March 10th
2021 :: “ GOLDEN ” Jubilee Of India’s “ FIRST ” Test Victory Over West-Indies
One does not knows how to describe the time and when I talk
about the time, I find it very hard to describe the FIFTY YEARS that has passed
by and the date that comes to my mind many a other date’s is March 10th,
1971.
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Article titled " " Duranni Trophy " March 14th 1972….. March 14th 2021 :: THE WIN THAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE CHANGE OF THE FACE OF INDIAN CRICKET Golden Jubilee Of Central Zone Infamous Duleep Trophy Win " has been inserted here on March 14th 2021 for the raeders to read it and PLEASE read the article it makes an interesting reading
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" TODAY ON MARCH 10TH 2021, INDIAN CRICKET HAS COMPLETED IT'S FIFTY YEARS OF ITS VICTORY OVER THE WEST - INDIES " .
No sooner that I remember this time , or that time, I just
say to myself WHY IS THAT THE TIME CANNOT
REMAIN STATIC AT ONE PLACE. WHY HAS IT TO GO AND LEAVE US BEHIND. FOR THE TIMES
ARE NEVER TO BE GOT BACK BUT THEN WHY IS THAT THE TIME CANNOT REMAIN WITH US
FOR ALL THE TIME .
“ FOR THAT IS THE MYSTERY OF TIME ”
First let me jot a POEM about TIME which William Shakespeare
had wriiten many a years ago and this is the poem-:
“ Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s
jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood ” …
So begins the sonnet which follows the far more famous ‘Shall I
compare thee to a summer’s day?’ in Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence, which is
also about a young man or ‘Fair Youth’. Shakespeare considers how time (or
‘Time’) destroys both the mighty and the mild, the strong and the gentle.
Shakespeare tells Time to do as it wants – but he urges it not
to commit one particularly ‘heinous crime’: Shakespeare asks Time to refrain
from carving the Fair Youth’s brow with its ‘hours’: i.e. not to let the young
man’s youthful features give way to wrinkles and other signs of age. But then
there comes a twist in the poem’s final couplet…
When I fall back
to these few lines that Shakespeare has written I understand that “ TIME” is
the ……..“ WORST” traitor for it does not actually belongs to anybody. That is why it keeps on flying leaving back
the others…..
From the literature, now, back to the literature of Indian
cricket . This date, MARCH 10th, 1971 and now March 10th
2021….. FIFTY YEARS…… I was then 11years and 281 days to be exact , when this
happened.
Pic - :: Mr Manohar Gavaskar welcomes Sunil Gavaskar at the Airport after the team's arrival
Unusual and Unlikely-:: On that day of March 10TH 1971
WHY that date of 1971
so very unusual and so very uncommon, never to be BELIEVED in the annals of
Indian cricket then, the MIGHT AND THE HIEGHT OF THE GAINT OF
WEST-INDIES CRICKET WAS JACKED, SCREWED AND TIGHTENED
TO BE AT PLACE BY THE INDIAN CRICKET TO CARVE IT’S FIRST EVER VICTORY OVER
WEST-INDIES.
In an manner that was not to be believed by any Indians for
many a days even after reading all the newspapers then, the Indian cricket team
on the day as mentioned here just before the lunch through a ondrive boundary of Aurther Barret’s
Googly by Sunil Gavaskar ended the match by India winning it by SEVEN wickets
with Sunil Gavaskar remaining unbeaten on 67 and Syed Abid Ali on 21 , to carve
that win.
This was the most unexpected of every writings that Indian
and her cricket could write it for herself and on any book that sold like
anything when those tales were narrated in the books then. Never could the
World believe that a West – Indian Test team consisting of Roy Fredricks, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Charlie Davis, Gary Sobers, lance Gibbs , Keith Boyce, Vanburn
Holder and Utton Dowe would be beaten by India by seven wickets. That actually
had happened on that day and that is what is the HISTORY that sees it’s
FIFTIETH YEARS as on date.
