wisden india extra issue 5

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

1

IndIa's summer sojourn

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

200 years of Lords

Edited by: Karunya KeshavDesigned by: Ashish Mohanty All pictures published as part of Indias Summer Sojourn courtesy of Getty Images and Wisden India Archive

Contents

IN THE HUNT FOR WIN NO. 4Indias 16 Test tours of England so far have had some thrilling contests - a look at the highs, the lows and the personal bestsSidhanta Patnaik | 24

THE ONE THaT cHaNgED IT allIn 1971, we had the spinners and the tight fielding to support them and, for the first time, we realised we could win abroadAjit Wadekar | 31

a TRaDITION OF WRONg UNsFrom the royal slight in 1936 to the great jelly beans pitch invasion of 2011, Indias England sojourns are speckled with controversiesR Kaushik | 35

NEW scRIpT FOR a NEW gENERaTIONLed by a man not unduly bothered by the history books, a young Indian team has the chance to lay to rest the ghosts of series pastDileep Premachandran | 04

INDIas BEsT aMBassaDORTO ENglaNDIn a traditionally difficult place for Indian cricketers, Dravid has tasted crushing defeat, unexpected success and everything inbetweenAnand Vasu | 08

a TalE OF TWO sERIEsA first-innings total that helps bowlers put pressure on the England line-up is the difference between a series win and a loss, says LaxmanR Kaushik | 12

THE Ball THaT sEaMs, sWINgs aND sINgsMadan Lal and Balwinder Singh Sandhu think the Indian pace attack has what it takes to exploit the English conditionsSaurabh Somani | 16

lEavE a ROOkIE, RETURN a HEROThe greenhorns in the 2014 Indian team to England need only to look to their predecessors for inspirationManoj Narayan | 19

a spEcIal sEaT aT HallOWED gROUNDs Some memories of Lords of cricket traditions and classic contests, unforgiving stewards and forgettable food start from the press box

R Mohan | 40

QUIck sIxIf not a cricketer, what would Cheteshwar Pujara want to be? And what would Varun Aaron like for a last supper? Wisden India wants to know.

11, 21

THE cOlONEl TakEs lORDsI wouldnt trade my three centuries there for anything: Dilip Vengsarkar

Shamya Dasgupta | 43

WIsDEN HONOURs FOR THE lEaDINg lIgHTsThe Wisden Cricketer of the Year award recognises standout performances from the English summer - so far, 17 Indians have made the cut

Sidhanta Patnaik | 46

FIElDs OF glORyA tour of the five stadiums that will host the England-India Tests

22, 23, 38, 39

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

4 IndIAs sUMMER sojoURn

New scriptfor a New geNeratioN

Led by a man not unduLy bothered by the history books, a young indian team has the chance to Lay to rest the ghosts of series past

D i l e e p p r e m a c h a N D r a N

For some, 42 is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. For Indian cricketers embarking on a tour of England, its an old ghost thats never far from the pavilion. Its presence can be felt each time the team does badly, and even exceptional performances tend to be overlooked as a nations batsmen continue to be judged on the basis of what transpired across 17 overs at Lords 40 years ago.

I was a few days old when it happened, but the

devastation that Geoff Arnold and Chris Old caused on an

overcast morning has been talked about right through my

childhood, adolescence and adult life. Each time India tour

England, we get the references to the Summer of 42 and

also to the scoreboard from Headingley in 1952. Those two

nadirs seem to define the Indian experience in England.

In my lifetime, Ive seen Dilip Vengsarkar bat masterfully

in a summer when most of the locals could barely put bat

to ball (The Colonel takes Lords, pg 43). Ive witnessed

the so-called Golden Generation thrash England in

seamer-friendly conditions at Headingley, and Zaheer

Khan take umbrage at the spilling of some jelly beans to

destroy England at Trent Bridge (A tradition of wrong uns,

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

5

new no. 4 Virat Kohli came of age as a Test player in Australia.

dILEEP PREMACHAndRAn


pg 34). On the last tour in 2011, even as everything that

could possibly go wrong did, Rahul Dravid crafted three

magnificent hundreds. And yet, when India take the field

at Lords on July 9, the whispers about frailty against the

moving ball will be relentless. You have 42 to thank for

that.

Its a good thing that the current Indian team is led by

someone not unduly bothered by the history books. What

Old or Arnold did is of little importance to Mahendra Singh

Dhoni. He doesnt dismiss the archives, but hes always

made it clear that hes not enamoured of them. Whats on

a yellowing page or microfilm isnt going to help his team

win Test matches.

It wasnt always that way. The players of my generation

and those that went before, especially the legends, were

usually in thrall to Lords and its history. When Dravid or

Sourav Ganguly speak of their debuts there in 1996 (Indias

best ambassador to England, pg 8), their eyes reveal the

fulfilment of childhood dreams. For them, and millions of

other colonial kids like myself, making a century or even

playing at HQ was as good as it got.

That is no longer the case. Dhoni has taken a team to the

No. 1 ranking in Test cricket, and won every limited-overs

trophy worth losing sleep over. He isnt going to let his

career be defined by how he does on three tours of England

or a handful of matches at Lords. He wants to win, but he

hasnt gone to England carrying a ton of expectation.

The same is true of most of his teammates. Virat Kohli

is acutely conscious of the fact that he now bats at the No.

4 position where he who many considered God played

for nearly a quarter century. But that isnt going to inhibit

his strokeplay or dictate his body language on the field.

Cheteshwar Pujara (pg 11), while recognising the debt

of gratitude that Indian cricket owes Dravid, has made

it amply clear that he has no interest in being a clone. R

Ashwin doesnt aspire to be Erapalli Prasanna, and Shikhar

Dhawan is no left-handed version of Virender Sehwag.

These men epitomise a new India. They will not be

intimidated or awed by their surroundings. And thats just

as well, given that Indias back catalogue in England five

wins in 52 Tests is not one that inspires great confidence.

We often speak of learning from the past. In this case, the

lessons are almost all cautionary ones and best avoided by

a side that is at its best when fearless.

Until India win a Test in England, the recent struggles

away from home will be referenced at every juncture. Yet,

in what has been a story of overwhelming travel sickness

since 2011, there have been several moments to cherish.

Kohli came of age as a Test player in Australia. Pujara

followed suit in South Africa, and even the defeat to

New Zealand featured crumbs of consolation. For a team

moving on from some of the greatest players to wear the

India cap, victory and defeat are not the only milestones.

The 2011 tour went the way of a fall down a ski slope

midway through the second Test, and while a five-match

series does give a team a chance to claw back the initiative,

it can also lead to total disintegration, as was the case with

These men epitomise a new India. They will not be intimidated or awed by their surroundings. We often speak of learning from the past. In this case, the lessons are almost all cautionary ones and best avoided by a side that is at its best when fearless.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

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England in Australia last winter.

Indias decision to pick an 18-man

squad raised many an eyebrow,

but it does give more options to

a side that hasnt really had a settled bowling line-up since

Zaheer Khan lost his spark.

There will be intense scrutiny on the batsmen and their

techniques in English conditions, but having acquitted

themselves fairly well in both South Africa and New

Zealand, theyll be confident of taking on an English side

that has slipped several rungs since that halcyon summer

of 2011.

The real concern for India is the bowling (The ball that

seams, swings and sings, pg 16), especially the inability to

maintain consistency over two innings in a Test match.

Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron (pg 21) and Ishant Sharma

can summon up the pace to trouble top batsmen, while

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pankaj Singh are well equipped

to make the most of helpful atmospheric conditions.

Their lack of pedigree could be a blessing as well (Leave

a rookie, return a hero, pg 19). There was clearly an element

of complacency in the way England approached the Tests

against Sri Lanka, and its doubtful whether this Indian

pace sextet will be giving the opposition grey hair in the

run-up to the series. But as Roger Binny, Chetan Sharma

and Madan Lal showed in 1986, reputations mean nothing

if you can find the right line and length. Binny, whose son,

Stuart, could come into the fray at some stage, was a master

at keeping things simple and that should be the primary

focus for Joe Dawes, the bowling coach.

In 2011, this was a series between the side ranked No.

1 and the one eyeing that ranking, with the Lords Test

also the 2000th to be played. With a football World Cup

hogging most of the sporting limelight, there is far less

anticipation about this contest, and that should suit two

teams that have got plenty of issues to address. Both have

gone from summit to foothills inside three years, and a new

generation has the opportunity to script its own stories.

There will be no tickertape parade of the sort that

greeted Ajit Wadekar and his team in 1971 (The one that

changed it all, pg 31) if India do win, but any success will be

of vital importance to a side that is once again stuck with

the label of home-track bullies. Dhoni has often spoken

of his disdain for tags of any sort, but for both him and

his players, this has the potential to be a defining series.

