Our splendid match-winners

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:03 am

In the tradition of the Golden Oldies (in tennis), I am starting a new thread to celebrate match-winning performances by past Indian cricketing greats.

I will start with those who brought us some of our earliest test triumphs -- some of whose feats are insufficiently remembered. Vinoo Mankad (star of our first test victory, at Madras over England in 1951-52), Salim Durani (bowler star of both triumphs over England in 1961-62) and Erapalli Prasanna (hero of our first series victory overseas, against New Zealand).

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:32 am

India's first test series win over England (the old colonial masters) came 14 years after independence in 1961-62, when the team led by Nari Contractor beat Ted Dexter's full-strength England side 2-0.

The hero of both test triumphs (but especially the final test win in Madras) was the dashing allrounder Salim Durani. At Calcutta, he took 5/47 in the first innings (besides scoring 43 in an Indian total of 380) to shoot England out for 212, and then took a further 3/66 in the second innings as India triumphed by 187 runs.
In the final test at Madras, Durani cemented India's series triumph with 10/172 in the test match in which Prasanna made his debut (1/19 in the second innings). There were other notable performances, including 103 by Pataudi (in his third test) and 85 by Manjrekar in the second innings, but it was Durani's bowling that won us the test match.

I saw Salim Durani play at Calcutta in 1972-73, and can never forget how he responded to the chants of "We want a sixer" by obligingly hitting one over the ropes. By then, he was in the side as a specialist batsman (and 6-hitter) since the spin quartet was at its peak. Durani got 53 in the first innings in Calcutta, and then 38 in each innings at Madras (where he was the top-scorer in a nervy chase of 86, during which India managed to lose 6 wickets!). Prasanna (4/14) was the bowling star of the second innings, but Durani got 1/24 (in a rare long spell). He also hit two sixes in the second innings and one in the first.

Durani was born in Kabul (the first Afghan test player?). His family shares the surname of the royal family of Afghanistan (the Afridis being another famous Afghan tribe, suggesting that there is something genetic about Pathan six-hitting). Tall and handsome, he once starred in a Hindi movie with the heart-throb of the 1970s, Parveen Babi.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:57 am

Being the resident optimist, I thought I would divert our attention from the Karachi defeat by harking back to happier yesterdays.
Unfortunately there seem to be few takers here for this sort of memory! Where is vkd to write about Kumble, or nothingnew to dig up something about Sachin?
I will, as promised, write about Mankad and Prasanna soon. Although not if nobody else contributes to the thread...

puneets · Post by **puneets** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:19 am

PKB - I don't know if I'll be able to contribute a lot in this thread...but I will surely read everything you post here (and in other threads). There are very few people in this forum who post such stuff. Keep up the good work.

Sandeep · Post by **Sandeep** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 3:37 am

Yeah PKB, you should continue to post. I know few great innings and I will try to post them here (though not as beautifully as you do).

*sridinats* · Post by ***sridinats*** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:01 pm

Splendid match winner...well i am not so sure, but i can never forget the innings played by Samir Dighe where he scored a vital 30 odd runs to clinch the series in India's favour against the Aussies in a series which i would rate as one of the BEST ever!

Chasing a platry 150 odd in the fourth innings we suddenly found ourselves in trouble halfway thru the chase.....IF only for tht one innings i don mind callin him a match winner!!

Sridhar

gbelday · Post by **gbelday** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:42 pm

Yeah, please keep posting PKB.

Talking about match winners, VVS and Dravid's batting and Harbajhan's bowling in the history making (:)) India-Australia 2001 tie come to my mind. I haven't seen anything better than that in the cricketing world before. Also, Sachin's 92 in the worldcup (against Pakistan) can certainly be considered match-winning!

sameerph · Post by **sameerph** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 5:41 pm

Yeah , good thread to bring back old memories.

One of the best innings ever played by an Indian batsmen I remember was an innings played by Sunil Gavaskar in his last test match in 1987 against . It was only around 80 odd but played in last innings on the square turning wicket at Banglore agianst the guile of Iqbal Qasim & Taufik Ahmed. I think India eventually lost the match . But I thought this innings was worth mentioning for the skill displayed by arguably India's technically most competent batsman so far.
One more noticeable thing was Sunil stuck to his plan of retiring from test cricket even after this innings . He always said that a player should always retire when people ask "why ? " & not " why not ?".

