From here on, however there was a suddentransformation

Partab Ramchand05-Sep-2002No great expectations accompanied the Indian team that landed inLondon for the 1979 tour. Faulty selection – symbolised by theomission of Syed Kirmani – meant that a rather ill-balanced sidewas sent on what was undoubtedly going to be a tough tour.In the winter of 1978-79, India had lost in Pakistan and thenstruggled at home to beat a mediocre West Indian side, bereft ofthe Kerry Packer defectors. So they could not have been tooconfident on arriving at Heathrow. England, on the other hand, inthe aftermath of the Packer crisis, were very much the leadingcricketing nation, having just returned after thrashing Australia5-1 to regain the Ashes.The worst fears of the Indian cricket follower were confirmed byevents early on the tour. India first lost all their matches inthe second World Cup held prior to the four-Test series. Thelosses to the West Indies and New Zealand were perhapsunexpected, but the most shattering experience was going down toSri Lanka, then not even a full Test nation.When the Test series started, there was no change in thedepressing script. England won the first Test at Birmingham by aninnings and 83 runs with a day to spare. Much the same pattern ofplay was repeated in the second Test at Lord’s. India were shotout for 96 and England replied with 419 for nine declared. Atthis stage a rout along the lines of 1959 and 1974 was freelybeing predicted, and this did not seem to be wide of the mark.From here on, however there was a sudden transformation. Justbefore tea on the fourth day, India – 323 runs behind on thefirst innings – were 99 for two and facing another inningsdefeat. The road to recovery was then laid by Gundappa Viswanathand Dilip Vengsarkar, and their 210-run third wicket partnershipremains one of the most famous rearguard actions in Indiancricket. Viswanath got 113, Vengsarkar scored 103 and, helpedsomewhat by the inclement weather, India, 318 for four at thefinal draw of stumps, earned an honourable draw.There was a metamorphosis from that point as a rejuvenated Indianteam matched England deed for deed. They held their own in therain-affected third Test at Leeds, replying with 223 for six toEngland’s 270. In the final Test at the Oval, India came withinnine runs of pulling off what would have been the most successfulrun-chase in Test history. England seemed to have locked up theseries when, after taking a 103-run first-innings lead, theydeclared at 334 for eight.India were thus set to get 438 to win in 498 minutes. A recordfirst-wicket partnership of 213 runs between Sunil Gavaskar andChetan Chauhan (80) set them firmly on the road towards thedaunting target. Then Gavaskar and Vengsarkar maintained themomentum with a second-wicket stand of 153 runs. When the 20mandatory overs began, India were 328 for one and firmfavourites. Even the shrewd Mike Brearley was at his wit’s end.But Vengsarkar (52) departed at 366, and then a combination ofcircumstances saw England come back into the match. Kapil Dev,who had never really got going in the series, was rather unwiselypromoted to number four and was out for a duck. Gavaskar wasfourth out at 389 for a masterly 221, arguably his greatest-everinnings. A couple of dicey umpiring decisions then went againstIndia, and England clawed their way back. At the end of amemorable and yet ultimately frustrating day, India were 429 foreight. It was a superb display that won them a lot of friends, ifnot the match.The essential problem with the team lay in the composition. Thebatting, manned by Gavaskar, Chauhan, Viswanath, Vengsarkar,Anshuman Gaekwad, Mohinder Amarnath and Yashpal Sharma was fairlystrong, but the bowling was generally weak. The selectors gaveskipper Srinivas Venkataraghavan a young pace bowler, then juston his way up, in Kapil Dev and a rather wayward left-arm seambowler in Karsan Ghavri.Then there were three aging spin bowlers in Bishan Singh Bedi,Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and the captain himself, with only Amarnathto provide support. It was hardly the sort of bowling to causeEngland trouble, and it was no surprise that the home side ran uptotals of 633 for five declared, 419 for nine declared and 334for eight declared. Geoff Boycott got two hundreds and DavidGower an unbeaten double hundred, while Ian Botham hammered 137from just 152 balls with the help of 16 fours and five sixes atLeeds.England’s bowlers however did not gain their wickets easily, forIndia were well-served by the batsmen. Gavaskar rounded off aremarkable 12-month period by scoring 542 runs from seven inningsat an average of 77.43. Fittingly he was named among Wisden’scricketers of the year. Viswanath (341), Vengsarkar (249) andChauhan (179) all lived up to their reputations. Among thebowlers, Kapil Dev stood head and shoulders above everyone else.Still in his first year of international cricket, the sturdilybuilt 20-year-old took 16 wickets at 30.94 apiece to head theaverages. The rest of the bowlers, predictably enough, madelittle impression. In fact, both Chandra and Bedi played theirlast Test matches during the series.On the tour, Gavaskar, thanks to his epic knock at the Oval,crossed the 1,000-run mark finishing with 1,062 runs at anaverage of 55.89. Yashpal Sharma emerged as the most improvedbatsman, heading the figures with 884 runs at an average of58.93. Viswanath and Vengsarkar crossed the 700-run mark, whileGaekwad, Chauhan and Amarnath each made over 500 runs.The bowling figures as expected were less impressive, and Bedi(33), Venkat (34) and Kapil Dev (31) were the only bowlers totake more than 30 wickets. But except for Bedi, all of themproved to be rather expensive. All in all, it was a splendidshowing by a team from which there were no high expectations, andthe final tour results of 16 played, one won, three drawn and 12lost is not a true reflection of the fighting cricket that theyprovided.