Pic - :: U Tube Of The Welcome and felicitation Of The Team After It's Return at Bombay
Time kills many and the time has taken away Ajit Wadekar,
Dilip Sardesai , Eknath Solkar, Pochiah Krishnamurty, Ashok Mankad, the
PENTAGON of that side today when I write that and this story. Five members that
are no more alive today had to do and contribute a lot for India in that Test
match and the CAPTAIN of them all Ajit Wadekar who took a BOLD decision to
field Sunil Gavaskar and play Dileep Sardesai for that entire tour is really
missed.
Some interesting
facts about that match and about that tour
Instead of being a FICTION writer to add many and many pages
describing all about that infamous Test and it’s victory , I shall write and
try to write in as much short as possible.
This was a Test where the West-Indians were bowled out for
214 runs in their first innings. Erapalli Prasanna had a figure of -:
|
19.5 |
3 |
54 |
4 |
2.72 |
It was here that a
coot by the name of Sunil Gavaskar BOWLED his FIRST ever OVER in a Test match
and his analysis read as-:
|
1 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
9.00 |
IF GUNDAPPA VISHVANATH WAS NOT INJURED, HIS THUMB IF WAS NOT
OPERATED AT NEW YORK ENROUTE INDIA FLYING TO WEST – INDIES, INDIA AND SUNIL
GAVASKAR WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN EACH OTHER’S PARTNER FOR THIS TEST AT ALL.
This team while leaving for the Carribean Island, saw
Vishvanath being hit very badly at the nets at Bombay, then, on the thumb by a
very fast delivery from Govindraj. The thumb was swollen but it did not carry
any puss at all for anybody to feel that his thum would require any operation.
However when thee team boarded the plane, the problem started . Vishvanath was
full of pain and his thum kept on swelling and adding a lot of puss in it.
On the flight Vishvanath reported all about his problem to
the flight attendant and they cut a lime, put some LIME ( CHOONA) on it, and
applied to his thum for the pain to subside but when the team reached at New
York to change the flight to board it for the Carribean, Vishvanath could not
hold his tears as the pain was so terrible. The thumb not only sweeled like a
POTATO but the Doctors at the Irport advised the Indian team to halt Vishvanath
at New York as with that a kind of a physical ailment it would not be possible
for the flight to carry him to the Carribean Island. Vishvanath under the care
of the Airport authority at New York was carried to a hospital where a
MINI-OPERATION was carried on his thumb and then he was allowed to alight the next
flight for Carribean.
With Vishvanath not available Gavaskar was the one who was
allowed to play a few matches before the First test that took place at Jamaica
then, and with the other two Indian opener failing in that Test, and Vishvanath not being able to play any
games till then because of the healing process of the thum, it was this LITTLE
MASTER who was inducted at the Indian team for the Second Test. This is HOW
Sunil manohar Gavaskar made his way THROUGH the LUCK that kept Vishvanath away
from the team and paved the way for this LITTLE MASTER to play in that
SIGNIFICANT Test that india won and in which he
scored a 65 and an unbeaten 67.
Pics - : Dilip Sardesai drives Jackie Noreiga through the covers during his knock of 112
As described earlier, India wrapped West-Indies for 214 and when their turn came into bat, India were all aout for 352 taking a lead of 138 runs with Dilip Sardesai scoring 112, Solkar contributing 55, Ashok Mankad, a , 44, Gavaskar a 65 and Abid Ali a 20 . Sardesia and Solkar had a partnership worth 114 runs which went a long way for India to gain that huge lead in the First innings. For the Windies Jackie Noreiga had this bowling figure-:
|
49.4 |
16 |
95 |
9 |
1.91 |
INDIAN TEAM
ABSOLUTELY FREEZED - :
The Indian team by the end of the day when the Windies
scoreboard read as 150 for one was FREEZED.It was simply that the players were
NOT in a position to even talk to each other . A tremendous batting of the Windies was to come. Waiting in
that order were Rohan kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Gary Sobers, and Micheal Findlay and
each had the CAPACITY to score a double hundred at any time. Simply the indian
team went to the doors of the DEATH by then in their thinking and their
approach thereafter to the game.