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:15 pm

Oh yes, Sameer, that was a magnificent innings by Sunil Gavaskar, albeit in a losing cause (India lost the Bangalore test by 16 runs, and with it the series). Gavaskar made 96 on a wicket that was extremely treacherous and turning square. I think nobody else got much more than 50 in the test, but Gavaskar (then 37 and playing his last test match) played an innings of sheer mastery. Imran Khan says in his autobiography that it was one of the greatest innings he had seen anyone play, although he also correctly points out that Gavaskar was lucky not to be given out on 52 (when he got a faint nick to a bat-pad chance that was taken at backward square leg off Qasim). Of course, Imran failed to mention that Gavaskar was incorrectly given out on 96, when in fact he did not nick the ball (and was given caught at backward square leg OFF HIS PAD and not his bat!). The umpire was perhaps trying to compensate for the earlier mistake, but had the incorrect decision not been made, Gavaskar would have got his 35th century and India would have won the series 1-0 instead of losing it by that margin!

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:53 pm

Although I replied to Sameer's post above, I would prefer not to include great performances in losing causes here (as this is a thread for match-winners). So, for instance, Gavaskar's magnificent 221 at the Oval in 1979, when India just fell short of victory by a few runs (because captain Venkat panicked in sending Kapil ahead of Vishy) won't make it to this thread.
But of course Sunil Gavaskar won us numerous tests, starting with his 65 and 67 not out on debut at Port of Spain, Trinidad, in our first test win in the West Indies (in 1970-71). And then his 124 and 220 in the final test (also at Port of Spain) ensured that we drew the crucial last test -- and won the series as the Windies ended on 165/8 chasing 262 to win in 40 overs. (I should mention that Sardesai's 112 and Prasanna's 4/54 in the first innings, and Venkat's 5/95 in the second, also made crucial contributions to the victory in the second test of the 1970-71 series).
In 1976 at Auckland, he made 116 and 35 not out as India beat New Zealand in Gavaskar's first test as captain of India (he was deputising for the injured skipper, Bedi). The key match-winner in that Auckland test was Prasanna (with 8/76 in the second innings, and 11/140 in the match) and there was a century on debut by Surinder Amarnath (emulating his father Lala; neither father nor son scored another century for India thereafter). But Gavaskar's leadership and key scores in both innings were crucial to India's victory.
Then in Port of Spain, 1976, Gavaskar scored 156 in the second test (which India narrowly failed to win) and then 102 in the third test to lead the magnificent run chase in the fourth innings (406/4), to which Mohinder Amarnath (85), Vishwanath (112) and Brijesh Patel (49 not out) also contributed.

Sandeep · Post by **Sandeep** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 9:16 pm

Hey PKB, I think we should list great performances (don't worry, I am not going to post Sachin's hundreds

) in both batting and bowling. As we are talking about individual perfomances, let us not worry about winning a match or not.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 9:53 pm

