Despite not winning the World Cup
since 2011, Indian cricket has been on a roll. The dominance is strong, rarely
challenged on home surfaces and currently on the leaderboard of the ongoing
World Test Championship. Yet this was not the case long ago. In fact many
captains like Sunil Gavaskar adopted safety first strategy and ensured India
did not lose. It was world cup victory of 1983 that changed in many ways the
Indians performed in cricket. However, there were turning points in Test
cricket much earlier with series wins in West Indies and England in 1971.
Indian victories often came through
successful defense in the fourth innings than successful chases. Yet India
acquired an aura in the earlier days of strong second innings performances.
Many even wondered why India did not play the second innings first. The current
pieces attempts to chronicle few great chases, some successful, some
unsuccessful and some managing to salvage a draw. However, it is during the
first sixty odd years of Indian cricket and does not attempt to cover the last two
to three decades where things changed quite differently. In fact in the post
war era, the highest fourth innings total for a wining test, drawn test, losing
test and tie have all been India’s at some point or the other.
Perhaps the first great chase came in
the 1948-49 home series against the West Indies. Trailing 0-1 going into final
test, India needed 361 for a victory on the final day. A Vijay Hazare century
nearly achieved it as India ended the day and the test at 355/6. There was
deliberate slow play by West Indies, not unusual by teams even today. However,
apparently, only five balls had been delivered in the penultimate over of the
match when the umpire called stumps. Not only the umpire had counted the balls wrongly,
he called stumps an over earlier! So an incompetence of an umpire prevented
India a chance for a glorious win. (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62694.html
)
The first successful chase happened in
1964 on the Vijayadashmi day at Brabourne Stadium against Australia. Apparently
it seemed the whole of Mumbai had left the celebration at home and gathered to
celebrate at the stadium on the streets. Perusing the reports of the match, it
was a thriller down to the wire before India registered a two wicket victory.
Chandu Borde’s 30 not out is still considered one of the best sub-50 innings in
the match (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62953.html
). India’s first series win against
England happened at the Oval in 1971 chasing a target of 174 which was achieved
with four wickets in hand (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63078.html
).The match was as nerve thriller as the one against Australia of 1964
Between 1976 and 1979, there were no
less than three occasions where India made 400+ in the final innings. It all
seemed to have begun in Port of Spain in 1976 when Sunil Gavaskar and GR
VIshwanath scored hundreds to lead India to an improbable chase of 404 against
the West Indies (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63161.html
). Smarting under the defeat, Windies skipper Clive Lloyd developed the
bodyline against India in the next test, the beginning of the famous West
Indian quartet. The chase stayed a record for almost 27 years before West
Indies chased 418 against Australia in 2003.
The near improbable chase of Oval ’79
was due to one man Sunil Gavaskar. Leading from the front, his 221 is rated by
many as one top innings ever played. It might be his best and rare would be an
occasion when any batsman so singlehandedly and valiantly waged a battle against
a strong attack. Only a slight lapse in concentration caused his dismissal and
so went the Indian hopes as they ended on 429/8 chasing 439 (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63240.html
).
A few months later India ended up at
364/6 at Delhi against Pakistan short by 25 runs. Dilip Vengsarkar’s hundred
against a marauding Sikandar Bhakt was a moment that led him to come out of the
shadows of SMG and GRV, the dominant batsman of the time (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63248.html
).
In Madras ’86, after Dean Jones double
hundred, a battle not just against Indian bowlers but against weather and
nature, Australia were in commanding position. As they declared on the morning
of the final day requiring India to chase 347, nobody expected a thriller. For
the first time in the Test, India looked dominating yet the glorious
uncertainties made India loose the grip. Maninder Singh’s lbw to Greg Mathews
perhaps to a debatable decision resulted in the match ending on a tie only the
second occasion in test history (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63438.html
). In 1987, India had a heartbreak of falling short by 16 runs against Pakistan
chasing 220 in a low scoring match. The match at Bangalore turned out to be
last for Sunil Gavaskar. His score of 96 in the fourth innings before getting
out to perhaps dubious decision, destined to be his last, also turned out to be
one of his best (https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/16757/scorecard/63456/india-vs-pakistan-5th-test-pakistan-tour-of-india-1986-87
).
There are many other occasion post
1987 where India had its share of successes and heartbreaks. But the victory of
World Cup in ’83 and subsequent hosting the same in 1987 changed the dynamics
of cricket governance. India went to be champions at home during the 1990s and
later followed up with good success abroad post 2000 onwards. The stories of
Indian triumphs heartbreaks and near misses, individual and team alike need a
different storyline. The present chronicle is about Indian success when they
were underdogs. Therefore, the story needs to be divided into multiple parts.
Comments
Post a Comment