The dust bowl and desert storm

The great cricket writer Neville Cardus once remarked: "We remember not the scores and the results in after years; it is the men who remain in our minds, in our imagination."
Cardus closed his eyes in 1975. Our man who matters was only a two-year-old then; at the least toddling around his house in Mumbai or at the most busy flailing his tennis racket ala childhood hero John McEnroe.



In all obviousness it is hard to say whether the greatest writer missed the greatest cricketer or was it the other way round. But Cardus, taking into account all the greatness of the Don Bradmans and the Jack Hobbs he had seen and taken account of, had missed one of cricket's rarest gems.

He missed the atrocious plunder of the '3lbs, 2 ounces' willow, missed the frenzied dance down the track and missed the most-deadliest encounter the 22-yard strip has encountered.

The master-blaster started the proceedings with a six off the first delivery of Michael Kasprowicz and from thereon he was unstoppable. He reminded the old of Richards and Bradman and for the youth he was all those heroes of the Arabian nights rolled into one.

Shane Warne was a phenomenon. He would walk in with his tongue held out like a hungry alligator, place the ball wherever he wished to and yet manage to smile back smugly at bedazzled faces of batsmen, as they walked past him, after the autopsy had been done.

Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, was the wonder-boy back home. He had conquered oppositions, topped the 1996 World Cup run table and had drawn comparisons with contemporary greats like Brian Lara and Mark Waugh. But the red cherry on the cake was still missing.

By the beginning of 1998 season, the aroma was all around and the hungry crowds were smacking their lips over the Sachin-Warne contest that was to be dished out.

In the Indo-Aus-NZ tri-series held in Sharjah, India had put up an equal dismal show in the tournament as New Zealand and faced the uphill task of either amassing Australia’s 283 or scoring at least 253 runs to leap-frog the Kiwis to the final.

The Sachin-Saurav opening duo made a steady start before the latter departed for 17 with 38 runs on the board from 8.3 overs. There was an urgent need to kick up the run-rate and wicket-keeper batsman Nayan Mongia, promoted up the order, was given the license to go unbridled.

But faith rested and fate depended on the able shoulders of the 25-year old. Placards flashed: 'Sachin is India and India is Sachin'. No one blinked as it was a common sight then and a bit of afterthought would have confirmed it to be true.

The pair of Sachin and Mongia piled up runs at ease and managed to push the total above the hundred-run mark. But Mongia departed with the score on 107 and Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja came and went like window shoppers.
At 138/4, new-comer VVS Laxman walked in. The 'very very special' Laxman was an ordinary traveler in the team then. Defeat looked ominous. And as if that was not enough a massive sandstorm came up from nowhere forcing the match to halt for about half an hour.

The target got readjusted from 283 runs in 50 overs to 276 runs in 46, and the new qualifying total was 237 in the same number of overs.

"Don't worry, I'll be there till the end," were Sachin's parting words to the Indian coach Anshuman Gaekwad as he headed back to the pitch after resumption of play.

The master-blaster started the proceedings with a six off the first delivery of Michael Kasprowicz and from thereon he was unstoppable. He reminded the old of Richards and Bradman and for the youth he was all those heroes of the Arabian nights rolled into one.

The novice Kasprowicz was taken to cleaners which eventually forced his international hibernation. Damien Fleming was dealt with ferocity and Shane Warne was reduced to a mere caricature. A virtually unplayable Warne was decimated without warning.

The genius had known his nemesis to be a master of turn and had chalked out his plan accordingly. Before the ball could touch the pitch, Sachin would be up dancing and before the leather could take its turn, the heavy willow would send it to its destination over long-on.

By the time Sachin departed with a gritty 143 (off 131 balls, 9 fours and 5 sixes) India were well past the new qualifying mark. The scoreboard read 242/5 off 43 overs but the on-field batsmen could add only eight more runs and India failed to win the match.

Sachin could not stand till the last ball, fell inches short of his words but his knock was enough to take India to the final and another 134 in the cup-decider that was played on his birthday got India the trophy.

The assault was ruthless and the aftermath nightmarish as Warne would recollect after the match.

"I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six," he said.

Since then time has passed but little has changed. Thirteen years, 68 hundreds and heaps of runs later, the man behind the monolith has remained same, unruffled and unblemished in this arduous journey. Most importantly, to all his followers their nation still remains Sachin and they, proud 'Sachinians'.

published: www.cricketnext.com

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Innings unmatched and that great catch

As BBC puts it: “The grandeur of Lord's may have played host to India's memorable 1983 World Cup final win, but the momentum of that unlikely victory was founded in far less salubrious surroundings.”

It happened that day; the stage was Nevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells and the date was June 18, 1983.

Twenty-twelve was not known of and Titanic- the movie was not yet made, maybe the world was not used to unexpected disasters.

Under overcast conditions, India won the toss and elected to bat against minnows Zimbabwe. The pundits might have expected the elite list of Indian batsmen to plunder the toddlers of international cricket but it was not be. 

