last six test match series for India and the last non-Ashes six test series). And a few ODIs. Nobody bothered how many ODIs were to be played. India neither had the strategy for, nor the intent on winning any of the ODIs. Well, five of them were played in between the test matches. India was soundly beaten in all. Some writers called this a revenge for the world cup loss, but a sane observer would know that vendetta is dealt to worthy opponents, not undeserving ones. Let me explain with a memory.

In one of the ODIs, when I came back from school at 3:30 in the afternoon, I found the Indian score at 232 for five or six wickets and Gavaskar batting at 80 with someone. For a moment, I thought India was in strong position. In those days scores were not shown as often as they are now, so it took me a while to realize that only formalities were left in the match. West Indies had earlier piled on 333 in 45 overs. Viv Richards had belted 153 in 97 balls! Yes, I am talking about the Jamshedpur match. Well, Indian innings or rather Indian batting practice soon ended. In the end though, it was a decent effort although I am sure both West Indian bowlers and Indian batsmen at the start of Indian innings would have known that it is a formality. One more interesting stat- Ravi Shastri’s analysis was 77 in 7! That’s 77 runs in 7 overs not wickets. One of my friends would joke some years later – why was the seventh over given to him?

Let’s come to the test matches. My enlightened brother’s goal was- how many of the six India would be able to draw since winning was out of the equation. In a way, it made the task simple for everyone. India’s bowling was composed of only their captain Kapil Dev, while India depended heavily on Sunil Gavaskar, who had to duck, sway, block and bat for as many hours and days as possible.

The Kanpur test story began on the 2nd day when the West Indies were finally dismissed for 480 something- built on Gordon Greenidge’s 194- India began their innings in the last hour. That was my first vision of terrifying bowling. Wickets started falling at a breakneck pace. Mercifully, the torture was soon over as India ended the day at 35 for five. Defeat loomed. Malcolm Marshall bowled at frightening pace while Michael Holding was unplayable.

Later in Indian innings, Roger Binny and Madan Lal frustrated the West Indies for some time. It was such a promising partnership that it raised hopes of avoiding follow on. But it didn’t happen. Who can survive endlessly against Marshall? India duly followed on and subsided again. I would not bore you with numbers here, but I do recall that in second innings, Dilip Vengsarkar scored 60 odd runs and delayed the defeat. It instantly raised his stature in my mind.

Sunil Gavaskar hogged the limelight in Delhi test with his 29th hundred and thus equaled the great Sir Don. It was Vengsarkar though, who scored 159 and held the innings to a 450 plus score. One peculiar aspect I associate with those days is that whenever a team scored 400 plus score, it meant that it cannot lose. Even the West Indies with all the bowling might at their disposal, subscribed to this belief. Since India was bowled out early on second day,West Indies had enough time to bat rapidly, reach close to India and then make them bat again. India would or would not have capitulated but surprisingly, no one believed this is a possibility worth exploring. West Indies batted sedately, scored 360 odd runs and allowed India to escape. I say so because after what I saw in the first test, I believed Marshall and company could have blown India out anytime. In the end, it was a comfortable draw. Vengsarkar, with 159 and 60 plus scores,was the man of the match, a performance that probably made him my favorite player for the rest of the decade. I learnt that there is someone else besides Gavaskar and Kapil Dev who is good enough to battle the West Indies.

Now honestly, there were other good players. Like Sandeep Patil, Viswanath and Mohinder Amarnath. But I was a budding cricketophile and did not know them. After many years, I realized that I had missed Viswanath completely and Sandeep Patil too, who though played for some years but couldn’t do much and faded away.

India’s batting was all over the place but my brother was never severe on Mohinder Amarnath in his criticism so I thought he must be a good player. After his twin ducks at Kanpur test, I was left confused when my brother told me that Amarnath was a good player of fast bowling. He failed to score in Delhi too. We already used to laugh at Amarnath’s military medium bowling when he appeared to be talking to himself and now his failures gave us one more reason to laugh at him.

Now this out of context but at least 2 years later, I realized who was the real Mohinder Amarnath. I will recall that later.

On the first day of the next test in Ahmadabad, West Indies were 50 for 3 with openers and Viv Richards gone. As fans, we were thrilled but Clive Lloyd, the captain and the lower order took them to 281. In India’s first innings, Gavaskar scored 90 but India folded after him. India’s first wicket had fallen at 127 so we were hoping for some lead but the middle order,without Vengsarkar who was not playing, fell away as usual.

