Making history in the Caribbean
Partab Ramchand - 23 April 2002
When the Indian team left for the West Indies in early 1971, the mood
was upbeat, despite the fact that the record in the Caribbean left
much to be desired. For one thing, there was a new captain in Ajit
Wadekar, an appointment that had ended MAK Pataudi's long reign.
Secondly, the team itself seemed an ideal blend of youth and
experience. Selection committee chairman Vijay Merchant's youth policy
saw the induction of Sunil Gavaskar, K Jayantilal, D Govindraj and P
Krishnamurthy, while the balance was provided by the experience of
Dilip Sardesai, ML Jaisimha, Salim Durrani and Erapalli Prasanna, all
of whom had been members of the Indian team on the last tour nine
years before.
The Indian supremacy took root early when, in the first Test at Kingston, they forced the West Indies to follow on
for the first time in 24 encounters between the two countries
dating back to 1948. Indeed, it was for the first time India had
even obtained the first-innings lead over the West Indies.
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There was also a negative factor in the Indians' favour, with the West
Indian team in the process of rebuilding following the retirement of
several stalwarts. No one, however, was thinking in terms of winning
the series. The general view was that the team would give a good
account of itself along the lines of the first Indian team's visit to
the Caribbean islands 18 years before, when the five-match series was
lost 0-1.
And yet, when the team returned to Bombay in April, they had
accomplished the impossible. The Indians took the series through their
victory in the second Test at Port of Spain, the remaining four
matches being drawn.
The Indian supremacy took root early when, in the first Test at
Kingston, they forced the West Indies to follow on for the first time
in 24 encounters between the two countries dating back to 1948.
Indeed, it was for the first time India had even obtained the first-
innings lead over the West Indies. The shock was registered, and
before they could recover, the home team lost the second Test by seven
wickets.
The West Indies tried their best to come back into the series, notably
in the fourth and fifth Tests, but they were up against an Indian side
that had remarkable resources of resilience. Even granting that the
West Indian team was in the rebuilding process and that the pitches
were on the slower side, it was an outstanding achievement for an
Indian side to pull off the historic triumph.
One of the heroes was a batsman who was least expected to be in the
forefront. Sardesai was, for some time, the forgotten man of Indian
cricket. But quite unexpectedly, he earned a recall on the captain's
insistence. In the squad primarily as a reserve batsman, Sardesai got
into the team for the first Test only because Gundappa Viswanath was
injured. Displaying his technique, temperament and class in no
uncertain terms, Sardesai hammered 212 in the first Test the first
double century by an Indian against the West Indies to earn lavish
praise from Merchant, who hailed him as "the Renaissance man of Indian
cricket." Rightly so, for it was this knock that inspired his
teammates and proved that the West Indies, who had hitherto ridden
roughshod over Indian teams, could be beaten.
Sardesai went on to get two more hundreds towards an aggregate of 642
runs at an average of 80.25. But by the end of the series, he was
playing a secondary role to new boy Gavaskar who had emerged as a
record-breaking hero. After missing the first Test through a finger
injury, Gavaskar scored 774 runs at an average of 154.80 the highest
ever series aggregate for a debutant in Test history. He hit four
hundreds, including the stupendous double feat of a century and a
double century in the final Test at Port of Spain. Very early in his
career, Gavaskar displayed all the qualities that remained the
hallmark of his batting for the next 16 years intense concentration,
admirable technique, a wide range of strokes and an insatiable
appetite for big scores.
Gavaskar and Sardesai stood out, but there were other heroes too. How,
for example, would India have won the series without the timely,
rocklike contributions from Eknath Solkar? At three vital stages, he
partnered Sardesai in century partnerships that either rescued India
or played a crucial role in the victory at Port of Spain. And while
spin predictably played a significant role in the Indian triumph, a
major surprise was that the wrecker-in-chief was neither Prasanna nor
Bishen Bedi but Srinivas Venkatraghavan. In and out of the team since
his debut in 1965, Venkat, appointed vice-captain, shouldered the
additional responsibility in exemplary fashion. He took 22 wickets,
always commanded respect and earned the ultimate tribute from Garry
Sobers who hailed him as "a brainy bowler."
Durrani, while woefully out of touch with the bat, proved that he
still had a trick or two up his sleeve with the ball, and his twin
dismissals of Clive Lloyd and Sobers in one over was a major
contribution to India's victory at Port of Spain.
So well did these players perform that they covered up for the lack of
sizeable contributions with the bat by stalwarts like Wadekar,
Jaisimha and Durrani. The Indians were not even at full strength for
the entire duration of the series. Prasanna was injured midway through
the second Test and had to miss the next two games. Ashok Mankad, a
reliable opening batsman, could play in only three Tests. But this was
a very different Indian side, full of guts and capable of overcoming
any crisis, as they proved time and again.
It must have been a galling experience for the West Indians to lose a
series to opponents they had always found easy meat in the past. But
the plain truth was that they were just not good enough. Sobers, Rohan
Kanhai and Lloyd were still around, and they all lived up to their
reputation. Sobers hit three hundreds, Kanhai one, and there were
notable contributions from Charlie Davis and Desmond Lewis.
But the main problem was the bowling. Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith
had recently retired, and the new crop of pace bowlers was not up to
the mark. Lance Gibbs was going through a temporary eclipse and in
fact played in only one Test. The strong batting could not cover up
for the woeful bowling, and a double collapse at Port of Spain was
enough for the Indians to create history.
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