Salim Durrani
Takes A Vow-:
There were THREE member of that team who had visited the
Carribean in 1962 where Nari Contractor was hit on the head by Charlie
Griffith. Those were M.L.Jaisimha, Salim Durrani and Dilip Sardesai . During
those days there was no TV to spend the time with. So this Indian team during
that time would all gather in a room and they would pass their time singing
Gazal, or the songs of the films be it in Hindi or the regional songs of the
regional film.
On that vey day NONE of the Indian team member assembled at
the common place for passing their time. Only ONE, Salim Durrani came in at the
place to find that THERE WAS NOBODY THERE FOR THE GATHERING.
He went individually
to all the players at their room and said them- AAO , but nobody again came
back to the common place . What was the matter evaluated Durrani and again he
went to every room saying them- AAO, BAITHHEY HAIN. SOBERS KOH MAI DUGGEY (
ZERO ) PAR UKHAAD PHEKOONGAA . AAO.
This means COME- I will get Sobers out for ZERO, DO NOT
WORRY, COME, let us enjoy. “ DUGGA ” is a TETH ( TERRIFIC ) JAMNAGRI WORD in cricket that came to Indian
cricket and this word was discovered by the late Lodha Amar Singh who is ONE of
the FIVE –BEST-ALLROUNDER in the annals of Indian cricket. This word became a TAQIYA
– KALAM for Vinnoo Mankad. Taquiya Kalam means the NATURAL used
common word written easily to describe
any sentence or words for the other to know the meaning of the same easily.
Atlast when the Indian team assembled in that common place
it was Durrani who sang a ghazal to regale the entire Indian team. The Ghazal was-:
NAA NABZS JAANI, NA SITAMBH PEHCHANA….
This was a famous Gazal which was sung by the GREAT
NOORJEHAN before she migrated to Pakistan and this Gazal actually was the HEART
THROB of the Muslims that resided either here or at Pakistan.The meaning
was NIETHER COULD I GUAGE THE CONDITION
OF MY BODY NOR COULD I ANALYSE THE DEATH LIKE DANGER LOOMING OVER…….
After all these moment it was Wadekar who fell back to Durrani saying him- EVERY THING IS NOT A JOKE and Durrani replied AJIT ISKA DANDA
MAI ISSAY PEHLE TEEN-TEEN BAAR DUGGAY MAI UKHAAD CHUKA HOON which means Ajit, I
have BROKEN his stump for ZERO , THRICE. He was referring to Gary Sobers and
his success against him. Adding further he remarked- KAL GAIND DE DENA AUR PHIR
SO LENA which means tomorrow give me the ball and go off to rest in every
manner.
March 9th
1971 - :: It Is SOLKAR , IT WAS “ DURRANNI ”
The day saw Eknath Solkar doing what nobody saw it doing.
Roy Fredricks had hit a ball very hard of Prasanna which Prasanna stopped it on
his follow trough but it damaged his finger to start the day’s play.
Immediately afterwards it was Fredricks who pulled a ball of
Bedi to the covers , and Solkar like a
leopard flinched on the ball to stop it one handed and grap it.In one action he
send a throw at the non-striker end where Bedi collected the ball and ran
Fredricks out for 80, his overnight score. This set the TEMPO and the ball
rolling .
Prasanna actually was finding the pain too hard to resist
but he kept on bowling.Finding it very hard to grip the ball and his condition
becoming bad with the passing moment, Wadekar removed him and brought in
Venkat. The pitch was such that Durrani did not want Prasanna to go.He infact
ws adivising Prasanna about how to bowl and in that course of time a PATCH got
developed on the leg side .It slowly became a “ ROUGH ” , which in criceting parlance means a CRACK
was developed on that spot .Duranni saw it . He started griming that give me
the ball and I would finish them off. However wadekar was not to see and to
understand all that.
Jaisimha and
Durrani signal each other and Jaisimha signals Wadekar to introduce Durrani.
