England brush aside Azharuddin for a shock series win
Partab Ramchand - 17 December 2001
Fortunately there were no alarms during the Test and no further political troubles on the tour, though the itinerary had to be hastily revised.Given the circumstances, it was a creditable performance by England to win the five-match series by a 2-1 margin. What was more, they became the first team to come from behind to triumph in India.
|
The England team that landed in India for the 1984-85 tour came with no
high hopes. With the self-imposed absence of Ian Botham and the recent
retirement of Bob Willis during the series against West Indies in the
summer (in which England suffered a unique 'blackwash'), it was at best
an average side, and captain David Gower was aware that taking on India
in this country was no easy task. After all, the English had been
victorious in only two full campaigns in this country out of seven.
As if the cricketing equations being unequal were not enough, the
England squad got more than they bargained for from events off the
field. Within a few hours of their arrival in India, they were awoken
with the news of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The
memory of this was still fresh when, on the eve of the first Test less
than four weeks later, the British Deputy High Commissioner Percy
Norris, a cricket lover who had entertained the touring party at a
reception at his Bombay home just the previous evening, was shot dead as
he was being driven to his office. Both outrages took place within a
mile or two of where the team was staying.
Because of the riots that followed Mrs Gandhi's assassination, the
visitors were largely confined to their hotel rooms. New Delhi was an
uneasy place to be in for some time, but fortunately the Sri Lankan
Cricket Board made a generous offer to the touring team to come over to
Colombo for play and practice, which would have been impossible in India
during the period of official mourning.
The British diplomat's murder affected the team members personally, and
with a Test due to start the next day, it was inevitable that they felt
under threat themselves. There was some talk of calling off the tour,
but after talks between England manager Tony Brown, Indian Cricket Board
officials and Test and County Cricket Board officials, and following
advice from the Foreign Office, it was decided that the tour should go
on, based on the calculated guess that there was no connection between
the timing of the murder and the team's presence in Bombay.
Fortunately there were no alarms during the Test and no further
political troubles on the tour, though the itinerary had to be hastily
revised.Given the circumstances, it was a creditable performance by
England to win the five-match series by a 2-1 margin. What was more,
they became the first team to come from behind to triumph in India. The
visitors had been badly beaten by the Under-25 side and then went down
in the first Test by eight wickets. Honours seemed to be even in the
second Test at New Delhi going into the final day, but a shocking Indian
collapse opened an avenue for England to draw level with an eight-wicket
victory, ending their record sequence of 13 matches without a win. The
defeat led to signs of disharmony within the Indian camp, the shock
omission of Kapil Dev for the first time in his career, and a sudden
change in the fortunes of both teams.
After a dull draw in the third Test at Calcutta, another shoddy batting
display by the Indians this time in the first innings saw England
take the fourth Test at Madras by nine wickets. And with the final Test
at Kanpur always likely to end in a draw, that was how the series ended.
For good measure, England also took the one-day international series
4-1.
It may seem ironic after all this that the performances of the series
were from the Indian side. But the uniqueness of Mohammad Azharuddin's
feat of scoring centuries in each of his first three Tests assured this.
The Hyderabadi stylist was hailed as the most exciting batting discovery
since Sunil Gavaskar. Consistent batting was also seen from Mohinder
Amarnath, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar, while Syed Kirmani was
among the runs late in the order. Gavaskar though had the worst series
of his career, scoring only 140 runs at the unbelievable average of
17.50. This, and the failure of Sandip Patil to come good, cost the
Indians dearly.
The bowling too was pretty ordinary. Teenage prodigy L Sivaramakrishnan
won the first Test with a bag of 12 wickets and became the first Indian
bowler to take six wickets in successive innings. But once he was
mastered after the second Test, the attack was pretty stingless.
England's main strength was their batting. Perseverance paid off, as
Mike Gatting proved by getting his maiden Test hundred in his 54th
innings. The best player of spin bowling in the side, he added a double
century at Madras, where he and Graeme Fowler became the first pair to
score double centuries in the same innings for England in 610 Tests
since 1877. Gatting ended with 575 runs at an average of 95.83, while
Fowler had 438 runs at an average of 54.75. Tim Robinson, with his
obdurate methods, proved to be a thorn in the flesh, scoring 444 runs at
an average of 63.42, including a monumental 160 in eight-and-a-half
hours at New Delhi.
The success of the trio covered up for the comparative lack of form
shown by Allan Lamb and David Gower. Little was expected from the
bowling, and a line-up of Norman Cowans, Richard Ellison (or Neil
Foster), Peter Pocock, Phil Edmonds and Chris Cowdrey had a lean look
about it. But at crucial stages, Pocock and Edmonds (at New Delhi) and
Foster (at Madras) proved to be match-winners, and Gower joined Douglas
Jardine and Tony Greig as the only England captains to lead England to
victory in a series in India.
© CricInfo
Teams
|
India.
|
Players/Umpires
|
Bob Willis,
David Gower,
Mohammad Azharuddin,
Syed Kirmani,
Mohinder Amarnath,
Ravi Shastri,
Sunny Gavaskar,
Dilip Vengsarkar,
Sandeep Patil,
Laxman Sivaramakrishnan,
Neil Foster,
Phil Edmonds,
Chris Cowdrey,
Tony Greig.
|