Indian Cricket Page
India made its first foray into international cricket in on June 25,1932 at Lords against Douglas Jardine's Englishman. That glorious morning saw England totter at 19-3 with legendary batsmen Herbert Sutcliffe(3) and Frank Woolley(9) back in the pavilion in no time. But India's biggest ripple was to come on that same day 51 years later as they toppled West Indies to take the World Cup.
Indian cricket has always retained the mystic wizardry of the great Ranji and has produced some phenomenal cricketing sons who have thrilled cricket lovers the world over.
Despite producing batsmen of the highest technical quality such as the three "Vijays" - Hazare, Merchant and Manjrekar, India became a force to reckon with since the late sixties and early seventies. Foremost among their bowling heroes were the famed spin quartet of Prasanna, Bedi, Chandra and Venkat who took 856 test wickets among them. They were able supported by the catching ability of Eknath Solkar, a close-in catching phenomenon who snaffled 53 victims in only 26 tests.
The seventies saw the emergence of a batting colossus Sunil Manohar Gavaskar who stunned the cricketing world scoring 774 runs @ 154.80 in his very first Test series and that against the fearsome West Indies. Gavaskar won the match for India on his Test debut at Port of Spain scoring 65 and 67* and subsequently went on to score 116 & 64*(Georgetown), 1 & 117*(Bridgetown) and 124 & 220(Port of Spain) in the remaining Test matches as India won its first Test series in the Carribean. He has hammered 13 Test hundreds against the mighty West Indies, the most by any player and has an outstanding average of 65.45 against them. He has also done superbly on Australian pitches scoring three successive hundreds in the 1977-78 series Down Under and hit two more big hundreds in the 1985-85 series. Gavaskar set countless world records and became the first player to score over 10,000 Test runs. His world record of 34 Test centuries has stood the test of time for over 15 years and will probably be broken by the next big icon of Indian Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.
Making his debut at 16 in the cauldron of Pakistan Tendulkar took the cricketing fraternity by storm scoring his maiden test hunderd, a match saving 119* at the age of 17 in Manchester. He was only 19 when he toured Australia in 1991-92 and slammed a brilliant 148* at the SCG. This was followed by a classy 114 at the WACA, the world fastest pitch. Tendulkar's form has been phenomenal over the past two years and he entered the most significant phase of his career in the series against Australia in early 1998. The series, touted as a showdown between Tendulkar and Shane Warne, the world's best bowler saw Tendulkar completely decimate the Aussie with scores of 155*, 79 and 177. India won the series 2-1.
More was to come when the teams went to Sharjah for the tri-series and Tendulkar masterminded India's triumph scoring two outstanding hundreds that will stay for long in the memory of cricket fans. Sachin truly became the scourge of Australia as he smashed 141 in the Dhaka mini-World Cup, and also took 4-38. The focus will be on him when the two teams clash Down Under late in 1999. With 21 Test hundreds under his belt and only 26, the sky is the limit for this great batsman.
Sachin in action against Australia in the 1996 Wills World Cup game at Bombay. Tendulkar made a blazing 90 off 84 balls. It should as one of the most exciting innings off all time. Glenn McGrath after bowling three maiden overs in a row went for 36 off his next three overs! I suspect this shot is the one Sachin played off Shane Warne's first delivery, a lofted shot down the wicket that raced to the fence. The third ball was stopped by a despairing dive from Stuart Law at mid-off, the fifth streaked past the slips for four after Sachin took a wild swing. His fifty came off 41 balls.According to one English writer,"Considering the expectation of his people, the freedom of Tendulkar's stroke-play was staggering. He batted on the seat of his pants and took his delirious audience with him."
