India went into the third Test of the 1974-75 series against West Indies on the back of five consecutive defeats. Not surprisingly, the selectors rang in the changes – Tiger Pataudi was back as captain, while his predecessor, S Venkataraghavan, was one of five players dropped from the line-up that had played the second Test. India won the toss and batted, but Andy Roberts took two early wickets and finished with 5 for 50 to restrict them to 233. With Sunil Gavaskar missing the Test because of injury, Gundappa Viswanath played the role of sheet anchor with a patient 52, while Anshuman Gaekwad displayed exemplary courage on his debut to grind out 36. Then, for a change, India's seamers did the damage: Madan Lal took 4 for 22, and despite a hundred from Roy Fredericks, West Indies made only 240.

India's second innings was the story of Viswanath's exceptional batting performance. He came in at 46 for 2, and by the time he was dismissed for a superbly crafted 139, India had enough runs to ask questions of West Indies' mighty batting. Farokh Engineer gave him valuable support with 61, but Viswanath batted with the lower order for most of his innings – the sixth-wicket partnership with Madan Lal yielded 40, and the one with Karsan Ghavri for the seventh, a priceless 91, as India recovered from 152 for 5 to post 316.

A target of 310 gave India a chance, but by close of play on the fourth day, West Indies were comfortable on 146 for 3, with Clive Lloyd and Alvin Kallicharran, their two most consistent batsmen in the series, still together.

Thirty-five minutes into the final day, India had wrested control. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, who had been listless till then, taking just one wicket in the first innings, sent down a perfect flipper that sneaked through Lloyd's defences. Two overs later, Kallicharran edged Chandra to Viswanath at slip.

With the recognised batsmen out of the way, India went for the kill. The West Indian tail was hapless, and all of Eden Gardens erupted when Bishan Bedi bowled Roberts to end the West Indies innings for 224. The Indian supporters could not have asked for a better start to the New Year. ((click here for Almanack report)

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com in India.

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