Two unknown commodities, Kevin Curran and Peter Rowan proved to too hot to handle for the Gavaskars and Srikkanths of India. Both the openers bagged ducks and soon Indians were trembling at 9/4 then 17/5 on a damp Kent wicket. 

There were creased eyebrows and thumping heart beats, not only in the Indian camp, even the organizers were worried that the match might get over by the lunch time.

The BBC saw major disaster news coming their way- ‘a Zimbabwean victory’. They even phoned Dave Ellman-Brown, then chief executive of Zimbabwe Cricket Union, intending to come over and do an interview. David replied, "The game is not over.” And was he Oracle in disguise?

  
First it was Roger Binny with whom Kapil forged a steady 60 innings stand. It gave the team ephemeral relief as soon the cards started to fall again. First Binny, then Ravi Shastri with a rash stroke and India was reduced to 78/7. By lunch they somehow crawled to 106/7 but the show was yet to come.

What was there in Kapil’s lunch is a mystery even Sherlock Holmes has not been able to solve, till date. The captain courageous came back with renewed vigor and Curran was the first player to feel the heat when he was hit for successive sixes.

Soon he had put up a 62 run partnership with Madan Lal and by the time the latter departed Indians were 140/8.

Syed Kirmani joined his captain and they put up a record 126 runs partnership for the 9^th wicket that remained unbroken till the next 27 years. Kiri’s contribution in that partnership was 24 (off 56 balls) and if this you think speaks volumes about Kapil’s dominance that day, thinks again!

Kirmani was the second highest scorer at 24 after Kapil’s 175 that day. India did the impossible and won the match by 31 runs and as Gavaskar recalls, “That 175 has to be in my view the greatest knock in the World Cup."

That knock got India to the finals but facing West Indies in those days did not call for any celebration, it only attracted more sleepless nights. Indians crumbled down to a meager 183 and with the likes of Lloyd, Richards, Greenidge, etc. the total was just a number. West Indies were 50/2, courtesy a wicket each by Sandhu and Madan Lal. But Viv Richards was looking at his ruthless best.

Things looked awry and Indian fans had lost all hopes of resurrection. It is said Gavaskar’s wife was there to watch the match but she left, once she sensed Richards in full prowess. Then something unusual happened.

Kapil recollects, “Maddipa (Madan Lal) literally snatched the ball from my hands and went on to bowl that over.”

Madan Lal’s gentle medium lured Richards to an aggressive pull and that shot too seemed to be headed for safety.

"I still don't know from where did he (Kapil) come to take that catch. When Kapil was running back waving to nearest fielder to get out of his way, I knew my time was over,” says Richards. 

Kapil ran back more than 20 yards to take that impossible catch and the rest as is explained by Madan Lal, who after listening to the Kapil saga again and again, finally said, “Bas karo yaar [Stop it mate], I bowled the damn ball."

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Kings were two good

I don’t rate Viv Richards above the game but he was in a genre of his own. In an era when cricket was still in its well-ironed shirt and pleated pajama, Richards was no masquerader. With rolled-up shirt, chewing gum in mouth, flailing his bat he would come, see and conquer just as lyrically as it would be had poetries been written with sledgehammer. 

That day was no different. West Indies was off to a bad start losing Haynes, Greenidge, Kallicharan and Lloyd in quick succession and with just 99 runs on the board. Now it was up to Richards and his new found ally, the unheralded, Collis King and what followed was heartless slaughtering. Collis matched King Richards shot for shot and such was his impact on that day that he made, even, King Viv look like a defensive bat.

 Finally when King departed, the duo had already put 139 runs on the board in just 77 minutes and the scoreboard ticked 238/5. 

But the calypso tiger was still waylaying for more flesh. He completed his hundred in the very next over and continued the game in same vein holding the tail-enders. There were array of shots from his bat but the one most remembered was his six off Mike Hendrick off the last over. 

Hendricks had bowled 11 overs and bowled well, conceding just 36 runs. With no. 11 Colin Croft on the other end, Richards kept strike throughout the over not risking a folly. He accumulated 8 runs from the first 5 balls and it was the sixth ball hit that became a masterpiece. 

There no fielding restrictions in those days and England had placed all their players near the ropes, knowing Richards well enough. 

"I had sussed with his long-off and long-on back that it would be fullish to allow me one or two," Richards recalls. 

"It was the correct ball, much fuller but slightly off the line and I stepped to the off side and flicked it."

It was as casual as Richards’ persona. He took a few steps outside his off stump and effortlessly flicked (yes flicked!) a perfect delivery way over square-leg’s head and into the stands. 

Rest as Viv recollects, "I left the field thinking, ‘That shot is my invention’.” 

Though Richards, personally felt, Collis King was better that day, newspapers, that day, were filled with stories about King Richards' innings overshadowing that of the other, lesser known, King. Even there his last-ball hit attracted special mention. 

In a post match commentary, Tony Cozier said Richards dismissed the England attack (that day) “ as if they were net bowlers".

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