The Colonel leads the Indian victory parade
Partab Ramchand - 13 January 2002
Astonishingly, even though India played her first one-day international
in England in 1974, no such game had been staged in this country till
the 1981-82 season. India had played limited overs games in England, New
Zealand, Pakistan and Australia but it was only during the England tour
of India that the first one-day international was held in India at
Ahmedabad. England won comfortably by five wickets, which was hardly
surprising given India's patchy record in this form of cricket.
By the time the second one-day international started at Jullundur, India
had never beaten England, and on past record and present form there
seemed little chance of the home team reversing the trend during the
tour, particularly given the strength of the visiting side which had the
likes of Botham, Gooch, Fletcher, Gower, Gatting, Willis, Lever and
Underwood in their ranks. And the odds did not change even after a thick
mist delayed the start of play, cutting down the overs per side from 50
to 36.
Sunil Gavaskar won the toss and, not unexpectedly, put England in to
bat. The conditions were ideal for Kapil Dev and Madan Lal, and initial
inroads were made, reducing England to 48 for four at the halfway mark
of 18 overs. Gatting and Gower rescued them from the mire by adding 110
runs for the fifth wicket. They played the most innovative of strokes
and also ran hard between the wickets. At the end of the 32nd over,
England had raised their score to 120. The purple patch of the
partnership came in the 33rd over, sent down by Ravi Shastri. Gatting
launched a ferocious onslaught that resulted in 26 runs accruing from
the over 24 from the bat and two byes. All the 24 were scored by
Gatting, courtesy four sixes. The partnership ended when Gower was run
out for 53 but Gatting remained unbeaten with 71 in an England total of
161 for seven. His riposte, it was thought, would knock the fight out of
India.
But Dilip 'Colonel' Vengsarkar, who opened the innings in the absence of
Gavaskar, nursing a pulled hamstring that caused him to retire halfway
through England's innings, soon took charge. He and Krishnamachari
Srikkanth put on 41 runs for the first wicket as the runs came steadily.
The 50 came up in the 14th over and the 100 in the 27th. By this time,
four wickets had fallen but Vengsarkar and Yashpal Sharma were together,
with Gavaskar, who had recovered, yet to come. Against that, England
could still use their four regular bowlers Willis, Botham, Lever and
Underwood - in light, which was getting murkier towards the evening.
This threatened to prove detrimental to the batting side's chances.
The fading light though could not curb Vengsarkar's glorious stroke
play. He was in complete charge of the proceedings. All he needed was
some support at the other end and this he got from Yashpal, a born
fighter. The two ensured the runs came at a brisk pace, their full-
blooded strokes and cheeky singles rousing the 40,000 crowd who were now
cheering wildly.
Slowly, tantalisingly, the target narrowed down 20 runs from four
overs, 14 runs from three overs, ten runs from two overs. Botham bowled
the penultimate over and conceded only two runs off the first five
balls. The decisive nail in the England coffin, however, was struck when
Yashpal hit the last ball of the over for a soaring six over the
sightscreen. Fittingly though, it was Vengsarkar who made the winning
hit in the following over and India were home with three balls and six
wickets to spare. Vengsarkar remained unconquered on 88, Yashpal on 28;
India at last registering their first victory over England in a one-day
international. It was a moment to savour on that cool December evening
in the Punjab.
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