This time, there is no Indian Premier League hangover to

blame, no injury concerns to hide behind and no Tendulkar

hoopla to be distracted by. Three years on from the darkest

days, a young and unscarred side is ready to reach for the

light.

spearhead Ishant Sharma can summon up the pace to trouble top batsmen, but consistency in the bowling attack remains a concern.

dILEEP PREMACHAndRAn


iNDias best ambassaDorto eNglaND

in a traditionaLLy difficuLt pLace for indian cricketers, dravid has tasted crushing defeat, unexpected success and everything in-between

a N a N D V a s U

As the 18 men of the Indian squad to England get ready for their first Test at Trent Bridge from July 9, only three of them having played in the country before, theyll go in to face Stuart Broad, James Anderson and co. armed with the

vast experience and expertise of Rahul Dravid behind them. Dravid joined the coaching staff for a short stint as mentor in the run up to the Tests, and the managements

choice is not hard to fathom. In what is traditionally a difficult place for Indian cricketers, Dravid has tasted

crushing defeat, unexpected success and everything in-between.

Dravid was part of four tours to England. In 1996, he

made his debut in the second Test, which India drew, and

scored 84 and 8 as India drew the third Test in Nottingham,

only to lose the series 0-1. In 2002, he played all four Tests,

scoring three centuries, including a double-hundred at The

Oval. That innings spanned ten-and-a-half hours, took

up 468 balls, and was 163 more than the second highest

score for the innings Sachin Tendulkars 54. During the

same series, Dravid was a key player in the Headingley Test,

putting up a memorable 170-run stand with Sanjay Bangar;

India won that Test to ensure that the series was drawn 1-1.

In 2007, as captain, Dravid went one better, and though

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

9

he did not match his high standards with the bat, India

won 1-0, their first series win in England since 1986. And

then came the final flourish, in 2011, when India lurched

from loss to loss, crashing and burning to a 0-4 thumping

even as Dravid smacked three centuries, aggregating 461

for the series.

That makes his tally in England 1376 runs, with six of

his 36 hundreds coming in the country. And in all this, his

batting average was

an astonishing 68.8,

more than 15 points

clear of his overall

figures. No wonder

then that he simply

loved playing in

England.

Of his 13 Tests in

the country, Dravid

played four Tests at Lords, and

there is little doubt about the place

the worlds most famous cricket

ground occupies in his heart. The

most obvious reason for this is the

sentimental one: Dravids first hit in Test cricket, back in

1996, was at Lords and he came within kissing distance of

making a century, walking after he nicked one from Chris

Lewis, on 95.

Every memory of my debut at Lords is still vivid. There

are a lot of other things that happened since that have gone

a bit fuzzy, but memories of my debut are really vivid,

said Dravid. I still get goose pimples just thinking about

it, walking out for my first bat in Test cricket and doing

so at Lords. Getting the opportunity to start at Lords was

a privilege. I grew up hearing about that ground, reading

about it, my dad had spoken to me about it. He always said,

It would be great if you could play there one day, and for

that to happen in my first Test was incredible.

stompIng grounds Dravids first hit in Tests,

back in 1996, was at Lords, where he came within kissing distance

of a century.

The second-highest impact Indian batsman in England of all time, Rahul Dravid has the lowest failure rate and second-highest pressure impact. But, of his 13 Tests, he has only one series defining (SD) performance the 148 in Leeds in 2002, after which Tendulkar (193) got into the act to take the match away from England. Take into consideration his fielding and captaincy and he becomes the fifth-highest impact Indian player in England.

AnAnd VAsU


Dravid followed that innings with scores of 46, 63,

2, 9, 103* and 36 on the ground, and it was only in 2007,

when India got out of jail as rain and bad light came to

their rescue, that he actually failed at Lords. That jailbreak

was crucial, as it ensured India were alive in the series long

enough to win it later in Nottingham.

It has always been a special place for me. Ive enjoyed

playing there. For a lot of people, they ask what the big

fuss is about. To each his own. I respect that some things

dont connect with some people, said Dravid. Maybe Ive

had success there and that has made me biased. But the

history and tradition behind that ground is undeniable. It

is, in that sense, the home of cricket. Some of the greatest

players you have heard about and read about, walked down

those very steps and made their runs there. Some of your

heroes cherished playing there, and that was important to

me. Every time Ive gone to Lords, Ive enjoyed myself.

Even now, when I go for World Cricket Committee

meetings, or when I took my sons there to walk around and

get a feel for the place, its special. It is one of the biggest

brand names in our great game, and that must count for

something.

While Dravid loves Lords in a special way, his overall

feelings about playing in England are no less affectionate.

A big reason why I loved playing in England for me,

it was always easy to switch off from the cricket there. I

was really relaxed outside of the cricket, and it probably

showed in my performance on the field, he said. The first

thing is that youre not sitting on flights all the time. On

a bus its a lot more relaxed, its a bit of a cocoon and yet

you can actually see the world go by. You see familiar faces

all the time, theres so much to do in London, and were

typically there in the summer when the weather is good.

Theres just so much to see and do. People dont hassle you

if youre walking down the street. That was liberating in its

own way.

This time, given his role on a commentary team and

with the Indian squad, things will be slightly different for

Dravid. Looking at the young team he would be guiding, he

said there have been some positive signs of their ability.

You look at Virat (Kohli), (Cheteshwar) Pujara,

(Ajinkya) Rahane, (Shikhar) Dhawan, theyve all got

The Headingly Test in 2002 was just another Test match for me. I didnt have any specific preparations for it but before the Test, I had batted decently in the warm-up game against Essex.

I was primarily picked as a bowler but had to open the innings to accommodate two spinners.

When (Virender) Sehwag got out early, it was obvious that the wicket was not batting friendly, so Rahul (Dravid) and I assessed the conditions early and played within our limitations. We knew it was a challenge but took on the responsibility to survive the day. Though I got out, it was very

satisfying that I could contribute towards Indias big overseas Test victory. Going into the Test, one

of the most important factors was the way Parthiv (Patel) and Zaheer (Khan) batted out the last 15 overs to save the previous Test at Trent Bridge. That gave us confidence.

Also, during that tour, we had some issues with the BCCI about the contracts and Anil (Kumble) was representing the team, so the victory was crucial in unifying the team. The victory also underlined the bold approach of the Indian team under Sourav Ganguly, where we still made those brave decisions of batting first at a ground like Headingley, still opted to play two spinners on a seaming wicket. It helped improve the image of the Indian team overseas.

SANJAY BANGAR, now Kings XI Punjab coach, made a patient 68 in 236 balls in the third Test at Headingley, Leeds, in 2002. India won by an innings and 46 runs.

As told to Disha Shetty

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

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hundreds in recent

overseas series.

Theyre all young and

have runs abroad,

thats heartening. Its

early days in their

respective careers,

especially Test

cricket. This tour

will give you a good

read on how far they

may go. The talent and ability to make Test runs overseas

is there. Now they have to be consistent over the course of

a Test and then a series. What you dont want is one big

performance and a lot of 20s and 30s.

You also want batsmen to do well as a group, have big

partnerships, crack games wide open. If batsmen get set,

and can put a big stand together, it generally wins you

games, or at least sets the game up.

As for the bowling, he said, much depends on Ishant

Sharma, who is expected to lead the attack. The bowling

is a bit of a concern from my perspective. I look at various

possible combinations and I wonder how were going to get

20 wickets in a Test. But, that said, its an opportunity for

some of the young guys to step up, especially Ishant, as hes

been around a while now. This tour is a great chance for

him to take things forward, take things to the next level.

From someone who has played as much Test cricket as

Ishant has, you want consistency you dont want the odd

good performance, you want him to carry the attack.

It remains to be seen if any of the youngsters can do a

Dravid. For now though, they get to start off with some

good advice from one of the very best.

If you could play any character from a book, movie or comic, who would it be?

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

If you could disappear from the limelight for two weeks, where would you go and what would you do?

I like going on holidays. I would love to explore the UK countryside.

A sportsperson from another field whom you admire.

I like Nadal and Djokovic. Nadal is a fighter and the kind of fitness he has is remarkable. I like Djokovics work ethic.

Youre stuck on a desert island, whom would you like for company?

My wife.

What would you have for a last supper?

Home-cooked food, where I get chapati, dal and sabzi just healthy food.

If not a cricketer, then what?

A businessman. Im not sure what business.

Quick Sixc h e t e s h w a r p U j a r a

Farokh Engineer is Indias highest impact wicketkeeper in England till date. Having played in 1967, 1971 and 1974, he was also flexible with his batting position he opened the innings with considerable success too. His 59 and 28 not out, besides his wicketkeeping duties, in the iconic Oval Test of 1971 brought him his SD. He is fourth on the list of highest impact Indian players.

AnAnd VAsU


a tale of two series

a first-innings totaL that heLps bowLers put pressure on the engLand Line-up is the difference between a series win and a Loss, says Laxman

r K a U s h i K

England is one of the few Test-playing countries where VVS Laxman does not have a century, but the batsman from Hyderabad is one of those select few in world cricket who arent judged by numbers alone. In three tours of England between 2002 and 2011, Laxman only made 586 runs at 34.47 with five half-centuries and a best of 74, in his very first Test

in England at Lords in 2002, but he was involved in one drawn (2002), one victorious (2007) and one disastrous (2011) series.

