Sunday Snippets
By Venkatesh Raghavan
This is about the recall of a home series India played against the West Indies after a fairly long period of inaction that followed a disastrous 3-0 drubbing at the hands of England.
There was a lot of anticipation in the air as Test cricket did not happen as frequently in the 1970s era. I remember this series in particular for two reasons. As school kids who had just come into the secondary section, there was lot of anticipatory chat about how India will fare against the might of the Windies.
One of my friends, who was a year senior to me said, India will borrow players like Wasim Raja and Asif Iqbal from Pakistan to combat the Windies. At that point, when my age had just touched double figures, I innocently queried my dad whether India borrows players from other countries. I was met with a good laugh. He then politely said – Every country is represented by its own players at the international level.
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When the first Test commenced in Bangalore, by the time, either side completed their first innings, the scores looked fairly balanced. India was all out for 260 and the Windies scored 289. When I compared this with scores that were yielded at the away series against England, I felt India is faring much better against the Windies. However, India lost the Test by a mile owing to a very poor essay in their second innings.
The second Test at Delhi was lost by a much bigger margin and was an innings defeat. This Test was also remembered for the controversial umpiring decision over Viv Richards being declared not out at 12, despite a clear replay that depicted his being caught. Viv went on to score 192. It was the debut series for Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge. With the tall score in the Delhi Test, Viv had arrived in the international arena.
So far, it had looked an uneven contest between the two teams, heavily in favor of the visitors. The Calcutta Test somewhat changed the complexion of the series. The run difference between the two teams was a slender 7 runs. India fared better in their second essay and managed to beat the Windies by a decent margin, thanks to some quality spin attack from Bhagwat Chandrashekhar in the final phases.
The Chennai Test too witnessed a very slender difference of two runs. India crossed the 250 mark in their second innings and the visitors lost the match by a mile.
Now comes the second reason why I vividly remember this series. The commentators were discussing the only instance in cricketing history where after losing the first two Tests in a series, a side came back strongly and won the series 3-2. It happened with Australia against England. This threw a lot of anticipation and excitement in the Indian camp. The organisers decided to make it a six-day match to inject spectator interest as Bombay had always been a batsman friendly wicket.
The Windies piled a 600 plus total in their first essay. This Test will be distinctly remembered for a few more reasons. Sunny Gavaskar who had been rested for over three Tests, came back and scored 86 in his first essay. All-rounder Eknath Solkar scored his maiden Test century. Wicket keeper batsman Farokh Engineer collected a golden pair, meaning he was out for duck in both the innings. India lost the match by a mile with Brijesh Patel who had a reputation for poor show in Test cricket turning out to be the highest scorer with 84 runs.
There were two takeaways from the series. Indians needed a tailored spinning track to make a game out of the match. Secondly, the Windies were able to successfully debut Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards.
