Gavaskar’s
arrival was indicative of the fact that Indian cricket had come of age. The
spin quartet of Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivas
Venkataraghavan and Bishen Singh Bedi were at the height of their powers.
Gavaskar showed that fast bowling could not only be tackled but also scored
off, in a prolific if not dominant fashion. Before him, Indian batsmen, with
some notable exceptions, had the dubious reputation of stepping away to leg
when confronted with genuine pace, and floundering against swing. Gavaskar
changed it all.
There was a new
captain at the helm, Ajit Wadekar, on that path-breaking tour of the Caribbean
in 1971, ending at least for the time being the Pataudi era which had also
begun in the West Indies nine years earlier. The signs were ominous as India
won the second Test at Port of Spain by 7 wickets. It was India’s first victory
over the West Indies in six series, home and away, and helped clinch the
rubber, with the other four Tests drawn. Gavaskar scored 65 and 67 not out on
debut, and gave solid starts in both innings along with Bombay (now Mumbai)
colleague Ashok Mankad.
Two other Bombay
stars made it a habit of pulling India out of troubled waters. In the first
Test at Kingston, with India tottering at 75 for five, Dilip Sardesai (212) and
Eknath Solkar (61) put on 137 runs to help raise a respectable total of 387.
With no play on the first day, the follow-on could be enforced in the four-day
Test with a lead of 150 runs, and Wadekar in his maiden Test as captain inflicted
this ignominy on the hosts. The ageing Rohan Kanhai and skipper Garfield Sobers
brought back memories of their halcyon days in a match-saving fourth-wicket
partnership of 173 runs. Kanhai scored 56 and 158 not out, and Sobers 44 and
93. It seemed that the experienced middle-order would have to see the West
Indies through, for the bowling was depleted, with Sobers having to bowl long
stints.
It was not to
be. Sobers and Kanhai did not fire in the second Test, and Clive Lloyd was a
disappointment through the series. India won the Test with ease, heralding one
of the happiest phases in their history, and marking the beginning of the end
of Sobers’ days as leader. The brilliant side that he had inherited from
Worrell, and which flowered under him in the mid-sixties, had all but
disintegrated. In that triumph at Port of Spain, after Gavaskar’s promising
debut, once again Sardesai (112) and Solkar (55) added 114 for the fifth wicket
to give India a handsome first innings lead. Then as Wadekar, in a master-stroke,
brought on the tall left-arm spinner Salim Durrani who castled Lloyd (15) and
Sobers (0), India were on the road to victory. Gavaskar ultimately brought up
the win in the company of Abid Ali.
That was the
point when Indian cricket earned its self-respect, and emerged from the shadows
onto the world stage. The man to show the way was the little opener. Rarely has
one man done so much to change the fortunes of a nation’s sport. Inevitably,
Gavaskar’s maiden Test century came in the next innings. He scored 116, once
again laying a solid foundation to the Indian innings along with Mankad, and
helping India take the first innings lead. It took an unbroken 170-run
fourth-wicket stand between Charlie Davis and Sobers, unbeaten with 125 and 108
respectively, to save the day for the West Indies. Sobers’ declaration provided
the opportunity to Gavaskar to score his third sixty. This time he clocked up
an unbroken century stand with Mankad, worth 123 when stumps were finally
drawn.
The only innings
in which Gavaskar failed in the series was at Bridgetown when he was caught at
mid-wicket off debutant paceman Uton Dowe for 1. Yet again Sardesai (150) and
Solkar (65) retrieved the situation, this time from an even more abysmal 70 for
six, faced with a huge West Indies score of 501 for five declared. Sobers had
scored a monumental unbeaten 178 and put on 167 for the fourth wicket with
Davis. On this occasion Sardesai and Solkar were associated in a 186-run
partnership. The tailenders held on with Sardesai to save the follow-on. Sobers
set India a target of 335 to win in a little over five hours. The run chase was
never on and Gavaskar, in his own words, played “purely a defensive innings” of
117 not out, though he did fire a few rousing shots including a hooked six off
Dowe. The Test was saved.