In 2002, India bounced back from a heavy defeat in the

first Test to draw the four-match series 1-1, ending much

the stronger of the two sides by the time the series ended

at The Oval. Five years on, largely untroubled after hanging

on by the skin of their teeth to eke out a draw in the first

Test at Lords, India clinched the three-match series 1-0, the

series win in England coming after 21 years, but everything

went pear-shaped in 2011 when collectively, Indias batting

came a cropper and they were crushed 4-0 in the four-

match showdown.

India havent always possessed the most threatening

bowling unit all-round, so they have had to rely heavily

on their batsmen to create scoreboard pressure. While it

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

13

is true that a team needs to take 20 wickets to win a Test

match more often than not, there are various routes to

taking those 20 wickets. India have generally relied on the

strength of their batting to pick up wickets, twisted as that

might sound.

Whenever we have done well in England, it is on the

back of scoring big runs in the first innings, Laxman told

Wisden India as he reflected in particular on the tours of

2007 and 2011. Its very important to score runs first up,

and thats exactly what happened in 2007, except in the

first Test at Lords when we just about managed to top 200.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and S Sreesanth, the last-wicket

pair, somehow negotiated the last five overs at Lords as

India escaped with a fortuitous draw in that game, but

from then on, it was India all the way. Both in Nottingham

(which India won by seven wickets)

and at The Oval, we got really big

scores in the first innings (481

and 664 respectively), pointed

out Laxman. And that was a big

reason why we were able to put pressure on the England

batsmen. That, coupled with the fact that our premier fast

bowler (Zaheer Khan) was in excellent form. That is so

important.

Usually, over the years, there has been one bowler who

has had an excellent series whenever we have done well

in England, and that is usually a fast bowler. Because the

conditions there suit seam and swing bowling, if a bowling

unit is in top form and the batsmen are getting big runs,

there is every chance of constantly keeping the opposition

on the back foot. Thats precisely what happened in 2007.

free fall Laxman: In 2011, other

than Rahul Dravid, no batsman was able to convert a start into

something substantial.

R KAUsHIK


By contrast, 2011 was the exact

opposite, with everything that

could go wrong going horribly

wrong. We started off the first

Test at Lords quite well, we picked up two wickets for

nothing but then, our premier fast bowler broke down,

Laxman went on, referring to the hamstring injury that

ended Zaheers tour inside the first session. There was

a lot of inexperience in the fast bowling ranks, so it was

imperative for Zaheer to lead the way and lead from the

front. Him getting injured that early in the tour, it was a big

blow for the team.

Then, in the second Test, we lost our other experienced

bowler Harbhajan Singh, who too was ruled out of the

series. To lose one of them was bad enough; to lose both

our main bowlers was a blow we just couldnt recover from.

Laxman said India had also erred in squad composition

going into the series. We had gone in with a very wrong

combination, just two specialist openers in the squad

which was very surprising, he observed. Usually, you go

with three or sometimes four full-time openers because

playing the new ball is critical in England. When Gautam

(Gambhir) got injured, we had Rahul (Dravid) opening the

batting, which meant the batting order was shuffled a lot.

Because of injuries to batsmen and bowlers, we never had

a settled combination in any Test.

The highlight of our performances in 2002 and 2007

was batsmen going on and getting big scores, be it Viru

(Virender Sehwag) or Sachin (Tendulkar) or Rahul. In 2011,

other than Rahul, no one was able to convert a start into

something substantial, which put a lot of pressure on the

inexperienced bowling line-up.

It didnt help either that Englands batsmen were in top

form, and they were able to not just convert their starts

and make hundreds, but go on to make doubles and even

a triple, almost. In countries like England, South Africa

and Australia, it is very important to win the crunch

moments. We were not able to do so. After losing at Lords,

we bounced back in Nottingham but we lost the initiative.

We had taken the lead and were only three or four down.

India have relied on the strength of their batting to pick up wickets, twisted as that sounds

team effortIn 2007, the bowling unit was in top form and the batsmen were getting big runs, including 664 in the first innings at The Oval.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

15

Had we taken a lead

of 150 or so, we would

have been on top. But

Stuart Broad bowled

well with the second

new ball to keep our

lead down, and we

then allowed them to

score big in the second innings. We had our chances, but

we just were not good enough to handle the pressure time

after time.

Despite possessing a formidable batting line-up, India

had wiped the floor in 2011. This time around, only three

members of the 18-man party have played Test cricket in

England previously, but Laxman saw the team putting

up a spirited fight. The performance of the team in the

Champions Trophy in England last year, that gives me a

lot of encouragement, he remarked. This young batting

line-up is very talented, it has the potential to adapt to

conditions quickly. I know the Champions Trophy was

a shorter format, the 50-over version, but the manner

in which they batted and their approach showed a lot of

promise.

Also, I am very buoyed by the performances of the

batsmen in South Africa and New Zealand. Even though we

lost both series, I was heartened to see the way the batsmen

played. They have shown that they have what it takes to

adapt to overseas conditions quickly. It was unfortunate

that the team lost some close games in South Africa and

New Zealand, the team was in contention to win at least

two out of those four Tests. I am sure the young Indian

batsmen have the talent; temperament and the ability to

remain positive are factors that will determine exactly how

they express that talent.

The most consistent Indian players in England have been Kapil Dev (13 matches), Zaheer Khan (8), Vinoo Mankad (6), Bapu Nadkarni (4) and Mohammad Nissar (4).

QUIZD i l e e p V

1. Which useful lower-order batsman registered Indias first fifty in Test cricket in their first Test match at Lords in 1932?

2. Who replaced the injured Vijay Manjrekar in the 1959 tour squad after completing the Oxford University cricket season, and scored a hundred on debut in the fourth Test at Old Trafford?

3. Which English batsman was dropped from the team after scoring 246 in the first Test at Headingley, Leeds, in 1967, in an innings dismissed as boring by the media and selfish by the selectors?

4. Whose faster ball during the 1971 tour was referred to by his teammates as Mill Reef, after the Derby-winning horse of that season?

5. Indias disastrous 1974 tour came to be known after the number of runs they scored in the second innings of the second Test at Lords. Whats the tour commonly called?

6. For the 1979 tour, India took two wicketkeepers. Name them.

7. What batting record held by Greg Chappell (v New Zealand at Wellington in 1974) was broken in the first Test at Lords in 1990, and by whom?

8. Whose illustrious 66-Test career came to an end in the second Test at Lords in 1996?

9. The 2007 series had only four centuries scored with three from Englands side. Who scored Indias lone hundred?

10. In the first Test in 2011, MS Dhoni, the India captain, had an unusual achievement against his name, a first in 123 Tests and 127 years of Lords existence, infuriating the purists. What was it?

Answers on Page 51

R KAUsHIK


the ball that seams, swiNgs aND siNgs

madan LaL and baLwinder singh sandhu think the indian pace attack has what it takes to expLoit the engLish conditions

s a U r a b h s o m a N i

Seam and swing bowling have been the building blocks of most attacks in Test cricket. Nowhere is this truer than in the United Kingdom, where the pitches, the conditions and the frequently heavy cloud cover produce an environment for pacers to thrive in.

The Twenty20 age has added several bows to the pacers

string with a variety of slower balls, run-up alterations and

bouncers of different speeds, but where variety on demand

is a necessity for the shorter format, the most consistent ally

of the quicker men is still the tried and tested combination

of seam and swing in Test cricket.

Indias last tour to England, in 2011, was one where a

Murphys Law nightmare was lived out in full public view.

But before that, they had good outings in 2002 and 2007,

with a draw and a win to show for it. And, with England

considerably weaker than they were in 2011, Madan Lal and

Balwinder Singh Sandhu, exponents of seam and swing

who have both tasted success in England, feel India with

a pace attack of Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,

Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron, Pankaj Singh and Stuart

Binny stand as good a chance as ever to earn a fourth

series win in the country.

The former India internationals suggest that a bowler

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

17

keep the ball in the

batsmans half to

make the conditions

work for him.

You have to bowl

in the right areas. If

you release the ball

late, it might not

carry to the wicketkeeper, but if you hit the right spot, then

you can seam it around a lot, advises Madan Lal. You

have to aim for a three-quarters length, just short of good

length area. And you have to bowl in one corridor.

Bowling short is not going to solve problems, he says.

When you bowl short, the ball comes on to the bat nicely,

but if you bowl it up you have a chance of getting a caught

behind or caught in the slips. You have to bowl a length at

which the batsman can come out and drive you that will

give you a chance of getting wickets.

Sandhu agrees that bowlers need to make the movement

on offer work for them by pitching the ball up. India have

some good movers of the ball. You need to adjust your

lengths in England to get the best results. You have to pitch

it a bit further up than they will do here (in India). It will

give the ball time to swing and seam, says Sandhu.

But they have to bowl the right line too. See, the England

players arent new to swing bowling, so you have to bowl

in areas where they find it difficult to hit you. The Indian

bowlers already have the skills to get the ball to swing, its

only a matter of adapting to the conditions.

While stressing on the need to bowl fuller, Madan Lal

doesnt discount using the short ball as a surprise weapon.

