My Caribbean Tour
by Balwinder Sandhu
Monday, April 15, 2002

Balwinder Sandhu was half of India's new-ball attack during their 1982-83 tour of West Indies. He shares his memories with Wisden.com.

The 1982-83 tour played a significant role in India's cricketing history: the foundation for the World Cup triumph was laid in Berbice, Guyana. It was here, in the second one-dayer, that the Indian team discovered the self-belief that they could beat the best of teams, with India's first-ever one-day international win over West Indies.

Sunil Gavaskar got a polished 90 [in 117 balls] and Kapil Dev plundered 72 [in 38 balls] and India powered to 282 for 5 in 47 overs against Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Winston Davis. We needed an early breakthrough to pressure West Indies, which came when I trapped Desmond Haynes lbw for 2 with just six on the board. Though Viv Richards, Faoud Bacchus and Jeff Dujon got half-centuries, we were convincing winners by 27 runs.

For a fortnight prior to the tour, I had prepared batting with a single stump against a wet rubber ball at the RCF Sports Club. I asked the bowlers to try and hit me while I batted with the stump in hand and minus any protective gear. This pre-Caribbean toughening exercise paid dividends in the very first Test at Sabina Park, Jamaica.

India were 127 for 7, having lost six wickets for 69 runs against the pace quartet of Holding, Roberts, Marshall and Joel Garner when I joined Yashpal Sharma. The first ball I faced from Marshall was so quick that I did not see it. It was the kind of pace I had not faced anywhere. But I was not afraid of pace because death never scared me. I believed the worst that could happen to me was that I could break an arm, teeth or cheekbone. Big deal.

I always enjoyed my batting against the West Indies because at the end of the day you knew your real worth, and batting at No. 9 that day, I top-scored with 68 and, in the process, added 107 with Yashpal.

It was a Test which we should have never lost. West Indies had a first-innings lead of just three runs, but we batted poorly in the second innings, collapsing to 174 all out after being 68 for 1. Though West Indies needed just 172 runs to win the Test, Kapil was not the kind of man who would give up without a fight. West Indies lost six wickets, four of which went to Kapil. We were unfortunate that a few close decisions against Gordon Greenidge did not come our way.

The second Test at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad, saw India fold up for 175 and in reply West Indies were three down for just one run. I got both openers for no score, Greenidge bowled and Haynes caught by Syed Kirmani, while Kapil dismissed Richards for 1, also caught behind. In the next over, I had Clive Lloyd beaten on the back foot by a ball that came in a long way and trapped him right before the middle stump, but the umpire turned down our appeal. A few half-chances also went abegging as Larry Gomes [123] and Lloyd [143] overcame the crisis with a stand of 237. Jimmy Amarnath [117] and Kapil [100 not out off 95 balls] flexed their batting muscles, and as the Test moved towards a certain draw, everyone packed their kitbags.

I had to bat as a couple of wickets fell with Kapil still needing around four runs for his hundred. Since all the batsmen had packed their helmets - we bowlers then used to borrow them from the batsmen - I came out to bat in a Panama cap. Kapil was furious. He came halfway down the wicket to fire me. "Who do you think you are? Dara Singh?"

I played and missed the first two balls but refused to go to the other end to avoid a further verbal lashing from Kapil. Meanwhile, Garner mistook my coming out without a helmet for cheekiness and ripped down six bouncers in his next over. In the middle of that over, Kapil let out some unprintables in Punjabi to let me know how foolish I was. It was a double-barrelled attack.

The third Test at Georgetown, Guyana, was marred by rain, which prevented play on the second and fourth days. Even the Indian first innings could not be completed. But I had the satisfaction of taking three wickets, including that of Richards, while Gavaskar scored an unbeaten 147.

It was in the course of this innings that Marshall hit Gavaskar on the head bowling round the wicket. But Gavaskar's response to the next ball was typical of a champion: a drive through midwicket for four.

The fourth Test at Bridgetown, Barbados was played on a good, bouncy track. Even the wickets allotted for the nets had plenty of bounce, which made a couple of players in the reserves hope they would remain reserves!

I went into the Test with an injury to my toe which I sustained while practising before the start of the Test. It got aggravated and restricted me to just five overs on a wicket that pace bowlers dream of.

Jimmy [Amarnath], who top-scored in both innings with 91 and 80, and Anshuman Gaekwad, in the second innings, were the only Indian batsmen to emerge with credit. India just about averted an innings defeat, but with just one run needed for a West Indian victory, Kirmani's first ball was declared a throw as West Indies won by 10 wickets for a 2-0 lead in the series.

I missed the fifth and final Test at St John's, Antigua. This Test ended in a draw in which Ravi Shastri got a hundred and Dilip Vengsarkar got 94. But the biggest thorn for the West Indies was yet again Jimmy, who scored 54 and 116. In my entire career I have not seen any batsman from any country hook the West Indies pacemen as consistently and as successfully as Jimmy. I have not seen another player with so much courage.

"Maan, he got guts. We respect him," the Windies pacemen used to say. One got a glimpse of that when he was hit by a fast bowler in the game against Barbados and needed a few stitches to close the gash on his lips. But he came back and hooked the first ball he faced for six.

Balwinder Sandhu was talking to H Natarajan.

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