Pic - : Durrani snapped at West - Indies on March 9th 1971 after quelling Sobers and Lloyd
It was Durrani who signaled to Jaisimha in the pavilion to
signal Wadekar to bring him. Durrani was
an expert to bowl on those kind of a surface .Infact he and his analysis -:
43 – 6 -36 -6 with an economy of 0.85
runs per over IS - THE - MOST-
BEST AND – MOST – ECONOMICAL- BOWLING – ANALYSIS ever in the entire game of CRICKET and his
HISTORY. He has this analysis against the South Zone in 1971 in the Duleep
trophy semis . That was at the Lal Bahadur Stadium and that pitch and the
condition of this pitch at the Port-Of-Spain was similar and he very badly
wanted to bowl. He was sending his body signal to Wadekar who was unnerved and
was not putting his head to what Duranni was saying through his body language.
It was Dilip sardesai who went to him and requested him to bring Durrani but
Wadekar would not respond . At last Jaisimha and his action from the pavilion brought
in Durrani.
Durrani moved Wadekar to the backward of the Square leg for
Clive Llyod but he would leave the position of the forward short leg when
Sobers came to face him, to allow Sobers to drive. Gary Sobers had a BEAUTIFUL
habit and that would DIG the bowlers
bowling at him. Sobers to make the bowler feel that he is completely under his
grip and trap would play the FALSE STROKE without touching the ball but leaving
it to the wicket keeper .That he did it against Dennis Lille also while scoring
that 254 for the world XI against Australia. He would sell a WRONG NOTION by
that manner to the bowlers facing him.
This Durrani had noted it in 1962 and he always got the ball
to whiz past Sobers through that region in 1962 after Sobers would play that a
shot.The gap between his body and the bat would be in the size of a small
tomato and Durrani would send the deliveries , pushing them in an manner which
would beat Sobers and on three occasion he bowled Sobers through that gate.
This time around there was that ROUGH that had developed. Durrani was very
confident that he would be able to get
that turn from that spot in a very acute angle for the ball to rear up, touch
the inner blade of Sobers bat and carry to Krisnamoorthy behind the stump.
At last Wadekar heeded to the request of the Indian players
and brought in Duranni. After bowling one complete over to both the batsman
Clive Lloyd and Sobers, Lloyd hit some cannon firing shots agaist Bedi to reach 15 . Sobers was still to open his
account . Came in Duranni for his third over. In his two overs he gave away
only two runs, both of it to Lloyd.
The Delivery Bowled By Durrani Through The Hands Of The " God " - :
Durrani again kept that entire area of the forward short leg
OPEN for Sobers to try out that FALSE SHOT. He bowled the first which Sobers
did play that FALSE SHOT. Duranni could observe the gap that Sobers would leave
while playing that sot.It was even less that the size of a potato while he
played that shot.
He judged the gap that Sobers would leave between the bat
and the pad while playing that shot, he gauged exactly where the ROUGH was, he
saw the CRACK on that ROUGH and he gauzed the distanvce between the ROGH and
the wicket .The next one was a FASTER one which Sobers played it with a dead
defensive bats. Now CAME that moment.
The THIRD delivery that Duranni was to bowl, he asked
Wadekar to get a bit back and a bit square as he wanted Sobers to play a flich
of the back foot.That is what he had planned to bowl to Sobers. He bowled a
delivery, his THIRD , which was a FASTER one like Chandra who would
bowl them at will. However the ball even if it was a FASTER one, it flew in the
AIR to SWERVE TWICE , INSIDE first and IMMEDIATELY out the enxt, and again it
turned fast in, to hit that ROUGHT.
