The world of cricket was going on around me but for the moment I was only concerned with Indian cricket. As a basic level fan, I had learnt the names of all the Indian and West Indian Players but was yet to know about players from other countries. I had no inkling about the ongoing Australia-Pakistan series down under or what series were coming up next. For once, there was no source besides my brother, and remember we were school going kids not research scholars. I knew of course that only 7 nations play test cricket.
In September 1984, Australia came to India to play ODIs. I wondered at the relative ease with which they defeated India in three games. Two were rained off. Now I was more and more convinced about India’s victory in the world cup was a fluke as I had not seen India winning any of the ODIs since June 1983.
One of the games in this series was played in floodlights at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium- a stadium meant for track and field events. That was possibly first or second day-night match in India as I recall. There was an exhibition match Indian played against Pakistan under floodlights which Kirti Azad won for India by scoring 77 runs at a rapid pace- the only significant act in his otherwise undistinguished international career.
Australian team had players unknown to me. Kim Hughes was the captain and Kepler Wessels was the opening batsman and was still playing for Australia. He even scored a hundred in one of the matches. One of the fast bowlers, Carl Rackemann was big, looked very fast and terrifying.
After that dismal series, I got the feeling that Indian cricket was all about scoring runs in drawn matches which added to the records. Indian bowling had no penetration whatsoever. Winning either did not matter to them or was too much to aspire.
The calendar used to be thin anyway in those days and my next memory is India’s tour of Pakistan in Oct 1984 where the first test was saved by Mohinder Amaranth’s heroics on the last day. I was now amazed at this player who had scored 1 run in six innings a year ago. My brother told me that Mohinder Amaranth had scored many fearless runs in West Indies and Pakistan in previous away series but since I had no means of looking at scorecards or of watching videos, I could never imagine either his courageous hooks against hostile fast bowling or his dour survival batting. I remember his determined face when he and Kapil dev walked back after drawing the test. Kapil Dev clapped all the way while walking behind Amarnath.
In the next test, I got a taste of Faisalabad – a funeral parlor for the bowlers. India scored 500 plus in two days and then Pakistan batted and batted for three days, eventually ending on 650. Wickets would never fall. Though Chetan Sharma bowled Mohsin Khan early, but it was declared a no ball. We all believed that it was “declared”, it wasn’t a no ball in reality. Though there were no replays of the landing foot, we would never agree that it could be an actual no ball. After Mohsin Khan got run out, Kenyan born Qasim Umar came and batted alongside Mudassar Nazar for a day or two. Mudassar Nazar eventually got out at 199 – the first such score. Later, Qasim Omar scored a double hundred and made me thought that he was the greatest batsman. Their partnership was torturous, frustrating and endless. I wonder what I would have felt if I had seen Mudassar Nazar and Miandad’s partnership of 452 runs which the Indian team had endured two years earlier.
Well, the tour was cancelled when Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31st Oct. An ODI was going on that day in which Vengsarkar had scored 94 not out. The match was called off and the Indian team returned.
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