I was now looking for information on cricket in every magazine or newspaper, as if fueled by a determination to become an authority on the game. I found a Hindi magazine which published a stat-infested, juicy feature on 1000 test matches, which told me about Don Bradman’s average of 99.96 runs per innings, Jim Laker’s perfect ten wickets, Lillie’s record of most wickets, and Mudassar Nazar’s slowest century- in 556 minutes. The same magazine also published a feature on the four great all-rounders which introduced me to Sir Richard Hadlee and Sir Ian Botham, although I can say that I had not seen Imran Khan in action yet. Sometime later through the same magazine, I found about Indian team’s famous chase of 404 runs in Port of Spain in the 1975-76 series to beat the West Indies. The story confirmed Gundappa Vishwanath’s status on par with Sunil Gavaskar. Although the West Indian pace battery was not of so high voltage at that time, yet it was an outstanding achievement. The achievement which seemed insurmountable at that time has now been surpassed a couple of times.
I now knew the names of all the Indian players and was curious to know more and more. Sunil Gavaskar was back as Captain of the Indian team, but these things did not bother me. I was building my database, memorizing anecdotes, and looking forward to seeing more teams.
England team arrived in end October but had to go back because of the national mourning of 12 days. They came back and the test matches started. When I returned from school on the first day of the Bombay test, England were 190 for 8 and were soon bowled for 195 on the next day. Ravi Shastri scored a century and his partnership with Syed Kirmani, who also scored a hundred, gave India a lead of 270. I was left wondering about the quality of England bowlers, who were allowing no. 7 and 8 batsmen to score hundreds. Sir Ian Botham wasn’t playing, I was told.
In England’s second innings, Mike Gatting scored his long overdue maiden test hundred and he soon became a scourge for India. India won the Bombay test but later, Mike Gatting scored a Double hundred in Madras, and India lost the series.
That series is also memorable for Gavaskar and Kapil Dev’s faceoff. It started in Delhi test where Kapil Dev played an audacious, incongruous stroke and was dismissed. India later lost the test and Gavaskar- as it was surmised- forced Kapil Dev out to sit of the Kolkata test- Kapil Dev’s only missed test of his entire test career. I did not know how to view this. I was not sure about Kapil Dev’s stroke. Yes, he could have controlled his instincts for a while but then how can you drop him? Who was going to bowl? There was no other penetrative bowler. Later, the media at that time, published numerous pieces on conflicts within the Indian team. Newspapers and magazines were filled with caricatures and concocted debates between the factions within the Indian team.
Some Hindi magazines published long footage of Gavaskar Kapil Dev confrontation, which probably India’s crushed team spirit. India promptly lost the fourth test of the series at Madras, where England scored 650 and in the last test in Kanpur, England batted so slow that it sucked all the life out of the test. A bright spot was the young batsmen Mohammad Azharuddin, who scored a debut hundred in the rain affected third test at Calcutta, followed it up with a second innings hundred in Madras and then third one in Kanpur. On the first day of the Kanpur test, the English News on Doordarshan began the headlines as “Young Azharuddin has become the first player to score hundreds in his first three tests.”
I used to focus on Vengsarkar too- the quiet, handsome cricketer, who had a class of his own. He disappointed by scoring 20s and 30s in the series. My brother told me, “He is out of form.” Whatever that meant. So, I was happy when Vengsarkar scored a hundred in the last test at Kanpur.
Now in tests though India lost, they were not looking as weak as they were in the ODIs. England won the first three in a professional display. Vengsarkar scored his ODI century but was overshadowed by Mike Gatting. It was frustrating. Unknown players from county like Vic Marks were helping England win games against giants like Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. India finally won the fourth match of the series, a series going on a pattern of chasing team winning the match.
The last ODI was a 15 over affair. England scored 120. We were terrified- an average of 8! Shastri and Srikkanth started well but India came short by 7 runs and lost the series 4-1.
It was now perplexing for me to make of India’s victory in the World cup. It was really a fluke. The bowlers like Binny, Madan Lal, even Kapil Dev were not able to do anything. I was told that Binny took 18 wickets in the world cup- I refused to believe it. Then my brother offered an explanation – “he can swing well, that’s why he was successful in England.”
Another theory was that Indians play well abroad. In India, a lot of focus and media coverage is given, and the team spirit is spoiled by politics. Once abroad, not many fans from India watch them and thus India plays well. Believe this if you will!
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