Principally, Tuesday’s victory loses out to thefirst victory from the historical angle
Partab Ramchand27-Apr-2002There was never any doubt that the Queen’s Park Oval at Port ofSpain was India’s favourite venue abroad. But it receivedstatistical confirmation on Tuesday when India notched up theirthird victory at the stadium. Before that, the picturesque groundshared the numerical honour with Melbourne and Auckland, whereIndian teams have scored two victories each.
Principally, Tuesday’s victory loses out to the first victory from the historical angle. For sheer enormity ofachievement and rarity of feat, it cannot hold a candle to the1976 triumph. The opposition too was fairly strong in 1971 andmuch stronger five years later.
Indian victories overseas are so rare that it is easy to getexcited about the latest triumph. After all, this was just the17th win abroad in 166 matches, as compared to 54 victories in187 home Tests. But then again, this was only India’s third winin 35 matches in the West Indies dating back to 1953;interestingly enough, all three have been registered at the samevenue. Notable and welcome as the recent win is, for variousreasons it cannot be compared to those notched up in 1971 and1976.What makes a victory special? One presumes there are many factorsthat have to be considered before terming a triumph as trulygreat or significant. The opposition is one, alien wickets andweather conditions are others. Then comes the odds against whichthe victory is achieved. One must also not lose sight of thehistoric aspect too. If it is the kind of victory that is onlyrarely achieved in Test cricket, then this becomes a veryimportant factor in analysing its greatness.Principally, Tuesday’s victory loses out to the first victoryfrom the historical angle. For sheer enormity of achievement andrarity of feat, it cannot hold a candle to the 1976 triumph. Theopposition too was fairly strong in 1971 and much stronger fiveyears later.However spasmodic Indian victories abroad are these days, thefact remains that India have, over the past 34 years, registeredwins in New Zealand, West Indies, England, Australia, Sri Lanka,Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Pakistan and South Africa are the onlynations in which India have drawn a blank even after playing 20and nine Tests respectively. India have also notched up seriestriumphs in New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and England(twice).But in March 1971, the scenario was very different. By then Indiahad played 47 Tests abroad and had won only three all againstNew Zealand in 1967-68, a series the visitors won by threematches to one. Such was New Zealand’s weakness at that time,however, that the analysts questioned that one loss more than thethree victories! In 11 Tests in the West Indies, India had lostsix and drawn five. In nine Tests in Australia, India had losteight and drawn one. In 19 Tests in England, India had lost 15and drawn four. The one series in Pakistan in 1954-55 had seenall five Tests ending in draws.The victory at the Queen’s Park Oval on March 10 1971 musttherefore be viewed against this backdrop. Admittedly the WestIndies were then in the rebuilding process. The retirement ofseveral stalwarts had weakened the side, but Garry Sobers, RohanKanhai and Clive Lloyd were still around.Unlike the present series, when India have generally been seen asfavourites, the visitors were clearly the underdogs when the 1971series started. Coincidentally, that too was the second Test ofthe series, the first ending in a rain-affected draw. The Indiannew-ball attack was, at the time, just about the biggest joke incricketing circles worldwide. And yet the much-maligned openingbowlers took minimum time to strike. Abid Ali bowled RoyFredericks with the first ball of the match, and from that momenton, the West Indies, already reeling under the shock registeredwhen India enforced the follow-on for the first time in 24 Testsbetween the two countries at Kingston, were on the back foot.Dismissing the home team for 214 on the opening day, India took astranglehold by replying with 352, thanks in the main to DilipSardesai’s 112 and valuable contributions from debutant SunilGavaskar (65), Ashok Mankad (44) and Eknath Solkar (55). In thesecond innings, the Indian attack was not even at full strength,with Erapalli Prasanna being injured. But SrinivasVenkataraghavan rose to the occasion with a five-wicket haul, andwith that wayward genius Salim Durrani chipping in with thewickets of Lloyd and Sobers in successive overs, West Indiescollapsed from 150 for one to 261, leaving India the simple taskof getting 124 for victory.This was duly achieved, for the loss of three wickets on theevening of the fourth day, and Gavaskar capped a memorable debutby hitting the winning boundary in an unbeaten 67. India, thus,won a Test in the 25th encounter between the two countries.Five years later, the scenario was very different. For one thing,the Indians, having registered rubber triumphs in the West Indiesand England in 1971, were no strangers to victories abroad.Secondly, the Indian team of the 70s was made of sterner stuffthan their predecessors of the 50s and 60s.Against this, the West Indies had completed their rebuildingprocess and had built a formidable side comprising powerfulstroke-makers and a fearsome pace quartet. The visitors came toPort of Spain for the third Test of the series one down and,midway through the fourth day, the series had virtually beenlost. After the West Indies had dominated all through, Lloyddeclared, setting India a target of 403 in about nine hours.It was a preposterous target. In nearly 800 Tests, only one team- Don Bradman’s all-conquering Australian side against England atLeeds in 1948 – had scored over 400 runs to win a match. And yet,planning their strategy “with the perfection of a cricketingLester Piggott,” as Tony Cozier wrote at the time, India pulledoff one of Test cricket’s most remarkable victories, reachingtheir seemingly insurmountable target with seven of the 20mandatory overs to spare. Their total of 406 for four remains,even today, over 800 Test matches later, the highest in thefourth innings to win a Test match.Gavaskar and Anshuman Gaekwad, then being tried out as amakeshift opening batsman, put on 69 runs, and this was followedby a second-wicket partnership of 108 runs between Gavaskar andMohinder Amarnath, a makeshift number three.After Gavaskar was out for 102, Amarnath and Gundappa Viswanathinched India closer to the target with a third-wicket stand of159 runs before the latter was out for 112. Amarnath, who playedthe sheet-anchor role to perfection, was fourth out at 392,batting 442 minutes for 85. Brijesh Patel brought the match to aswift and stunning conclusion with a series of enthrallingstrokes and finished on 49 not out. Interestingly, four players -Gavaskar, Solkar, Venkatraghavan and Bishan Singh Bedi – had alsobeen members of the victorious 1971 team.As I said, notable as Tuesday’s victory was, for reasons alreadyexplained it cannot be compared to the two earlier wins at Indiancricket’s favourite venue abroad. However, I would like to end onan encouraging, even intriguing note. In 1971, the Indian victorycame about in the second Test of the series, and the visitorswent on to take the series. Can we expect an encore fromGanguly’s men?