Cricket, India: A history (1971)
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Contents |
‘Putting India on the cricketing map’
Vis-à-vis England
India’s First Test Win In England
Gaurav Gupta, August 21, 2021: The Times of India
While Virat Kohli’s men are currently the toast of Indian cricket fans after their win at Lord’s, around this week 50 years ago (from August 19-24), another Indian team was busy making history on English soil. India, led by Ajit Wadekar, defeated England by four wickets in a thrilling third and final Test at the Oval — recording their first ever Test and series victory in England.
After England scored 355, India looked in trouble at 125 for five, having lost the wickets of Sunil Gavaskar, Ashok Mankad, skipper Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Sardesai and Gundappa Viswanath, before wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer (59) and Eknath Solkar (44) rescued the visitors with a 97-run partnership for the sixth wicket. India eventually made 284, before leg-spin legend Bhagwat Chandrasekhar weaved his magic, taking 6/38 to spin out England for just 101, leaving India with 173 to get on the final day.
Chasing the small target, India lost six wickets, but Wadekar’s 45, Dilip Sardesai’s 40, Gundappa Viswanath’s 33 and Farokh Engineer’s unbeaten 28 took them home in 101 overs.
“Do people still remember that victory?”, wondered Engineer while speaking to TOI from Manchester almost half a century later. “I’d like to think that we put India on the cricketing map. 1971 was a great year for Indian cricket. Earlier that year, we beat the West Indies in their own den for the first time,” he recalled.
Talking about the Oval Test, the 83-year-old said: “What a series that was, especially that Oval Test! We had a great chance to win on the last day. I remember we were in trouble in the first innings, before my partnership with Eki (Solkar) saw us through. I told Eki, let’s fight for every run. And he responded brilliantly.”
In the second innings, Engineer prevented English wicketkeeper Alan Knott from touching the bails — a ritual he religiously followed every time he walked in to bat. The result? After scoring 90 in the first innings, Knott was dismissed by off-spinner Srinivas Venkataraghavan for just one in the second dig! “I later let him touch the bails. We were fierce rivals. He was my deputy wicketkeeper, since I was the main wicketkeeper for the World XI games. He was a very good friend, and we had tremendous respect for each other,” Engineer said.
Recounting the tense proceedings on the final day, when Viswanath was out with just four to get for the victory, Engineer said: “I told Abid (Ali) that Bishan (Bedi) and Chandra weren’t exactly great with the bat, so ‘don’t take any chances. We’ve got to win this game and the series.’ And what did he do? The first ball that he faced, he charged down the track, only for Knott to miss the stumping chance! I scolded him. ‘Don’t take any chances. We’ve just three runs left. Kya kar raha hai (what are you doing)? We’ve got the whole over and still a lot of time left to win,’ I told Abid. And what did Abid do with my advice? Next ball, he late cut it through point and before the ball reached the fence, the crowd came in and the umpires declared a boundary. “Abid had faced just four balls, but because he hit the winning shot, he was carried by the Indian supporters. It was all amusing to see for someone like me, who had batted for 90 minutes to ensure that we won the game,” said Engineer.
“I remember that on the last day, there was even a small elephant on the ground! It’s almost like it happened yesterday,” he fondly recalled.
Standing behind the stumps, Engineer had the best seat in the house as he saw Chandrasekhar demolish England in a mesmerising spell.
“Chandra was absolutely brilliant, as always. On that day, he was even better. In my opinion, he was the best spinner to play for India. The beauty about Chandra was that he never realised how good he was. He was a freak case, a polio victim. At most times, he himself didn’t know where the ball was going to land, but being a ‘keeper, I could watch how he gripped the ball, and perhaps knew more than him what the ball was going to do! He was truly a great bowler.
“He was a lovely, unassuming guy. What added to Chandra’s effectiveness in that series and Test was Solkar’s electric fielding. He is the best close-in fielder India have ever had,” praised Engineer. Engineer had little time to celebrate India’s, and his career’s, sweetest cricketing moment. “In those days, we used to get one pound a day as our daily allowance. So, we went to a hotel called ‘Mumtaz,’ and had a glass or two of wine and beer. Since Lancashire, my county team, had spared me only for the Tests, I had to report to Old Trafford for a game the next day at 9 am. I had missed my lunch and didn’t have time for dinner. I got a tandoori chicken packed and drove to Manchester from London — a six-hour distance in those days — with the steering in one hand and tandoori chicken in the other! I regret missing the ticker-tape parade in Mumbai in front of thousands of fans which Wadekar and Co. enjoyed on return. I had a professional commitment to keep,” he said.
Bella the elephant
Sep 3, 2021: The Times of India
When England and India met at the Oval for the fourth Test, it was just over 50 years since India’s triumph at the south London ground saw them to a first match and series win on English soil.
The story of how India fans borrowed Bella the elephant from Chessington Zoo and brought her to the Oval midmatch — something the 1971 team saw as a lucky omen as it coincided with the Ganesha Puja — has gone down in cricket history.
But an animal of a different kind may have had a bigger influence on the game, according to India leg-spinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar. With a bowling arm withered by childhood polio, Chandra was a unique proposition and his superb 6-38 in the second innings left India with a target of 173, which they chased down with four wickets to spare. “I was walking back to my run-up and Dilip Sardesai shouted “Hey Chandra, bowl him ‘Mill Reef',” said Chandrasekhar in a video message to an audience at London's Taj St James Court Hotel celebrating the ‘Golden Jubilee’.
“There was a horse called Mill Reef in England, which was winning all the big races (including the 1971 Epsom Derby) and it had tremendous speed,” added Chandra, whose quicker ball deceived many a batsman in a career that yielded 242 wickets in 58 Tests.
“I had the idea of bowling my googly to John Edrich but then I thought ‘Dilip Sardesai is a good student of the game’.”
Chandrasekhar bowled Edrich, one of the mainstays of England's top order, for a duck.
“Before he could lift the bat, the ball hit the stumps,” added the 76-year-old, as he joyfully recalled Edrich’s exit. Farokh Engineer, India's wicketkeeper in 1971, was in no doubt of Chandrasekhar's quality. “Chandra, with due respect I think he is the greatest spin bowler India has produced,” said Engineer, who also kept superbly to such outstanding spinners as Erapalli Prasanna, Bishan Bedi and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan.
“But half the time, he didn't know which way the ball was going,” added Engineer speaking in London with an Indian cricket journalist. “He was a freak bowler. He was a polio victim, and hats off to him, he made his defect into a great asset.”
Engineer, 28 not out when Abid Ali hit the winning runs, had little time to enjoy the victory as the next day he was playing for English county Lancashire in Manchester. AFP
WARRIORS OF 1971
Details
Away triumphs against the West Indies and England in 1971 ensured India was no longer a cricketing backwater. The tour to the West Indies, regarded as a watershed in India’s cricket history, saw India compete in all five Tests. The win in the second Test, which resulted in India’s first series win in the Caribbean, was followed up by other, no less tangible, performances against the world’s most-feared cricket team.
The West Indies tour was special not only because India won but also because it saw the emergence of Indian cricket’s biggest star-Sunil Gavaskar. A man who rewrote almost every batting record and played the West Indian quicks better than any of his contemporaries. Victory in the West Indies was followed by a series victory against England in England.
Says B S Chandrasekhar, the chief architect, “We won the match, if I’m not wrong, on Chaturthi day. But it was only when we arrived back in India that we realized the enormity of our achievement. They took us from the airport to the Brabourne stadium in open cars and some of those cheers still echo inside my head even today.”— BM