On the eve of
the six-day final Test, again at Trinidad, Gavaskar developed severe toothache
and spent a sleepless night. He had to wait for his troublesome tooth to be
extracted till the Test was over and was denied pain-killers even at night on
the plea that they would make him drowsy during play. Mankad had fractured his
right wrist fending off a Dowe snorter in the second innings at Bridgetown, and
his replacement Kenia Jayantilal broke his thumb in the intervening match at Dominica.
As a result Abid Ali accompanied Gavaskar at the top of the order. Sobers,
under pressure to square the series, opened the bowling, sending down a torrid
spell. Abid Ali fell for 10 and Wadekar for 28. Gavaskar and Sardesai then put
on 122, the little opener batting through the pain to score 124.
Sobers was
indeed a determined man. He hit up 132, putting on 183 for the fifth wicket
with Davis (105). West Indies piled up 526, a lead of 166. The pressure was on
India. Gavaskar was now weak and worn out, still in pain, unable to eat or
sleep properly, and having fielded for long hours in hot and humid conditions.
Sobers was again sharp with the new ball, trapping Abid Ali early. Wadekar,
though, helped Gavaskar add 148 runs.
The battle lines
were drawn on the fifth day as Gavaskar soldiered on. He completed his second
century of the Test to a huge ovation, with some of the spectators invading the
pitch. He began the final day on 180, in very poor physical condition. And when
he cover-drove Dowe to bring up his double hundred, all hell broke loose. The
delirious crowd hoisted him high and literally played around with the little
fellow. It was only the second time in Test history, after Doug Walters’ 242
and 103 against the West Indies in 1968-69, that a hundred and double hundred
had been scored in the same game. Gavaskar had progressed to 220 when he
finally chopped a ball on to his stumps. The next highest was Wadekar’s 54. Now
at last Gavaskar could get his tooth extracted. It was a painstaking effort,
literally, that ensured a landmark series triumph for the country.
The West Indies
needed 262 to win with time running out. In the end their ninth-wicket pair
hung on precariously to eke out a draw. Such was Gavaskar’s memorable, and
phenomenal, initiation in Test cricket. No one had scored so many runs, 774, on
first appearance. That was in just four Tests, and his average of 154.80 would
have made Bradman proud. The entire cricketing world was now talking about this
21-year-old. Over the next sixteen years Gavaskar earned the admiration and
respect of players, critics and fans alike, and came to be rated as one of the
greatest opening batsmen ever.
It might not
have been a top-class West Indies bowling attack and Sobers may have dropped
him on a couple of occasions, but Gavaskar displayed a wonderful technique, a
wide range of strokes, patience, determination, resilience and a tremendous
will to battle on in the face of acute physical discomfort. Surely, this little
young man was out of the ordinary.
His great
predecessor Len Hutton paid Gavaskar the ultimate tribute, naming one of the
chapters of his book Fifty Years in
Cricket, ‘Gavaskar and Other Greats’. Hutton wrote: “I have the feeling
that if he had been born English or Australian, many of the better judges would
have been tempted to bracket him with Bradman. Gavaskar is not as good as
Bradman, but very close, which automatically puts him in the very highest class
of batsmen of all time. He is a small, compact man, thicker set than Bradman, but
of a similar height, and, like all the true champions, can play off both feet
with equal facility. He uses a medium-weight bat and hits the ball hard enough
with precise accuracy to beat the fieldsman, but not hard enough to knock it
out of shape. He cuts, pulls and drives the half-volley beautifully, often
through mid-wicket, and to back his natural accomplishments, he has the
concentration, willpower and temperament of a record-breaker. I admire too, the
positive and quick movements of his feet and the almost feline grace with which
he gets into position to deal with the bouncer.”
(Author
Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com
Follow
Indra Vikram Singh on Twitter @IVRajpipla).
Don’s
Century
Published by Sporting Links
ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0, Fully Illustrated
French Fold 21.5 cm x 28 cm, 188 Pages
Price Rupees 995
Indra Vikram Singh’s latest books published
by Sporting Links:
A Maharaja’s Turf ISBN
978-81-901668-3-6
The Big Book of World Cup
Cricket ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3
Don’s Century ISBN
978-81-901668-5-0
Crowning Glory ISBN 978-81-901668-6-7
Distributed in India by: Variety Book
Depot, AVG Bhawan, M-3, Middle Circle, Connaught Circus, New
Delhi-110 001, India. Tel. + 91 11 23417175, 23412567.
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