The bouncer is a weapon for bowlers, but you cant over-

bowl it. Bowling in the corridor and keeping it up are what

you have to do consistently, he

explains. Of course you have to

use the bouncer, because it will

make the batsmans footwork

uncertain. They will have to think,

whether to go in front or back, so that makes a difference

when you bowl one or two short balls. If his footwork

becomes shaky, thats where you can always get wickets.

For Indias young attack, Zaheer Khan is a good example

sucker punch Zaheer Khan was not

just a master at moving the ball but could also work

beautifully on setting up a batsman.

Zaheer Khans contribution over two series 2002 and 2007 including an SD in 2007, makes him the second-highest impact bowler from India in England. In fact, his 4 for 59 and 5 for 75 at Trent Bridge in 2007 is the second-highest bowling impact performance of all time.

sAURABH soMAnI


to follow. Zaheer was not just a

master of swing conventional

and reverse when at his peak,

but could work beautifully on

setting up a batsman. He often stuck to a channel, making

the ball swing one way, subtly dragging the batsman out of

position with his line and movement. Then he landed the

sucker punch, moving the ball the other way, catching an

out-of-position batsman off-guard.

As an international bowler, you have to think like that,

says Madan Lal. You are not an international bowler if you

dont think like that. When you get the ball in hand, the

ball should talk. You have to watch the batsman - what is

he doing? Is he coming in front or going back?

Both Madan Lal and Sandhu believe Indias pace attack

is competent enough to deliver victory, even if conditions in

England have grown batting-friendly over the years. There

arent that many green pitches now, points out Madan

Lal. When we went, there was a lot of grass, but now the

pitches are better for batting. Earlier, there was also a lot

of moisture that used to stay under the pitch, so the ball

moved around more. It rains all the time, so that also keeps

the moisture there. Most of the load in England is taken by

the pacers, and I think they should win the series.

While the pacers will be expected to do the heavy lifting,

the spinners is also a valuable supporting act that can

make or break the attacks balance. A quality spinner helps

the fielding captain spread the load, juggle his options. By

getting through overs quicker, the spinner also offers the

fielding captain some measure of control over the timing

of new balls, not to speak of keeping over-rates in check.

Graeme Swann did that well for England, but with his

retirement and Monty Panesar being out of favour, India

have an added edge. England dont have (Kevin) Pietersen,

Graeme Swann or Jonathan Trott. Swann was giving them

good balance, bowling quickly and taking wickets, says

Madan Lal. He ensured the new ball was available earlier

by getting through his overs fast.

The last time when India got beaten, England had that

balance. But this time, I think India have a better chance.

Ill be surprised if they dont win the series.

Bowling short is not going to solve problems. Bowl it up and you have a chance of getting a caught behind or caught in the slips.

sweet spotAim for three-quarters length, just short of the

good length area, advises Madan Lal.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

19

leaVe a rooKie,retUrN a hero

the greenhorns in the 2014 indian team to engLand need onLy to Look to their predecessors for inspiration

m a N o j N a r a y a N

Sport has always been a bit of a drama queen. It loves its gallant characters and lionhearted conquerors, and loathes the villains who let chances slip. It has a particular fondness for the story of an underdog, the Davids that get the better of the Goliaths. And, as India embark on a five-Test tour of England this

summer, the underlying feeling is that, at this biggest of podiums, a unlikely hero is bound to rise.

In the 18-man party for England, itd be far less time

consuming to list those with experience of playing in that

country. Suffice to say only Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the

captain, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma survive from

the squad that suffered the 4-0 humiliation in 2011. Among

the rest, many of them relative greenhorns, Virat Kohli has

the most experience, with all of 24 Test caps so far.

Not for a while have India sent such an inexperienced

squad to the land of fish and chips.

If any of the relative unknowns in the current squad

need motivation, they need just look at their predecessors.

From Vinoo Mankad in 1946 to a baby-faced Parthiv Patel,

whose gritty, unbeaten 60-ball 19 on debut helped draw the

Trent Bridge Test in 2002, India have had many wild cards


giving the English more than what theyd have bargained

for.

During the 1946 tour, which lasted just over four months,

Mankad, considered one of the finest allrounders India has

ever produced, made his Test debut at Lords. By the end

of the tour, he had scored 1120 runs and taken 129 wickets

in 29 matches (Tests and tour games). No member of any

touring side has matched this since.

Abbas Ali Baig played just ten Tests over two decades,

but his name will be recalled for years thanks to his century

on debut in Manchester in 1959, after being called up as

replacement for the injured Vijay Manjrekar. With his 112

at Old Trafford, he, at 20 years and 131 days, became the

youngest Indian to score a Test century. That achievement

was later bettered by a certain Sachin Tendulkar, whose ton

in 1990 too came in Manchester. He was just 17 years and

107 days old, another rookie who took the world by storm.

There was Chetan Sharma in 1986; his 16 wickets in two

Tests, including a ten-wicket haul in Birmingham a first

for an Indian in England helped India claim a famous 2-0

win, their second series win in England.

Ten years later, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and

Venkatesh Prasad all made their debuts in England. Prasad

ended the series as the joint highest wicket-taker with Chris

Lewis, Ganguly scored two centuries on debut at Lords

and at Trent Bridge and Dravid sparkled with valiant half-

centuries. The series heralded a new generation of players

who went on to build a legacy.

Heroes have a knack of announcing their arrival on the

biggest stage. Among the current crop, Stuart Binny, the

batting allrounder, certainly is poised to do so. On June 17,

in the second One-Day International of Indias brief tour

to Bangladesh, he returned 6 for 4 the best figures by

an Indian in the format to help

bundle out the opposition for

58. He later admitted the seam-

friendly conditions in Bangladesh,

precisely the kind expected in

England, played a part.

Indias pace bowling attack is especially thin on

experience. Apart from Ishant, who has 55 caps,

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron,

Ishwar Pandey and Pankaj Singh have a combined total of

13 Test appearances. Compare this with 2007, when India

won 1-0. The bowling attack was spearheaded by Zaheer

openIng testA baby-faced Parthiv

Patels gritty unbeaten 19 on debut helped draw the

Trent Bridge Test in 2002.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

21

Khan and Anil Kumble, who had, by then, combined

Test caps of 162, and they guided the likes of RP Singh, S

Sreesanth and Ramesh Powar.

Bhuvneshwar and Shami, both medium-pacers who

can move the ball, have for long impressed in the shorter

forms of the game and you get the feeling that theyre

due a big performance overseas. They have both played

six Tests each, with Shami particularly impressive with

27 wickets, including some in South Africa and New

Zealand. Meanwhile, Aaron, one of Indias few genuine fast

bowlers, struggled in the recent ODIs in New Zealand and

Bangladesh, and is something of a lottery ticket capable

of destruction, but equally susceptible to implosion.

While the batting will revolve around Kohli and

Cheteshwar Pujara, there is quality on the bench.

Wriddhiman Saha is a capable wicketkeeper-batsman

whose hopes of making the playing XI depend entirely on

Dhoni getting injured. Nevertheless, he makes for a fine

understudy, who showcased his skill with the bat during

the recent Indian Premier League, and itll be interesting

to watch him if hes called upon.

Bear in mind that while the big stage has its charms,

there are pitfalls as well. It is as much a shortcut to

greatness as it is a booby trap to obscurity. Flourish, and

respect is guaranteed, along with a few dedicated pages in

the sports history. Failure could mean a long stint on the

sidelines. For all the usual cricket clichs taking it one

game at a time and so on the larger picture will surely play

on the minds of the relative unknowns in the Indian squad.

Binny could well do a Mankad (no, not the dismissal),

while Bhuvneshwar and Shami can draw inspiration from

Chetan and Prasad. All that remains is for the lined-up

heroes to step up to the plate.

With inputs from Sidhanta Patnaik

If you could play a character from a movie, which one would you choose?

Christian Bale as Batman

If you could disappear from the limelight for a fortnight, where would you go and what would you do?

Chilling on a beach somewhere in the south of France

Favourite karaoke track?

Walk of Life, Dire Straits

A sportsperson from another field you idolise?

Roger Federer

What food/song/movie is your guilty pleasure?

I love watching movies. I must have watched Godfather at least 20 times.

Your dream machine?