The FLIGHT, the CURL , in and out so rapid and so fact and the DIP which pitched exactly on the ROUGH made the ball to jump and rear to Sobers. HE WAS CONFUSED AND LOST. Sobers leaving NO-GAP between his bat and the pad, presented a DEAD BAT and the ball , the pitch , the speed that it carried, it beat Sobers and the rear that it got, as Durrani wanted, it hit the inner edge very MICROSCOPICALLY , to just flick the top of the bail, just like a CARROM – PLAYER flicks the striking element while playing carrom, known as STRIKER that hits the coin of the carom board game, and it dislodged the bail in an manner that the ball and the bail flew to Krishnamurthy who held both the BAIL and the BALL to mark the end of Sobers. It was 152 for three
The West - Indies newspapers on the next day in all the part of Caribbeans from where the newspapers were circulated described this DELIVERY and that ball which Duranni bowled as- :
The Delivery Bowled By Durrani Through The Hands Of The " God " . This delivery is still termed as the MOST MAGICAL and the EVER-BEST in terms of a single delivery bowled by any Indian bowler in terms of a single delivery bowled by any Indian bowler in Test Cricket .
. Llyod was
on 15 then. His small knock of about 17 runs was a CAMEO, and the Indian camp wqas full in awe of him as well as a fear had loomed large with the three boundaries that he hit but as explained as above, Durrani dug him well by culling his wing.
Lloyd after that was consumed by Wadekar when Duranni
induced him to pull a shot which he did.The ball was flying like a rocket but Wadekar,
the man who was such a brilliant fielder that he gauzed the speed of the ball
and it’s flight in the air that it was travelling with, put himself to a
position angling his body in such a manner that the ball , when he caught it,
was like a leach stuck to his hand, never to come out of the same.
Pic - :: Lloyd played some crashing shot before he departed .Here he sweeps Venkat to the legside
From 150 for 1, it was 150 for 2, then 152 for 3, and now it
was 167 for 4.The West Indians were rolled for 261 with Charlie Davis unbeaten
with a well scored 74. He was unbeaten with 71 in the first innings as well.
His batting average in this match was 145 . 00 which was 13 more than gavaskar
whose batting average in this match was 132.
Venkat then it was who cleaned the entire West-Indies
batting with an analysis of
|
36 |
11 |
95 |
5 |
2.64 |
And Salim Durrani had
a bowling analysis of
|
17 |
8 |
21 |
2 |
1.24 |
His economy rate was 1.24 runs per over .He completely had
bottled the west-Indians from one end and he kept his word for getting Sobers
out for a BLOB .In his
entire career of 75 Test wickets, Durrani got out Sobers for FIVE times
for those 75 Wickets and on FOUR occasion he got him out
for a BLOB. This was ther LAST of all the occasion .
Pic - : Gary Sobers Congratulates Abid Ali and Gavaskar watches after India won that Test Match
Needing 124 for a win, India started well to score 74 before
mankad was out. Thereafter three more wickets fell within the score of 74 to 84
and then it was Abid Ali and Gavaskar who added the necessary 41 runs that were
required for the victory before Gavaskar hit that winning run, a ondrive of a
Googly from Aurther Barret to give India her first ever win against the
West-Indies and from there India played all the Test to end it on a keen and a
keel pattern to win that series by 1-0.
FIFTY YEARS HAVE
PASSED BY -:
It is exactly
fifty years today that India had earmarked and inscribed that Test victory
It was Sunil Gavaskar who making his Test debut in that
series scored a 65 in the First and a unbeaten 67 in the second. His other
scores in this series were a 116 and unbeaten 64, 1 and unbeaten 117, and 124
and 220 runs in that order in that series.
HE HAD AMMASSED “ 774 ” RUNS
WITH AN AVERAGE OF 154.80 IN THAT SERIES.
This 774 runs in a single Test series stands as the HIGHEST
number of runs scored by any Indian cricketer in a debut Test series. His FOUR
centuries in FOUR Test that he played stands as the RECORD for centuries scored
in all the Test match in a single series
by any Indian and by any opener in the world.
SOME INTERESTING
FACT ABOUT THIS INDIAN TEST TEAM - ::
1). This was the FIRST series after 1962 when Nawab of Pataudi
took the captaincy of India, in which Pataudi declined to tour because of the
interference of politics in his kingdom at Pataudi at Haryana and Bhopal. That
made him to contest the election in 1972 against Bansilal who later became the
Chief Minister of Haryana.