After India fell forty runs behind, Kapil Dev showed his greatness as a bowler. He rattled West Indies severely, who were at a stage seven down for some 100 odd runs. God knows how Balwinder Sandhu claimed Desmond Haynes’ wicket otherwise all seven wickets would have gone to Kapil. He later ended up at nine wickets in the innings. I was now convinced that Kapil Dev was a great player. Full stop. But I still did not know about 175!

West Indies lower order again tallied hard to reach 200 and India were set a tricky 241 to level the series.

I went to school next day in anticipation that India might win the test. Some boys spread the rumors that Gavaskar had scored a century. When I returned from the school, India had sadly folded for 100 and lost by 138 runs. I remember the number because I saw cartoon which said-“India lost by 138 runs, here is what Kapil Dev has to say: It didn’t rain a single day.” He claimed nine wickets in the innings, still people complained.

Dilip Vengsarkar’s stature was lifted to the same height as Gavaskar when he knocked out a fast, even 100 at Mumbai in the next test. India again scored more than 450 and were safe as per standards of those days. West Indies got close but were led once more. I remember Desmond Haynes was given handled the ball when he brushed aside a Kapil Dev delivery after tapping it. Richards finally scored runs. In India’s second innings Vengsarkar did not bat and Gavaskar was out cheaply but Ashok Malhotra, whose square cut was compared to Vishwanath’s, Ravi Shastri, Roger Binny and Madan Lal saved India. Actual saving was done by the mindset of teams in those days, which was- how can we defeat a team which has scored 450 runs in the first innings? God knows what Kapil Dev thought but he gave a target of 244 runs in 51 overs (this I checked with the scorecard) to the West Indies, who surprisingly crawled their way to 104 runs- with Richards striking form, this was unimaginable. Probably Clive Lloyd was playing safe or he didn’t have the same intensity to crush India as he had for Australia or England. West Indies did not even try to get close to the target. 104 in 51 overs against India’s bowling! A matter of shame!

In the next test, Indian batting again faltered. This time Kapil Dev batted well for an innings of 70. But the match gave me a realization that West Indies though were mighty but were not infallible. In reply to India’s 214, they were 88 for five and then 8 for some 200 runs. From this point, they managed an innings victory. Clive Lloyd kept batting and was finally left not out at 161. Years later, after replaying the matches in my mind, I realized that the West Indies were not only strong but also had a knack of finding their way out of holes by incredible performances.

After Lloyd’s epic, Marshall blew away India for 90, thereby again increasing the gap between the teams.

In the last test in Madras (now Chennai), fortunately for India the first day was washed out. West Indies batted first and late on the third day, India got their chance. Gavaskar did not open but scored the first run because Gaekwad and Vengsarkar were out without scoring. For the next two days, he batted and batted in company with Shastri and soon everyone, including the West Indies, agreed that the only interest in the match was the record breaking thirtieth hundred by Gavaskar. I recall that when he was on 70, a caption (more a card board on Indian national channel) appeared saying that just 30 runs are required to break Sir Don Bradman’s record. When I think now, the record was a noteworthy and though the world had seen some great batsmen since Sir Don, but nobody came close to scoring so many hundreds. I had not read all his exploits yet, but I sensed Sunil Gavaskar was peerless.

He ended up at 236 not out and was showered with gifts and a car. Though India lost 3-0, the series ended on a happy note for everyone. West Indies wanted revenge (not crushing revenge) and India wanted Sir Don Bradman’s record. Both got what they wanted.

A note on this series now:

This series is perhaps the most significant India series for a touring team. Though the final score line was 3-0, it was mainly because India did not have a world class spinner in the middle of his career. In a way, West Indies batsmen were lucky that they had to content with only Kapil Dev. Prior to this series, was the era of the famous spin quartet and after this came a decade when Indian spin attack- Maninder Singh, Sivaramkrishnan and Arshad Ayyub did the duties of twirling- was the least threatening. These spinners were admirable but as records would show, India hardly won until 1993, when Anil Kumble arrived. If there was an established spinner alongside Kapil Dev, India would have at least leveled the series against the West Indies. In three of the tests, India took first innings lead while twice West Indies were in danger of bowled out for 150 or less. Unsurprisingly, India lost three tests at home for the last time in their history.

As I see that series from a distance, could anyone would have predicted that this was the last time India would lose a test series to West Indies at home? India would lose just five test series at home in the next 35 years!

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