Mustang GT 550

Quick SixV a r U N a a r o N

MAnoj nARAYAn


TrenT Bridge

1ST TEST

4TH TEST

JULY 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 10.00 GMT | 11.00 LOCAL | 15.30 IST

AUGUST 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 10.00 GMT | 11.00 LOCAL | 15.30 IST

1

4

HIGHEST SCOREIN AN INNINGSENGLAND

2

2

617 in 2002

198 in 2007

Michael Vaughan - 330 in 3 inns

Stuart Broad - 8 in 2 inns

6 for 46 - Stuart Broad in 2011

WON

DRAWN

HIGHEST TOTAL

LOWEST TOTAL

MOST RUNS

MOST WICKETS

BEST BOWLING (INNS)

INDIA

1

2

521 in 1996

157 in 1959

Sachin Tendulkar - 541 in 8 inns

12 - Zaheer Khan

5 for 75 - Zaheer Khan in 2007

177 - SACHIN TEDULKAR IN 1996

197 - MICHAEL VAUGHAN IN 2002

Old TraffOrdENGLAND

3

5

571/ 8d in 1936

294 In 1946

Wally Hammond - 244 in 3 inns

Sir Alec Bedser - 18 in 4 inns

167 - Wally Hammond in 1936

INDIA

0

5

432 in 1990

58 in 1952

Sunil Gavaskar - 242 in 5 inns

Vinoo Mankad - 9 in 3 inns

179 - Mohd. Azharuddin in 1990

BEST BOWLING IN AN INNINGS

WON

DRAWN

HIGHEST TOTAL

LOWEST TOTAL

MOST RUNS

MOST WICKETS

HIGHEST SCORE (INNS)8 FOR 31 BY FRED TRUEMAN IN 1952

6 FOR 102 BY DILIP DOSHI IN 1982


* Second Test at Lords (pg 38)

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

23

The Oval

rOse BOwl

HEAD TO HEAD

3RD TEST

AUGUST 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 10.00 GMT | 11.00 LOCAL | 15.30 IST

JULY 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 10.00 GMT | 11.00 LOCAL | 15.30 IST3

55TH TEST

MOST RUNS

IAN BELL: 365 IN 3 INNS

RAHUL DRAVID: 443 IN 5 INNS

ENGLAND

3

7

594 in 1982

101 in 1971

Fred Trueman - 12 in 3 inns

235 - Ian Bell in 2011

7 for 80 - Sir Gubby Allen

in 1936

WON

DRAWN

HIGHEST TOTAL

LOWEST TOTAL

MOST WICKETS

HIGHEST SCORE (INNS}

BEST BOWLING (INNS)

INDIA

1

7

664 in 2007

98 in 1952

Kapil Dev - 10 in 6 inns

221 - Sunil Gavaskar in 1979

6 for 38 - BS Chandrasekhar

ENGLAND27

Graham Gooch - 1134 in 17 inns

4 - Graham Gooch, Nasser Hussain, Michael

Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen

Fred Trueman - 53 in 17 inns

4 - Alec Bedser

WON

MOST RUNS

MOST 100

MOST WKTS

MOST 5 WKTS IN AN INNS

INDIA5

Sachin Tendulkar -1575 in 30 inns

6 - Rahul Dravid in 23 inns

Kapil Dev - 43 in 22 inns

2- Lala Amarnath, BS Chandrasekhar, Kapil Dev,

Vinoo Mankad, Mohammad Nissar,

Surendranath, Chetan Sharma

India have never played a Test in Southampton.


iN the hUNt forwiN No. 4

indias 16 test tours of engLand have had some thriLLing contests and personaL bests, but the hosts, with 12 wins against indias three, are

cLearLy ahead

s i D h a N t a p a t N a i K

The first All-India cricket team led by

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh travelled to

England in 1911 where they played 23

matches. But, it was another 21 years

before India played their first Test match

in England. Out of 16 Test series in England, India have

won three and drawn one.

1932: England 1 India 0England beat India by 158 runs in Indias inaugural Test

match, but the games best memories were generated by

Mohammad Nissar, the first Indian to take five wickets in

an innings, and Amar Singh, Indias new-ball pair picking

up three English wickets early on the first day. Douglas

Jardines 79 and Les Amess 65 steadied the innings, before

Bill Bowes, the debutant, and Bill Voce combined for 11

wickets, and Jardine made 85 in his second outing in a

clinical England win. For India, CK Nayudu, the captain,

made 40 in the first innings, batting with an injured hand.

Best Batsman: Douglas Jardine 164 runs at 164.00Best Bowler: Bill Bowes 6 wickets at 13.16, Mo-hammad Nissar 6 wickets at 22.50

***1936 (3): England 2 India 0

The poor man-management skills of Maharajkumar

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

25

of Vizianagram, Indias captain he sent Lala Amarnath,

Indias first centurion, back home in the middle of the

tour because of disciplinary issues was reflected in the

scoreline as they lost two Tests by nine wickets. While

Gubby Allen picked ten wickets in Englands win at Lords,

Wally Hammonds 217 and Allens 7 for 80 engineered the

victory at The Oval. Indias best batting display came at

Old Trafford, where Vijay Merchant and Syed Mushtaq

Ali scored centuries and put on 203 runs for the opening

wicket to draw the game.

Best Batsman: Wally Hammond 389 runs at 194.50Best Bowler: Gubby Allen 20 wickets at 16.50


Alec Bedsers 11 wickets, Joe Hardstaff Jr.s unbeaten

205 and Englands ten-wicket win at Lords welcomed

international cricket back to the country after the Second

World War. England were close to winning the next three-

day Test at Old Trafford but

Indias last-wicket pair of Ranga

Sohoni and Dattaram Hindlekar

kept the bowlers at bay for the

final 13 minutes despite eight

men surrounding the bat. And, Vijay Merchants 128 was

the only source of joy for the crowd at a rainy Oval. Overall

on the tour, Vinoo Mankad fascinated with 1120 runs and

129 wickets.

Best Batsman: Vijay Merchant 245 runs at 49.00Best Bowler: Alec Bedser 24 wickets at 12.41


Fred Trueman blew away India, on their first tour to

England after Independence, and his skills were best

advertised in his debut game, at his home ground, where

he and Bedser reduced India to 0 for 4 in the second

innings. Without Merchant, Amarnath and Mushtaq Ali,

pIoneers The class of 1932, led

by CK Nayudu. The team lost their first ever Test

by 158 runs.

sIdHAnTA PATnAIK


India relied heavily

on Vijay Hazare,

who along with Len

Hutton was the only

batsman to make

more than 300 runs.

Mankad joined the

team after the first

Test and left his

indelible mark at

Lords with two innings of 72 and 184, and a five-wicket

haul.

Best Batsman: Len Hutton 399 runs at 79.80Best Bowler: Fred Trueman 29 wickets at 13.31


On their first five-Test tour to England, India lost three

games by an innings and the two others by 171 runs and

eight wickets respectively. England had Ken Barrington

and Colin Cowdrey, the two best batsmen in the series,

and Trueman, who was as lethal as in 1952. Abbas Ali Baig

was playing for Oxford University

when he was asked to replace

an injured Vijay Manjrekar, and

he repaid the faith of the tour

management committee at Old

Trafford by becoming, then, the youngest Indian to score

a Test century.

Best Batsman: Ken Barrington 357 runs at 59.50Best Bowler: Fred Trueman 24 wickets at 16.70


The wet and chilly English weather was a challenge that

a young Indian team couldnt surmount, and they lost all

the three Tests by big margins. Geoffrey Boycott made an

unbeaten 246 at his home ground to set up the first win at

Headingley, but was dropped for the next Test for taking

573 minutes for scoring those runs. Tom Graveney and Ray

Illingworth starred with bat and ball respectively at Lords

before a team effort sealed off things at Edgbaston. For

India, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the skipper, performed

credibly to win the Wisden Cricketer of the Year award.

IgnomInyFred Trueman and Alec

Bedser reduced India to 0 for 4 at Headingley, in their

first post-Independence tour to England.Ghulam Ahmeds match figures

of 7 for 137 at Headingley in 1952 came in 85 overs 40% of the bowling India did in that match. He also took 54% of the wickets India took in that match. That makes his the highest impact bowling performance by an Indian in England.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

27

Best Batsman: Ken Barrington 324 runs at 64.80Best Bowler: Ray Illingworth 20 wickets at 13.30


Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and

Bishan Singh Bedi topped the bowling charts in Indias

first Test series win in England that came after three tightly

fought weather-affected games. India needed 38 runs and

had two wickets in hand at Lords when rain stopped play.

And, at Old Trafford, rain denied England a chance to

pick seven Indian wickets on the final day. Chandrasekhar

provided the impetus with a six-wicket haul on the fourth

day of The Oval match to set up Indias win, achieved with

four wickets in hand, to add to the series victory in West

Indies.

Best Batsman: Brian Luckhurst 244 runs at 40.66Best Bowler: Srinivas Venkataraghavan 13 wi-ckets at 26.92, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar 13 wickets at 29.15

1974 (3): England 3 India 0

India had won all three series

over the previous three years, but

the confidence bubble burst at Old Trafford where an all-

round England prevailed by 113 runs. The sucker punch

came at Lords where India, after following on, were done

in by the pace and swing of Geoff Arnold and Chris Old

to be skittled out for 42 in the first of two innings defeats

of the series. That the famed spin quartet managed only

15 wickets in the summer of 42 forced Ajit Wadekar, the

captain, to retire after the whitewash.

Best Batsman: Dennis Amiss 370 runs at 92.50Best Bowler: Chris Old 18 wickets at 13.83


David Gowers unbeaten 200, Geoffrey Boycotts 155

and Ian Bothams seven wickets gave England an innings

top of the worldAjit Wadekar and BS Chandrasekhar were

stars of the 1971 series win, their first in

England.

sIdHAnTA PATnAIK


victory in the first

Test, but Sunil

Gavaskar scripted the

story of the series in

the fourth innings

of the final Test at

The Oval. India were

nine runs away from a series-levelling win when play was

called off, but Gavaskars flawless 221 earned him the right

to acknowledge the crowd with a raised stump. Rain and

centuries from Dilip Vengsarkar and Gundappa Viswanath

kept Indias hopes alive going to The Oval despite Botham

dismissing them for 96 in the first innings at Lords.