2). Ajit Wadekar was chosen by the CASTING VOTE of Vijay
Merchant to lead India for this tour as Captain. That vote defeated Chandu
Borde and immediately he withdrew himself to play for india on that tour. This
is how Ajit Wadekar became the captin of that tour for India.
3). Dilip Sardesai was initially NOT selected for this tour
. During those days the Captain had the PRIVELEGE of asking for ONLY-ONE player
of his choice for the tour. Wadekar asked and FOUGHT for Sardesai who scored a
642 runs in that series with THREE centuries which included ONE as a DOUBLE to win that series for india.
4). During that tour, the First test at Jamaica was played
for FOUR days. India had scored over 380 runs with Sardesai scoring 212, Solkar
a 65 and Prasanna a 22 .When West-Indies were boweled out for 217, they were
asked to follow-on. That arose many many and many a discussion lest wadekar had
to bring a cricket rule book to lay it to Sobers saying that if a match is
played for FOUR days, then the limit of FOLLOW-ON gets reduced to 150 runs and
in that manner the West-Indies will have to follow on.
When the west-Indians started following on the next day
there was a HEADLINE in the Windies/Caribbean’s newspaper which read as-:
EARTHQUAKE HITS THE
CARRIBBEANS AS THEY ARE ASKED TO FOLLOW-ON BY INDIA.
5). Salim Duranni has again got Gary Sobers out for ZERO in
the first innings of the THIRD Test at George Town which was NOT given out by
the Umpire. This again send a strong wave in the entire Carribbeans. Aftyer the
match the Umpire who ruled Sobers not out- PLAINLY ADMIITED that -
IF I HAD RULED SOBERS OUT THEN
HIS ENTIRE CAREER WOULD HAVE ENDED AND
THAT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AT ALL GOOD FOR THE WEST – INDIES.
Because of it Duranni who never got going at the West Indies
then was dropped for the English tour therefafter and he had to miss SIX Test
matches, only to come back and BANG
those sixes against the English bowlers in that HAT-TRICK series to help India
to win that series.
5). That series in the third Test match saw Gundappa
Vishvanath and Sunil gavaskar scoring a 116 runs partnership and they once
again raised a 99 runs partnership in the final Test for India which went a
long way to help India to win that series. This combination of Indian batting
was termed as the “ S-G ” BAT of
India. A few years from then, the SG ( Sanpariel Greenfield) bat came into the business of making the bats
for the Test matches for India.
6 ). A FRACUS That Hit The Last test
The last Test of that series was played at the Port-Of-Spain
where India had beaten the West-Indies by seven wickets . Indians were NOT told
that the last Test would be played for SIX days. This the West-Indians did it to somehow save the series at any cost. They
had planned a win somehow for the last Test.
Pic-: A Fifty Years old photo, Gavaskar completes his double century at Carribean, Jaisimha moves forward to greets him , Sobers is sen acknowledging the feat
After the end of
the fifth day, Indians were rejoicing to have beaten the West-indies but they
were in for a RUDE shock . The Indians were told that this match was to
be played for SIX days. It was something just like a BOLT hitting the Indians
below the belt. Many arguments and counter arguments took place and at last the
Indian team decide to play the SIXTH day.
Pic - :: Dilip Sardesai leg glances Lance Gibbs enroute his 212 in the First Test at Jamaica, 1971
Before that the Indian camp , thinking that this match was
to be played for only FIVE days, became
too complacent and they lost two wickets in that mood. Ajit Wadekar after
reaching to his FIRST FIFTY of that tour threw away his wicket and so did Dilip
Sardesai. To play out the last and the sixth day India had only Vishvanath,
Solkar and Abid Ali to bat on.
Dilip Sardesai's wicket was then the FOCAL POINT of India's banging their heads against the wall . Had theIndians were told on the first day of this Test, that this Test would be played for SIX days, India would have played ONE EXTRA Allrounder and in that case either Prasanna or Bedi, and in all the circumstances, Prasanna would not have played this Test and his place would have been taken by Duranni to bolster the Indian batting line up .But the lack of information and communication put India in a hot soup and in a position from where the West-Indians were looking with HOPE to equalise this series. At thee close of the day's play then Gavaskar and Vishvanath were batting at the crease with Gavaskar on 180 and Vishvanath on 3 .