I think we should stick to match-winning performances here (since that's how this thread started), and keep other great performances for perhaps another thread.
To continue with other great victories to which Gavaskar contributed...
When New Zealand came to India in 1976-77, Gavaskar began the series with a magnificent straight drive for four off the first ball (from Richard Hadlee!) and went on to make 119 in that Bombay test which India won. And when the West Indies came to India in 1978-79, Gavaskar made 205 and 73 in the first test in Bombay to win it for India (in his first test as captain at home; the rest of the tests were drawn). He also made 107 and 182 not out in the third test at Calcutta, which the West Indies managed to save only because their last wicket pair (Sew Shivnaraine and Sylvester Clarke) used every trick in the book (especially changing shoes after every over!) to delay proceedings and then successfully appealed against the light.
When Kim Hughes led Australia to India in 1979 (Sept-Oct), Gavaskar made 123 in an opening partnership of 192 with Chauhan in the last test, and there was another 127-run partnership between Kirmani (101*) and Ghavri (86) for the 8th wicket before Gavaskar declared at 458/8. Doshi (5/43) helped dismiss Australia for 160 in the first innings and Kapil (4/39) and Doshi (3/60) did the damage in the second, as India won by an innings to take the series 2-0. Gavaskar also made 76 (his first half century in his sasural of Kanpur) and Chauhan 84 in the other test victory of that series (but Kapil and Shivlal Yadav, with 4 wickets each in the second innings and 6 each for the match, were probably the key matchwinners).
When Gavaskar led India to victory over Pakistan at home in 1979-80, he made 166 and 29* in the 10-wicket victory in Madras. (The bowling hero of that match was Kapil Dev, with 7/56 in the second innings and 11/146 in the match). The other victory of that series (in Bombay) was a team effort, with Kapil (69) and Vengsarkar (58) the top-scorers in the first innings and Gavaskar (48) the topscorer in the second; but the key performers were the bowlers: Doshi, Yadav and Binny got 3 wickets apiece in the first innings, and Ghavri (4), Doshi (3) and Yadav (2) did the damage in the second innings.
The following year, in Australia, Kapil Dev was the architect of one of India's greatest test victories (at the MCG), although Vishwanath's superb 114 in the first innings won him the Man of the Match award. Gavaskar (70) and Chauhan (85) shared an opening stand of 165 in the second innings (which ended in controversial circumstances) against Lillee and Pascoe at their best, but Australia were set only 143 to win. At the end of the fourth day, though, Australia were reeling at 24/3, with Ghavri taking 2/10 (including skipper Greg Chappell, bowled first ball). The next day, Doshi (2/33 in 22 overs) kept one end tight, while Kapil (5/28) ran through the Aussie batting line-up, routing the team for 83 to ensure a 59-run victory.

SriramP · Post by **SriramP** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 9:53 pm

This thread is rocking. Good to read posts from PKB and others recounting their old memories....!

Unfortunately I have been following cricket (very closely) only from 1991 and have seen footage of old matches only on star-sports and espn occassionally, so I won't be able to contribute much unless of course people want to include the innings from the 90s and the last 6 years which I suppose would be fresh in most poeple's minds here....!

Having said that, an unforgettable moment for me was the innings that Sridhar mentioned about Samir Dighe. I was in the pavilion with a VIP pass and sitting next to the entire Indian team. The atmosphere when Dighe got a couple of edges ( yes edges... but who cares) to the boundary cannot be explained. Can you imagine the whole stadium shouting "Dighe... Dighe" in unison....? It surely must have been Dighe's wildest dreams come true....! Ramesh hit a quick 40 odd runs which eased the nerves in the dressing room... the local boy on his return to the pavilion was greeted with a "Well played Sadgops...!" from all corners. And then Laxman got some quick runs (66) in that match as well. Even Zaheer's defence for 19 odd balls before he edged one got the crowd into earth-shattering cheers....! The comparisons with the Pakistan match made the situation even more tense ....!

However, the constant ill-humored comments from a section of the crowd (in the pavilion) directed at Sourav Ganguly (after he got out and settled in his chair.. he got 4 runs I suppose... thanks to an edge that went into the gap) about some rumours with a south film star were in real bad taste...!

A wonderful match... one of the most entertaining series... and a short but gutsy innings from Samir Dighe which he can show his grandchildren proudly(definitely the highest point in his short international career). Overall, an unforgettable day in an Indian cricket fan's life....!

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:01 pm

Thanks for that first-hand eye-witness account, Sriram. There is nothing that can substitute for one's experience of actually being there during a famous victory.
(During the final stages of the Calcutta test of that series, I was speaking at a seminar in Kuala Lumpur with the governor of the central bank and the chief bureaucrat of the finance ministry -- but I kept taking the occasional ostensible toilet break to speak to my parents who were at the Eden Gardens during those final frenetic moments as Australia fell to the guiles of Bhajji in their futile chase of 375).

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:08 pm

Great thread, PKB.

I have to agree with PKB that this thread should be reserved for match winning performances. An inning that turns defeat into a draw is good also, but there is a different kind of feeling when a defeat turns into a victory.