Best Batsman: Sunil Gavaskar 542 runs at 77.42 Best Bowler: Ian Botham 20 wickets at 23.60


Soon after a series in India, the two teams met each other

once again at Lords where Kapil Dev was the Man of the

Match but Derek Randalls century and 15 victims between

Ian Botham and Bob Willis gave England a seven-wicket

win. The series was

another race between

Botham and Kapil

to stake their claim

as the worlds best

allrounder. Botham

hit a double-century

and picked nine

wickets, but Kapil, at his aggressive best during a 93-ball

97 at The Oval, was adjudged the Man of the Series for 292

runs and ten wickets.

Best Batsman: Ian Botham 403 runs at 134.33Best Bowler: Bob Willis 15 wickets at 22.00

***

1986 (3): England 0 India 2Dilip Vengsarkar found himself on the honours board at

Lords for the third time. And, in the absence of an injured

Chetan Sharma at Headingley, Roger Binny and Madan Lal,

called from the middle of his stint with Ashton in Central

Lancashire League, together took ten wickets. Vengsarkar

made another ton as India won two Tests for the first and,

till date, only time in a series in England. Sharma returned

at Edgbaston to become the first Indian to pick ten wickets

in a match in England, to go with his innings haul of five

wickets in the Lords win.

Best Batsman: Dilip Vengsarkar 360 runs at 90.00Best Bowler: Chetan Sharma 16 wickets at 18.75


Graham Goochs monumental 333 and 123 at Lords the

highest match aggregate by a batsman at the venue along

with knocks by Allan Lamb and Robin Smith put India,

fresh from the One-Day International series win, out of

the contest. Ravi Shastri and Mohammad Azharuddin

salvaged some pride before Kapil Devs four consecutive

sixes off Eddie Hemmings avoided the follow-on. Shastri

and Azharuddin scored one more century each and David

Gower got a lifeline at The Oval, but the brightest moment

arrived in the second Test when a callow Sachin Tendulkars

maiden ton a super rearguard effort earned him respect.

Best Batsman: Graham Gooch 752 runs at 125.33Best Bowler: Angus Fraser 16 wickets at 28.75


India, who fielded five debutants during the series, could

not prevent an England victory at Edgbaston, inspired by

Nasser Hussains 128 and Chris Lewiss 5 for 72 in the second

innings. But then, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid arrived

on the biggest stage with a century and 95 respectively at

If the team had made nine more runs, Gavaskars 221 in the fourth innings of the fourth 1979 Test could have been one of the highest impact innings in Indian cricket history.

Kapil Dev has a failure rate of just 14 per cent with the ball in 13 Tests. While this is impressive, it also suggests how little support he got from his other bowlers.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

29

Lords in Dickie Birds last Test as

umpire. Two hundreds each from

Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly,

penetrative bowling by Venkatesh

Prasad and Javagal Srinath, and

Navjot Singh Sidhus walkout in the middle of the series

because of an altercation with Mohammad Azharuddin

dominated the headlines back home.

Best Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar 428 runs at 85.60Best Bowler: Chris Lewis 15 wickets at 23.73, Venkatesh Prasad 15 wickets at 25.00


In a gripping series, Rahul Dravid gave India its first

significant overseas Test win since 1986 and outdid

Michael Vaughan in terms of aesthetics. Centuries by

Nasser Hussain, Vaughan and John Crawley, and Matthew

Hoggards match haul of seven wickets pushed India back

at Lords, but at Trent Bridge a 17-year-old Parthiv Patel

saved the day for his team before Dravid, Sanjay Bangar,

Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and the bowlers owned

five days at Headingley. If Ajit Agarkars century at Lords

made for nice trivia, Dravids 217 at The Oval was the

insignia of new India.

Best Batsman: Michael Vaughan 615 runs at 102.50Best Bowler: Anil Kumble 14 wickets at 36.00, Matthew Hoggard 14 wickets at 38.07


At Trent Bridge, Zaheer Khan, who used his county

cricket experience to formulate Indias first Test series

win in England since 1986, scalped nine victims, even as

Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik set up the seven-wicket

victory with an

opening stand of

147 runs in the first

innings. While

Kevin Pietersen and

Michael Vaughan

made three hundreds

between them, Anil

Kumble was the

lone Indian to score

a century. Luck at

Lords and overall collective effort gave Rahul Dravids boys

the inaugural Pataudi Trophy, designed by Jocelyn Burton

to commemorate 75 years of Test cricket between the two

sides.

Best Batsman: Kevin Pietersen 345 runs at 57.50Best Bowler: Zaheer Khan 18 wickets at 20.33


Rahul Dravids supremely crafted 461 runs, including

young gunsSourav Ganguly arrived on the big stage with a century at Lords in 1996.

Dinesh Karthik figures in the lists of highest runs tally impact batsmen (third, with 263 runs from three matches), highest new ball impact batsmen (first), highest partnership building Impact batsmen (second) and most consistent batsmen (first, ahead of Vijay Hazare and Vijay Merchant). This goes to show the strength of his contribution as an opening batsman in 2007.

sIdHAnTA PATnAIK


the accomplishment of his long

standing dream of scoring a

hundred at Lords, weighed little

on the face of a resurgent England,

who replaced India as the No. 1

Test side. In the 2000th Test at Lords, Zaheer Khan pulled

his hamstring before tea on Day 1, and Kevin Pietersen

and Ian Bell feasted

on the Indian attack

after that. Stuart

Broads hat-trick

and the burden on

Sachin Tendulkar to

score his hundredth

i n t e r n a t i o n a l

century added to

the situation as India looked jaded in one of the most

publicised bilateral series of recent times.

Best Batsman: Kevin Pietersen 533 runs at 106.60Best Bowler: Stuart Broad 25 wickets at 13.84

nadIrStuart Broad ripped through the Indian batting in the dismal 2011 series, ending with 25 wickets.

Praveen Kumar (three matches) is on the list for highest top/middle-order wickets tally impact bowlers (first), highest economy impact bowlers (third) and highest partnership-breaking impact bowlers (third). This indicates that without him, India would have lost more badly.

I bowled well in the first Test in 1971, got

three quick wickets, but couldnt maintain the

tempo. And I didnt bowl all that well in the second Test

in Manchester. Before the final Test, we were playing a practice

game and Hemu Adhikary, the manager, told me it was essential

for me to pick up wickets. Perhaps my head was on the chopping block,

I dont know, but I got 11 wickets in that game. But again, I didnt have a great first

innings at The Oval. Going into the last innings of the series, I told myself that this

was it if I wanted to keep playing for India, I must do well and take wickets, otherwise I must forget about international cricket.

My belief always has been that if you go out and bowl well, you will get success. If you dont bowl well, you wont get wickets. As simple as that. Dilip Sardesai was a very good assessor of the game. At that time, there was this horse called Mill Reef, which was winning all the big races in the United Kingdom. Sardesai used to refer to my faster one as Mill Reef. I was walking back to my run-up to come in and bowl to John Edrich, and in my mind, I had decided to bowl a googly. Just as I was about to turn, Dilip shouted Isko Mill Reef daalo. I did so and believe me, even before he could think of bringing his bat down, the stump went cartwheeling.

In walked Keith Fletcher, and I could see that he was not confident of facing me. So I said, let me bowl him a googly. I wanted to bowl two googlies to him. He played the first one fine, but the second pitched in the right spot, turned, and as he played forward, it took the edge and went off bat and pad. The great Eknath Solkar dived in front to take a brilliant catch, and when we came back after lunch, the sequence continued. Eventually, England were shot out for 101 and we needed 173 for our first win in England. There was also a threat of rain but we hung on and won by four wickets. I was delighted that I had a big hand in India winning the match. BS CHANDRASEKHAR took 6 for 38 in the third Test at The Oval in 1971.

As told to R Kaushik

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

31

the oNe that chaNgeD it all

in 1971, we had the spinners and the tight fieLding to support them. and, for the first time, we reaLised we couLd win abroad

a j i t w a D e K a r

I t was 1971. In the West Indies first, and then in England, we Indians realised, for the first time in our many years of Test cricket, that we could win abroad. I was credited with being the man who made it all happen, as the captain of the team on both those tours and then the win over England at home in 1972-73, but it was as much my team as it

was Tigers.

Tiger, the Nawab of Pataudi, and I were friends and we

played together a lot, and he had a lot of faith in me. He

was my captain. There were things he was trying to achieve,

like having a great fielding unit. By the time I became

captain, all I needed to do was improve the systems he had

put in place. Of course, I was from Mumbai khadoos,

professional. That does help. But I learnt captaincy from

Tiger. Things started falling in place. Our attitude had

become better. And our fielding it was so tight. That was

the best part in 1971.

When we went to the Caribbean, we went with a proper

strategy. Needless to say, a lot of our plans were built around

our spinners. There isnt any point being too ambitious.