Wadekar ORDERED Vishvanath to STICK on the wicket and help Gavaskar to KILL the time. They did that in a spectacular manner. This pair
added 99 runs in 181 minutes killing THREE hours and Vishvanath got out for 39.
Thereafter Venkat , Solkar and Jaisimha,
helped Gavaskar to cross 200 , his FIRST of the FOUR Test double hundred that
he hit. They scored 39 ( Vishvanath) , 23( Jaisimha ) , 14( Solkar ) and 24( Venkat ) in that order. This 100 runs contributed by the Indian batsman as mentioned above , actually it was which really made the Windies to chew the iron rather than the cashew and the nuts which could have been so easier to them to wrap the Test match, ofcourse it was Gavaskar who made the things so very hard for them through that knock of 220 .
Pic - :: A FIFTY YEARS OLD photo, Vishvanath And Gavaskar sharing the moment of that series victory and their " 99 " runs partnership .
The West – Indian in their second knock attacked India in a
whirwind manner to get those 261 runs required for that victory but when Abid
Ali BOWLED Sobers for a duck the Windies threw the spanner to play safe and end
the day with 168 for 8. Had another 30 minutes been there INSTEAD, the
West-Indians would have RUED their DECISION to play that match for SIX days.
“ THIS WAS THE ENTIRE “ EPOCH ” THAT WAS ALL ABOUT THE 1971 VICTORY
SOJOURN OF INDIAN CRICKET TO THE CARRIBBEANS WITH AJIT WADEKAR COMING BACK WITH
THAT UNEXPECTED AND UNBELIEVABLE RETURN ” .
The INVESTMENT on Solkar, Gavaskar, Vishvanath was such that
the RETURNS OF INVESTMENT started coming to the Indian cricket and the wins of
the 1983 World Cup, the 1985 Champions Trophy were the PROOF of the same.
In between from 1971 to 1981 when India bowled out Australia
for 86 to win that match by 57 runs, India had by then won NINE Test match at
ABROAD which also included a 400 runs chase to win that match in the last
innings . Gavaskar ( 102 ) and Vishvanath ( 112) helped India to do that
That was the LAST time when Jaisimha played for India .
Duranni was dropped after this Test eries only to come back and score a 243
runs in the HAT-TRICK series win for India helping India to win that Series by
2-1 and Dileep Sardesai played one more Test after the England sojourn in
1972-73 to finally bid ADIEU to test cricket.
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi came back to Test cricket after the
England win by India at England in the Madras Test to score a 73 and an
unbeaten 14 to steer India for a 2-1 win and to help them win that series by
2-1 to bid goodbye to cricket after the 1974-75 West-Indies tour to India.
The time, that series of 1948 against the Indian team , here
at India made the West-Indies the KING-TO-COME with the THREE “ W’s ” ( Week,
Walcott and Worrel ) and this series against them gave the THREE “
S’s ” ( Sardesai, Solkar Sunil ) to Indian cricket .Then the
West-Indies had won 1-0 and on this
occasion the Indian team had won by 1-0.
In that series Ecerton Weeks had scored FOUR Test Hundreds
in four consecutive Test and in this
series India with Sunil Gavaskar had scored Four centuries in four consecutive
series.
7 ) .The " GAVASKAR'S OPENING " Partner XI -::
Pic -::Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan return to pavilion for tea after adding a 100 runs for the 1st Wicket against West - Indies in 1978 at New Delhi
1). Ashok Mankad 2). Ramnath Parkar, 3). Chetan Chauhan 4).
Farokh Engineer 5). Eknath Solkar, 6 ). Sudhir Naik, 7). Anshuman Gaekwad, 8).
Arunlal, 9). Krishnamachari Srikkanth, 10). Gulam Parkar and 11). Dilip
Vengsarkar .