Another undoubted icon is the the peerless allrounder Kapil Dev who holds the world record of 434 wickets and scored 5200 Test runs. Kapil pioneered the greatest achievement in India's cricket history when at the age of 24 he skippered the side to the World Cup triumph in 1983 in England. India began the tournament as 66-1 favrites and had won just one out of their 6 previous World Cup games, against lowly East Africa. Kapil had to spend much of his life bowling on heartless tracks on the subcontinent and to some of the world's best batsmen at their peak. He has consistently had a good time at the MCG where he took 5 for 28 despite a groin strain in the Feb 1981 Test to bowl Australia out for 83 as they capitulated chasing a target of 142. Kaps also made a blazing 54 off 33 balls to win the World Championship semifinal against New Zealand at the MCG in 1985. Later that year in the Boxing Day Test he blasted a quick 55. In India's 1991 outing he took 5 for 97.
Kapil Dev during the course of his record-breaking 175 not out against Zimbabwe in the Prudential World Cup, 1983. India slumped to 4-9, 17-5, 77-6, 78-7, 140-8 while Kapil powered on from one end. His 175* came off 138 balls with 17 fours and 6 sixes. Kapil added 126 unfinished runs for the ninth wicket (a world record) with Kirmani who made 24*. Kaps took 2-32 when Zimbabwe batted to seal off a spectacular victory.
History is made at Lords on June 25 1983 as Mohinder Amarnath rushes to the pavilion after trapping Mike Holding leg before. Yashpal Sharma and Roger Binny grab stumps as souvenirs and follow up .An ecstatic Kirti Azad is seen in the background
HAPPY FACES ALL : Vengsarkar(who missed the final due to injury), Azad, Yashpal, Srikkanth and Shastri are delighted, as is Manager P.R. Man Singh. It was Indian cricket date with destiny.
No summary of Indian cricket will be complete without reference to Mohinder Amarnath, Ravi Shastri and Mohammed Azharuddin. The gutsy Mohinder unfairly treated by the selectors right through his career, was the King of all cricketing comebacks. Undoubtedly one of the world's best batsman of pace bowling, Mohinder made a terrific 85 as India successfully chased 406 in the fourth innings at Port-of Spain in April 1976. He had a brilliant series in Australia in 1976-77 where he hit courageous knocks of 90 and 100 in the Perth Test. Jimmy, as he was known, had a dream year in 1983 as he faced the fiery pace attacks of Pakistan and West Indies in their own dens and came up trumps. Imran demolished India 3-0 with 40 wickets in 6 Tests at 13.95 but Mohinder had scores of 109*,5,3,22,78,61,64,120,19 and 103*. This was immediately followed by the Test series in the Carribean and this time against the fury of Marshall,Roberts, Holding and Garner, Jimmy came up with 29,40,58,117,13,91,80,54 and 116*. India left for the World Cup in England soon after and Mohinder was at the forefront as he clinched the Man of the Match awards in the semi final against England (46 and 2-27) and in the grand finale at Lords (26 and 3-12) as India shattered the hegemony of the West Indies in the World Cup. Mohinder had another fruitful tour of Australia in 1985-86 and made a classy 138 at the SCG.
Ravi Shankar Jaydith Shastri started his career as a spinner and later on became one of India's leading all arounders. One of the most mature crickters of all Time, Ravi was unluckt not to have captained India for long. India won the only test he captained by 255 runs at Chepauk agianst the Windies. Shastri was at his peak in the World Championship in Australia in 1985 when he won the Champion of Champions award. He made 206 at the SCG in 1992, a test where he thrashed young Shane Warne, who went for 1-150! Shastri has also made big hundreds in tests in Pakistan, England and the Caribbean.
Mohammed Azharuddin, a beautifully wristy player, who epitomises the elegance of Asian batsmen. Azhar slammed three hundreds in his first three Tests in 1984-85 against David Gower's Englishmen. He also held the world record for the fastest century in one dayers and is currently the top rungetter in one day cricket. Leading India in the 1990 tour of England Azhar scored an 87 ball hundred at Lords and scored another delightful knock of 179 at Manchester. He masterminded India's chase iof 372 in the Adelaide test of 1991-92 scoring 106 as India fell short by 38 runs in a thriller. Azhar has several big test hundreds and twice fell in the 190s. He has phenomenal record at the Eden Gardens, scoring 5 big hundreds out of the 7 tests he played there.