We had to do what we could with the resources we had.

And thats where the spinners came in Bishan (Singh

Bedi), (Erapalli) Prasanna and Venkat (S Venkatraghavan).

32 IndIAs sUMMER sojoURn AjIT WAdEKAR

Chandra (BS Chandrasekhar), of course, didnt play the

West Indies series, which, in a way, made him hungry for

success in England.

But what a team West Indies had. They had Garry

Sobers, of course, along with (Rohan) Kanhai and (Roy)

Fredericks and Clive Lloyd and (Vanburn) Holder. Lance

Gibbs was also there but he played only one Test. The win,

in the second Test at Port of Spain, was achieved by the

bowlers, but the series is synonymous with Sunny (Sunil

Gavaskar). He was on his first tour, and he scored over 700

(774) runs. And Dilip Sardesai was majestic as well. He also

scored over 600 (642) runs. And between them, Bishan,

Pras and Venkat got almost 50 (48) wickets in that series.

And in two months, we went to

England. Our strength was spin,

and the Test matches were in July-

August that year. The pitches had started to wear by then.

So we thought we stood a good chance. The first half of

the season is good for swing bowling, but we didnt have

any good fast bowlers. So it worked well for us. We had the

right horses for the course. We had the best of spinners.

Chandra was there too, though Pras missed out.

But England had just won the Ashes again. It was a seven-

Test series, and they won 2-0. There were no rankings those

days, but England were the best. And Ray Illingworth was

turnIng poIntEknath Solkar taking the

catch to dismiss Allan Knott, a thorn in the flesh

of the 1971 side.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

33

a very shrewd captain. He was almost 40 at the time, so he

was a pro. They were the clear favourites.

For us, it went back to the fielding. We had the spinners,

but what if we dropped Geoff Boycott? He would score 200.

We took our catches; we supported the spinners. And all

our batsmen also got runs in England. Maybe not Ashok

Mankad (42 runs in three Tests), but we stuck with him

because he had scored runs in the first-class games. And

we played the same XI in the three Tests. Sardesai got runs.

Farokh (Engineer), Vishy (GR Viswanath), Sunny, Eki

(Eknath Solkar) I got a few runs too. (Wadekar top scored

for India in the series with 204 runs.) And we attacked all

the time.

When I batted, it was about doing what was required.

When theres time, like at The Oval, where we had

one-and-a-half days to get 173 runs, its best to wait

for the opportunities. I got 48 in the first innings and,

unfortunately, was run out for 45 in the second. But

we needed under 100 runs then, so we didnt have any

problems. Earlier, in the first Test at Lords, I came in at

one-drop and John Snow was bowling. He bowled four-five

bouncers at me in the first over I faced, and I hit four of

those deliveries for boundaries. I think I batted for over

three hours for 85 in that innings the first of the series.

He didnt bowl any more bouncers after that.

But it was Chandra, who came to our rescue in the last

Test, at The Oval, which we won by four wickets. He got 6

for 38, and England were bowled out for just 101 in their

second innings. Oh, it was fantastic.

And Eki the best forward short-leg fielder ever. I think

it was because we played the Kanga League matches,

sometimes in the rainy season, where a lot of catches used

to pop up. He was superb. Eki had the best of reflexes and

anticipation, and he had patience. He seemed to know

when the catches would come. Eki he was so involved

in the game. Sometimes we used to take the wickets of the

top batsmen, but one of the lower-order batsmen would

hurt us. Allan Knott, for example, was a thorn in our flesh.

In the second innings of the last Test, Eki came to me and

asked, Captain, is it okay if I remove the bails? I asked

him why. Knott used to do what Shivnarine Chanderpaul

does mark his guard with the bails. I nodded. Eki did

it. Knott couldnt find the bails. He didnt know what was

happening. He marked his guard with his shoes. Eki then

took the bails out of his pocket and put them back. Maybe

it was just a superstition. Knott had scored 90 in the first

innings. He got just one run in the second Eki caught him

off Venkat.

With Snow, there was the incident in the first Test at

Lords with Sunny, when Snow collided with Sunny as

Sunny and Farokh were taking a quick run. Sunny went

sprawling Snow was a big man, after all. Everyone thought

we would protest. But you need to play the opposition,

and the media, which I did. I was asked about it. John

Woodcock was there too. I said I was slightly angry, but it

didnt matter as far as I was concerned, Sunny was just

one wicket, we had nine more. They didnt like my answer.

I think that helped. They made a big hullabaloo about it,

and poor Snow was dropped for the next Test.

I think the other thing that helped us is that when we

Whether its Sunil Gavaskar or Garry Sobers, if you go to England, you need to get acclimatised. We need to go there a month in advance.

AjIT WAdEKAR


went on such tours, we played a lot

of tour games. On that 1971 tour,

we played eight games before the

first Test. We lost to Essex, but we

won five of those games. That was

superb. And then we played six more tour games between

and after the Tests. The last time we went to England, half

the team went from the West Indies and half from India,

then they played one three-day game against Somerset and

were expected to play a Test.

Whether its Sunil Gavaskar or Garry Sobers, if you go

to England, you need to get acclimatised. Its not like going

to Mumbai or Chennai. Getting used to the conditions

is very important. The BCCI is going wrong with this I

understand there are scheduling problems, but we need

to go there a month in advance. Now, with Twenty20

and so much cricket, Indian cricketers dont play in the

county circuit like we did thats another handicap; its an

education for every young cricketer.

With the present team, there are also too many tourists.

How can you choose 18 players for a series? Will you change

the team for every game? There will be many players who

wont contribute in any way. But such is modern-day

cricket.

Anyway, after 1971, we went to England again in 1974.

We had won three series after West Indies and England,

we beat England at home too. But it so happened that the

team was not properly selected and we didnt have the fast

bowlers. It was raining and it was bitterly cold. I dont mean

it as an excuse, but we just couldnt get settled. Our match-

winner was Chandra. We had to keep him warm, but he

was cold all the time.

Also, you might not know this, a rule change was made

for the series that we were not aware of. When we used our

spinners, we had six fielders on the leg side two short

legs, one forward short-leg, a leg slip, and two others. Our

board had signed an agreement with them that for the

series, we would have only five fielders on the leg side. We

found out only when we reached England. That affected

our plans too.

But those arent

the reasons why

we did badly. We

needed fast bowlers,

which we didnt

have. Simple. We

just didnt play well.

The win in 1971

was good though.

People thought

West Indies was a

flash in the pan. Then we beat England in England, and it

showed that India could do well outside India. It changed

our attitudes. Before that, we had a bit of a complex when

we toured abroad. That changed after 1971.

Ajit Wadekar was the captain of the 1971 Indian Test team that beat England in England for the first time.

As told to Shamya Dasgupta

the arsenalIn 1971, a lot of Indias plans were built around the spinners (from left) BS Chandrasekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkatraghavan.

AjIT WAdEKAR

The series may be remembered for Chandrasekhars 6 for 38, but it was Ajit Wadekar (48 and 45 in the same Test, absorbing pressure of falling wickets) and Dilip Sardesai (54 and 40 in a 173-run chase) who came away with series defining knocks. Sardesai failed in three of the four Tests he played in England, but that knock ensured that he is the highest impact Indian batsman in England.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

35

a traDitioNof wroNg UNs

from the royaL sLight in 1936 to the great jeLLy beans pitch invasion of 2011, indias engLand sojourns are speckLed with controversies

r K a U s h i K

Its perhaps inevitable, especially in recent times given the high stakes and the massive scrutiny involved, that most international assignments across disciplines invite their fair share of drama and controversy. But even by that logic, there seems a strong bond between controversies and Indian tours of England, dating back to 1936 when Lala

Amarnath, the charismatic allrounder, was sent home on disciplinary grounds.

There has been the John Snow shoulder charge on Sunil

Gavaskar, the jelly beans incident involving Zaheer Khan

and the run out of Ian Bell that should have stayed but

for Mahendra Singh Dhonis decision to recall the lazy,

presumptuous batsman. And, not all controversies have

involved spats with the opposition years after Amarnaths

deportation, Navjot Singh Sidhu took an early flight back

home, walking out of the 1996 tour in a huff following an

alleged slight by Mohammad Azharuddin.

Heres a look back at some of the more memorable non-

cricketing incidents over the years.

Amarnath has a royal fallout (1936)A larger-than-life character even in that time and age, Lala

Amarnath did not suffer fools gladly. The Maharajkumar


of Vizianagaram was the tour captain not on cricketing

grounds, and while that was grudgingly accepted all around,

Amarnath did not take kindly to being kept waiting to bat

in the practice game against Minor Counties. After being

asked to pad up, Amarnath wasnt sent out to bat until ten

minutes before the end of the match. Furious, the Lala

ripped his gloves and pads off, flung them in disgust and

let loose a series of expletives in Punjabi, it was reported.

Vizzy, not taking kindly to the royal insult, recommended

that Amarnath be sent home. Senior players CK Nayudu,

Wazir Ali and Mohammad Nissar all pleaded Amarnaths

case, but to no avail. Amarnath beat a retreat, humiliated

and insulted, and while an enquiry later exonerated him of

wrongdoing, the damage had been done.