Gavaskar and Roger Binny had opened for India in the Golden
Jubilee Test match but I'm NOT taking that into account because they opened
ONLY for ONE Test match and these players that I have named have opened with
Gavaskar for atleast TWO Test matches or more.
Incidentally Sunil Gavaskar batted at number fourth position for
all the tour then against Sri-Lanka in 1985 when India had lost that series by
1-0 against the Arjuna Ranatunga led team where their bowler Romesh Ratnayake
had claimed 21 wickets and P.Saliya Ahangama had claimed 16 .
In that tour Lalchand Rajput was opening for India and Gavaskar
did not open with him else it would have ben the DIRTY DOZEN OPENING PAIR for
Gavaskar the GREAT SUNIL of India.
Sunil Gavaskar also had opened with Gopal Bose in the Unofficial
Test Tour of Ceylon, then , now Sri-Lanka in 1974 and he as well as Gopal Bose
had added 193 runs for the first wicket in an Unofficial match then with Gopal
Bose scoring a 104 runs, then.
These are the TWO exceptions and I'm not takin the
Binny-Gavaskar opening pair for the reason stated above or else Gavaskar had
opened with as many as 12 openers with him as his opening partner.
Of these Chetan Chauhan had partnered Gavaskar, the GREAT SUNIL
for 12 times for a century partnership and for 10 times , out of those twelve,
Gavaskar scored a HUNDRED of which TWO were DOUBLE HUNDRED.
The TWO occasion where he shared a 100 plus for the opening with
Chauhan and not scoring a 100 was against Pakistan in the 1978 Lahore Test
where after adding 193 for the first wicket he got out for 97 ( BE-IMAANI )
that the Pakistani did to get him out and the other was for that incident where
he lost hos cool against the Australian when Dennis Lillee got him out L.B.W
after they had added 165 for the first wicket .
This is all about that GREAT who scored 10,122 runs in Test
cricket breaking Donald Bradman's record of 29 Test centuries and the FIRST
Indian cricketer to play in 100 Test matches beside playing 100 Test
consecutive matches .
plus for the opening with Chauhan and not scoring a 100 was
against Pakistan in the 1978 Lahore Test where after adding 193 for the first
wicket he got out for 97 ( BE-IMAANI ) that the Pakistani did to get him out
and the other was for that incident where he lost hos cool against the
Australian when Dennis Lillee got him out L.B.W after they had added 165 for
the first wicket .
This is all about that GREAT who scored 10,122 runs in Test
cricket breaking Donald Bradman's record of 29 Test centuries and the FIRST
Indian cricketer to play in 100 Test matches beside playing 100 Test
consecutive matches .
March 10th and it's importance in Sunil Gavaskar's life - :
This date is important in Sunil Gavaskar's life .It is this date that he won the First ever Test match for him and India in his Test career .
His son Rohan Jaivishva Was born on March 10th 1976 when he was on a dual tour of West - Indies and New Zealand then.
He won the World Cricket Championship again on this date on March 1985 where India had defeated Pakistan by seven wickets. He led the Indian cricket then.
Well , that is it and That sums it all.
Regards and Thanks
Pics
Shyamal Bhattacharjee
Mr Shyamal Bhattacharjee, the author was born at West Chirimiri Colliery at District Surguja, Chattisgarh on July 6th 1959 He received his early education at Carmel Convent School Bishrampur and later at Christ Church Boys' Higher Secondary School at Jabalpur. He later joined Hislop College at Nagpur and completed his graduation in Science and he also added a degree in B A thereafter. He joined the HITAVADA, a leading dailies of Central India at Nagpur as a Sub-Editor ( Sports ) but gave up to complete his MBA in 1984 He thereafter added a Diploma In Export Management. He has authored THREE books namely Notable Quotes and Noble Thought published by Pustak Mahal in 2001 Indian Cricket : Faces That Changed It published by Manas Publications in 2009 and Essential Of Office Management published by NBCA, Kolkatta in 2012. He has a experience of about 35 years in Marketing .
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