The Indian supremacy took root early when, in the first Test atKingston, they forced the West Indies to follow on for the first timein 24 encounters between the two countries dating back to 1948.Indeed, it was for the first time India had even
Partab Ramchand23-Apr-2002When the Indian team left for the West Indies in early 1971, the moodwas upbeat, despite the fact that the record in the Caribbean leftmuch to be desired. For one thing, there was a new captain in AjitWadekar, an appointment that had ended MAK Pataudi’s long reign.Secondly, the team itself seemed an ideal blend of youth andexperience. Selection committee chairman Vijay Merchant’s youth policysaw the induction of Sunil Gavaskar, K Jayantilal, D Govindraj and PKrishnamurthy, while the balance was provided by the experience ofDilip Sardesai, ML Jaisimha, Salim Durrani and Erapalli Prasanna, allof whom had been members of the Indian team on the last tour nineyears before.
The Indian supremacy took root early when, in the first Test at Kingston, they forced the West Indies to follow onfor the first time in 24 encounters between the two countriesdating back to 1948. Indeed, it was for the first time India hadeven obtained the first-innings lead over the West Indies.
There was also a negative factor in the Indians’ favour, with the WestIndian team in the process of rebuilding following the retirement ofseveral stalwarts. No one, however, was thinking in terms of winningthe series. The general view was that the team would give a goodaccount of itself along the lines of the first Indian team’s visit tothe Caribbean islands 18 years before, when the five-match series waslost 0-1.And yet, when the team returned to Bombay in April, they hadaccomplished the impossible. The Indians took the series through theirvictory in the second Test at Port of Spain, the remaining fourmatches being drawn.The Indian supremacy took root early when, in the first Test atKingston, they forced the West Indies to follow on for the first timein 24 encounters between the two countries dating back to 1948.Indeed, it was for the first time India had even obtained the firstinnings lead over the West Indies. The shock was registered, andbefore they could recover, the home team lost the second Test by sevenwickets.The West Indies tried their best to come back into the series, notablyin the fourth and fifth Tests, but they were up against an Indian sidethat had remarkable resources of resilience. Even granting that theWest Indian team was in the rebuilding process and that the pitcheswere on the slower side, it was an outstanding achievement for anIndian side to pull off the historic triumph.One of the heroes was a batsman who was least expected to be in theforefront. Sardesai was, for some time, the forgotten man of Indiancricket. But quite unexpectedly, he earned a recall on the captain’sinsistence. In the squad primarily as a reserve batsman, Sardesai gotinto the team for the first Test only because Gundappa Viswanath wasinjured. Displaying his technique, temperament and class in nouncertain terms, Sardesai hammered 212 in the first Test the firstdouble century by an Indian against the West Indies to earn lavishpraise from Merchant, who hailed him as “the Renaissance man of Indiancricket.” Rightly so, for it was this knock that inspired histeammates and proved that the West Indies, who had hitherto riddenroughshod over Indian teams, could be beaten.Sardesai went on to get two more hundreds towards an aggregate of 642runs at an average of 80.25. But by the end of the series, he wasplaying a secondary role to new boy Gavaskar who had emerged as arecord-breaking hero. After missing the first Test through a fingerinjury, Gavaskar scored 774 runs at an average of 154.80 the highestever series aggregate for a debutant in Test history. He hit fourhundreds, including the stupendous double feat of a century and adouble century in the final Test at Port of Spain. Very early in hiscareer, Gavaskar displayed all the qualities that remained thehallmark of his batting for the next 16 years intense concentration,admirable technique, a wide range of strokes and an insatiableappetite for big scores.Gavaskar and Sardesai stood out, but there were other heroes too. How,for example, would India have won the series without the timely,rocklike contributions from Eknath Solkar? At three vital stages, hepartnered Sardesai in century partnerships that either rescued Indiaor played a crucial role in the victory at Port of Spain. And whilespin predictably played a significant role in the Indian triumph, amajor surprise was that the wrecker-in-chief was neither Prasanna norBishen Bedi but Srinivas Venkatraghavan. In and out of the team sincehis debut in 1965, Venkat, appointed vice-captain, shouldered theadditional responsibility in exemplary fashion. He took 22 wickets,always commanded respect and earned the ultimate tribute from GarrySobers who hailed him as “a brainy bowler.”Durrani, while woefully out of touch with the bat, proved that hestill had a trick or two up his sleeve with the ball, and his twindismissals of Clive Lloyd and Sobers in one over was a majorcontribution to India’s victory at Port of Spain.So well did these players perform that they covered up for the lack ofsizeable contributions with the bat by stalwarts like Wadekar,Jaisimha and Durrani. The Indians were not even at full strength forthe entire duration of the series. Prasanna was injured midway throughthe second Test and had to miss the next two games. Ashok Mankad, areliable opening batsman, could play in only three Tests. But this wasa very different Indian side, full of guts and capable of overcomingany crisis, as they proved time and again.It must have been a galling experience for the West Indians to lose aseries to opponents they had always found easy meat in the past. Butthe plain truth was that they were just not good enough. Sobers, RohanKanhai and Lloyd were still around, and they all lived up to theirreputation. Sobers hit three hundreds, Kanhai one, and there werenotable contributions from Charlie Davis and Desmond Lewis.But the main problem was the bowling. Wes Hall and Charlie Griffithhad recently retired, and the new crop of pace bowlers was not up tothe mark. Lance Gibbs was going through a temporary eclipse and infact played in only one Test. The strong batting could not cover upfor the woeful bowling, and a double collapse at Port of Spain wasenough for the Indians to create history.