John Snow gets the cold shoulder (1971)India were chasing 183 for victory on the final day of the

first Test at Lords when Sunil Gavaskar, at the non-strikers

end, set off for a sharp single after Farokh Engineer played

John Snow down on to the leg side. Snow went chasing

after the ball, Gavaskar went charging down the track and

decided to take the wider route to the safety of the crease.

Incredibly, with the ball nowhere near him, Snow crashed

into Gavaskar, sending him tumbling and the bat flying out

of his hands. Snow picked up the bat and tossed it towards

Gavaskar, and while the Indians chose not to make a song

and dance of it, the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB)

took a dim view of Snows conduct. Snow had already picked

up a reputation for being abrasive and even as he prepared

to go across to the

Indian dressing

room to apologise,

he was given a

dressing down by

Billy Griffith, the

secretary of the

TCCB. In a further

expression of their

displeasure, the TCCB dropped

Snow on disciplinary grounds for

the rest of the series, though he

was recalled at the last minute for

the final Test at The Oval, a match

India won by four wickets to complete their first Test and

series victory on English soil.

Prabhakar sees red at surprise call-up (1986)It wasnt so much a massive controversy as something

out of the ordinary, an event that proved to be the genesis

of souring of relations between Kapil Dev, the then captain,

and Manoj Prabhakar. Chetan Sharma had bowled India

to a five-wicket win in the first Test at Lords, Indias first

ever Lords victory, but was ruled out of the second Test at

Headingley through injury. Prabhakar, inexperienced but

already reputed to be a prodigious swing bowler, was in the

squad, but Kapil pulled Madan Lal out of the Lancashire

League to feed off his greater experience and familiarity

prankedJelly beans mysteriously appeared when Zaheer

came out to bat at Nottingham in 2007. He

went on to channel his rage into a match-winning

spell.

The highest impact Indian bowler in England is, strangely, a spinner. In the three Tests he played in 1986, Maninder Singh was able to tie up the opposition. He had a match haul of 4 for 54 in the first Test at Lords, off an astonishing 49.4 overs, and 4 for 26 off 16.3 overs in the second Test at Headingley.

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

37

with English conditions. Prabhakar didnt take the slight

lightly, while Madan Lal went on to winkle out Wilf Slack,

Chris Smith and Bill Athey in Englands first-innings

102, setting the stage for Indias series-clinching 279-run

triumph.

Sidhu, Azhar and all lost in translation (1996)A veteran of 13 years of international cricket, Navjot

Singh Sidhu sent Indian cricket into a tizzy by flying

back home midway through the tour of 1996. Various

theories were proffered for Sidhus dramatic departure,

including the fact that he had been padded up to bat in

a practice game, unaware that he had not been included

in the playing XI. An enquiry conducted by the Board of

Control for Cricket in India found the source of his angst

was a misunderstanding between him and Mohammad

Azharuddin, the captain, as revealed by Jaywant Lele,

the former BCCI secretary, in his 2011 autobiography. It

transpired that Sidhu took offence to the repeated use

of Hyderabadi slang by Azharuddin, which he deemed

derogatory, but is used affectionately in the land of the

Nawabs. It led to much mirth and amusement later on, but

no one was laughing in 1996 when Sidhu, one of the senior

batsmen in the squad, deserted ship.

Jelly beans leave a bitter taste (2007)It was a joke gone horribly wrong as England felt the

full range of Zaheer Khans fury during the second Test at

Nottingham. Jelly beans appeared mysteriously pitchside

when Zaheer came out to bat in Indias first innings. After

he pushed one away with the bat, more of them appeared

the next ball, enraging Indias pace spearhead no end.

Zaheer took off on Kevin Pietersen, not caring if Pietersen

was the culprit or not. It was suggested that the jelly beans

had been strewn around by Englands fielders either to

mock Zaheers weight, or to insinuate that the Indians

had been using it as a means to make the ball and help

facilitate reverse swing. England, though, wouldnt have

bargained for Zaheers rage, which he channelised into a

match-winning spell in the second innings. Zaheer took 5

for 75 in Englands second innings to help bowl them out

for 355 and set up Indias decisive seven-wicket victory.

Bell caught napping before tea (2011)A dozy Ian Bell had been run out off the last ball before

tea on the third day of the Nottingham Test in the most

unusual of circumstances. Eoin Morgan had played the last

ball before the interval to leg and the general impression

was that the ball had eluded the diving Praveen Kumar

and crossed the boundary rope. Praveen flung the ball

to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who relayed it to Abhinav

Mukund, who broke the stumps even as Bell and Morgan

were on their way to the dressing room under the false

impression that the umpires had called over. After cross-

checking with the Indians that they wanted to go ahead

with the appeal, the umpires went to the television umpire,

who found that Bell, then on 137, was indeed out as per the

laws of the game. England, masters at using the Spirit of

the Game to their convenience, requested at the interval

through Andrew Strauss, their captain, and Andy Flower,

their coach, that Dhoni withdraw the appeal. Keen to avoid

needless drama even though they were in the right and the

fault was entirely Bells, the Indians withdrew the appeal,

winning applause from the same crowd that had, only a

few minutes earlier, booed them for the dopiness of their

own batsman.

It transpired that Sidhu took offence to the repeated use of Hyderabadi slang by Azharuddin, which he deemed derogatory, but is used affectionately in the land of the Nawabs.

R KAUsHIK


2

lOrd's2ND TEST

JULY 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 10.00 GMT | 11.00 LOCAL | 15.30 IST

THE MEN THAT MADE IT TO THE LORD'S HONOURS BOARD

BATTING

Vinoo Mankad (1952)Dilip Vengsarkar (1979, 1982, 1986) Gundappa Viswanath (1979)Ravi Shastri (1990) Mohammad Azharuddin (1990)Sourav Ganguly (1996)Ajit Agarkar (2002)Rahul Dravid (2011)

BOWLING

Mohammad Nissar (1932) L Amar Singh (1936)Lala Amarnath (1946)Vinoo Mankad (1952) Ramakant Desai (1959)BS Chandrasekhar (1967)Bishan Singh Bedi (1974)Kapil Dev (1982)Chetan Sharma (1986) Venkatesh Prasad (1996) RP Singh (2007) Praveen Kumar (2011) * No Indian has taken 10 wickets in a match at Lord's

A BATSMAN MUST ScorE A cENTUry; A BoWLEr MUST TAkE 5 WickETS iN AN iNNiNgS or 10 WickETS iN A MATch


ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

39

ENGLAND

11

1

653/4d in 1990

134 In 1936

Sir Alec Bedser - 15 in 4 inns

333 - Graham Gooch in 1990

7 for 49 - Sir Alec Bedser in 1946

INDIA

1

11

454 in 1990

42 in 1974

Bishan Bedi, Kapil Dev - 17 in 5 and 7 inns

184 - Vinoo Mankad in 1952

6 for 35 - L Amar Singh in 1936

MOST RUNSDID YOU KNOW?All of Indias highest impact all-round performances have come at Lords: Kapil Devs 5 for 125 & 3 for 43, and 41 & 89 in 1982; Vinoo Mankads 72 & 184, and 5 for 196 & 0 for 35 in 1952; and Sourav Gangulys 131 and 2 for 49 & 1 for 5 in 1996. GRAHAM GOOCH:

588 IN 5 INNINGS

DILIP VENGSARKAR:508 IN 8 INNINGS

WON

DRAWN

HIGHEST TOTAL

LOWEST TOTAL

MOST WICKETS

HIGHEST SCORE (INNS)

BEST BOWLING (INNS)

39


a special seat at halloweD groUNDs

some memories of Lords of cricket traditions and cLassic contests, unforgiving stewards and forgettabLe food start from the press box

r m o h a N

There is always a bit of a culture shock in the first view of the Grace Gates and the

red brick pavilion beyond it on St. Johns

Wood Road. Back in the early 1980s,

the gatemen were not exactly known for their hospitality, their return greeting to a hearty Good morning being Come back another day when we have a tour of the museum. It needed some persuasion for him to pick up the phone and summon the executive who would hand out the precious gold medallion stamped with the MCC insignia that guarantees entry to Lords.

Armed with the medallion, it is a simple task to slip

past the OAP (old age pensioner) at the entrance to the

doorway and steps to the press box because he has served

in Trichnopoly in the war and knows something about

the Madras province and shares a memory or two before

cheering you on.

Of course, a level of fitness used to be called for to

take those steep stairs that left you wondering if cricket

correspondents known for the love of the ciggie and

the single malt in a thoroughly spoiled life of armchair

criticism should indeed be put through such an ordeal. It

may have been somewhat appropriate then that standing

at the entrance to the press box is the pantry that doubles

ISSUE 5, JULY 2014

41

up as the tavern with beer on tap. How times have changed.

At the entrance to the swanky media box a

wisden india extra issue 5

Documents

indias england sojourns

indian cricketers

young indian team

tour of england

indias summer sojournissue

england lineup

englandindia tests22

english summer