A series win after an early scare
Partab Ramchand - 3 December 2001
By the time England came over to India nine years after their last
series, there was a sea change in the cricketing scenario. India were
arguably the leading team in the world, having got the better of the
West Indies and England during the 'India-Rubber Year' of 1971. But that
still not stop some of the leading players from skipping the tour. This
time, citing various reasons, Ray Illingworth, Geoffrey Boycott, John
Edrich, Basil D'Oliveira, and John Snow did not make the trip.
But it was still a worthy side that Tony Lewis brought to India in
1972-73. The captain, like Nigel Howard 21 years earlier, made his Test
debut in India but had been a well-known figure for some time. The
batting, with Barry Wood, Keith Fletcher, Mike Denness, Dennis Amiss,
Tony Greig and Alan Knott, was in good hands. The bowling, to be manned
by Geoffrey Arnold, Greig, Norman Gifford, Derek Underwood and Patrick
Pocock, also looked to be quite balanced.
Given the euphoria that the twin away triumphs had created, however,
India were confident of victory almost to the point of over
confidence. And they came close to paying the price. The first Test at
New Delhi was lost by six wickets, and it was only a combination of
skill and luck that saw India take the next two Tests by 28 runs and
four wickets respectively. So relieved was Ajit Wadekar that he promptly
shut shop and played it safe in the next two Tests to emerge triumphant
in the rubber. It was certainly a feather in his cap, being his third
successive series victory, but it was a hard-fought win over worthy
opponents. There was some severe criticism of Wadekar for the manner in
which he eschewed even the smallest risk but, in a way, his approach
also amounted to open admission of his respect for the England team.
On the eve of the series, given the seemingly wide disparity between the
two sides, an easy Indian victory was predicted. The Indians had
everything in their favour; they were brimming with confidence with a
captain at the peak of his powers, a spin quartet that was itching to
try out their bag of tricks on the designer home pitches, and a batting
line-up that remained strong. The nucleus of the home side remained the
same as it was in 1971. Indeed, they seemed to be even stronger, having
found a dashing young opening batsman in Ramnath Parkar to cover up for
the one weakness that the all-conquering squad had - a reliable partner
for Sunil Gavaskar.
The end result, a 2-1 victory, was thus not in line with the
predictions, and for this one must give credit to the visitors. Fully
aware that the odds were against them, they did not buckle under
pressure and gave as good as they got. Lewis proved to be a worthy
skipper in the matters of tactics and personal relations, and, with
timely knocks of 70 not out in the first Test and 125 in the fourth Test
at Kanpur, also led from the front.
Batting was always going to be difficult against the famed spin attack
on Indian wickets, but Fletcher and Greig came up with centuries. In
sharing a partnership of 254 runs for the fifth wicket in the final Test
at Bombay, the two put up England's best fifth-wicket stand against all
countries. Knott proved to be handy as usual in negotiating the
spinners. There was no really outstanding bowler, though Arnold had one
great spell, taking six for 45 in the first innings of the series and
dismissing India for 173. The wickets were generally shared, a good
symbol of the team work that characterized this outfit. The English
batsmen was a bit slow in coming into their own but, by the end of the
series, they were tackling the Indian spinners with more than a degree
of comfort, and this was no minor triumph.
From the Indian point of view, there were a few things to savour and a
few disappointments. Even the home batsmen found runs hard to come by on
the slow pitches, and the fact that no hundred was scored till the final
Test illustrates this best. Farokh Engineer was the top run-getter,
aggregating 415 runs with one century and three fifties. Wadekar (312)
and Gundappa Viswanath (365) gave a boost to the middle order, but it
was not until MAK Pataudi came back into the side that the batting took
on a touch of class. He was not picked for the first two Tests, was
brought into the team for the third match, and straight away made his
presence felt with a powerful yet elegant 73. The openers, however,
remained a problem, compounded by the fact that Gavaskar was struggling
for runs. Despite a late flourish, which brought him scores of 69 and
67, he finished the series with only 224 runs.
Not surprisingly, the main focus was on the spinners, and BS
Chandrasekhar and Bishan Singh Bedi cornered the honours by taking 35
and 25 wickets respectively. The former broke Mankad's 21-year-old
record by taking the most number of wickets in a Test series. EAS
Prasanna, in the limited opportunities that he was given, showed that he
was still a force to reckon with. The series also was the swan-song for
Salim Durrani, who played in three Tests and scored 243 runs. His
contributions at Calcutta and Madras proved vital, and he ended his
colourful career with scores of 73 and 37 at Bombay.
© CricInfo
Teams
|
India.
|
Players/Umpires
|
Ray Illingworth,
Geoff Boycott,
John Edrich,
Nigel Howard,
Keith Fletcher,
Mike Denness,
James Knott,
Norman Gifford,
Derek Underwood,
Pat Pocock,
Ajit Wadekar,
Nawab of Pataudi,
Bishan Bedi,
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.
|