The best & worst of Indian Cricket
Little Master's Big Mistakes -
Kapil Dev and Malcolm Marshall are the only two bowlers to claim wickets in the first ball of a test match twice. And do you know, the only batsman to have been dismissed twice in the first ball of a test match... is none other than Sunil Gavaskar? Now, now, we sure don't know enough about the Little Master, or do we?
India, The underdog -
Nobody expected India to beat West Indies in the final of 1983 World Cup. Ladbroke's, the official betting agency, offered odds of 100-1 on India winning. That meant that if you put 100 pounds on India winning, you could walk way with a cool 100,000 pounds. And as you know India won. Whoever put their money on India sure made a killing that day.
Test Cricket, yawn… blame it on India & Pakistan -
If test cricket has begun losing out to one-day cricket in popularity, perhaps the sub-continental teams, particularly India and Pakistan, should take the blame. Here's why: India and Pakistan are the only countries to have played out a 0-0 draw in Test series --- a five-test series! And not just once, but thrice! Yawwwnnnnnnnnnnnnn
The first test for India -
India played its first Test way back in 1932, when C.K. Nayudu led a side to England. The team couldn't have asked for a better start, dismissing England for 259. However, India's reply wasn't exactly better, with their innings folding up for just 188. England (led by Douglas Jardine) then set India a total of 346 to win, after declaring at 275 for 8 in its second innings. The Indian team didn't come too close to that target, and lost the Test by 158 runs.
The first test win for India -
The win came at home against England in 1951-52, 20 years after India first played Test cricket. And it was an emphatic win at that, although it must said that the English did not send its strongest side. Yet it was a moment to savour. England were bowled out for 266, with Vinoo Mankad grabbing eight of those wickets. India replied with a solid 457, with Pankaj Roy and Polly Umrigar slamming centuries. On a pitch that was breaking up and spinning, India bowled out England for a measly 183 in the second innings, to win the Test by an innings and eight runs.
India: Zero for four! -
In the initial years, Indian cricketers were learning the game the hard way. In 1947, they were thrashed 4-0 when they toured Australia. And in 1952, after having just recorded its first Test win (at home against England), India slipped back to its losing ways. The team started the series against England at Headingley disastrously by making the worst start to an innings by any Test team. They were 0 for four after fourteen balls, with Fred Trueman taking three of those wickets without conceding a ball. Needless to say, India lost that Test.
India's First Overseas Test Win -
In the 1967 – 68 Series by 5 wickets. This test victory incidentally bought India their first test victory outside the subcontinent. Wadekar's 143, in the third Test vs New Zealand at Basin Reserve (Wellington) during March 1968, saw the Junior Nawab of Pataudi's India go up 2-1 in that four-match series, as India beat New Zealand by eight wickets. Our 272-run victory in the fourth and final Test at Eden Park (Auckland) helped India register its ``first overseas series win''. we clinched the rubber 3-1. It was mainly thanks to Erapalli Prasanna's match analysis of 55.1- 26-84-8 and Bishan Singh Bedi's match figures of 34.4-19-35-5 (on top of Farokh Engineer's 48, Rusi Surti's 99 and Chandu Borde's 65 not out) that we won that fourth determinant Test
Bedi, one of India's best -
There is good reason why Bishan Bedi is considered one of the best bowlers of all times. Consider this, in 1972-3 series against England, he conceded just 1.69 runs per over. And this was over an average of 41 overs per innings. Of course this was not without wickets, they totaled to 25.
Chandrasekhar: The classic number II -
Leg spin wizard B.S. Chandrasekhar has the dubious distinction of taking more wickets than scoring runs. In 58 tests he grabbed 242 wickets but scored only 167 runs. He was dismissed for a duck 24 times in 80 innings. But Chandrasekhar did succeed in remaining not out on 39 occasions. That should have done his average some good!
Gavaskar's centuries -
Sunil Gavaskar's 34 centuries have been scored at 19 different test centers of the world. Five of those were scored on his home ground, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. His highest score is 236 not out against the West Indies in Chennai in 1983-84. He also has two more double centuries against the West Indies: 220 at Port of Spain in 1970-71, and 205 at Mumbai in 1978-79. Gavaskar has another double century to his credit, 221 against England at the Oval in 1979.
Ranjit Singhji, The Innovator -
It is considered as his greatest technical contribution to cricket. In fact Ranjit Singhji, or Ranji as he was better known, invented the leg glance quite by accident. According to him, during his early years at Cambridge, he had yet to perfect playing a fast ball. His right leg would almost invariably move away from the wicket exposing the stumps. So he started experimenting by firmly implanting his right foot and gliding the ball away towards the leg side. Eventually this became a popular stroke and got termed the `leg-glance'.
Indian princes scored 100s for England -
There were three Indian princes who played Test cricket for England. These were Ranjitsinhji, Duleepsinhji and the Nawab of Pataudi senior. All three made centuries in their first tests against Australia!
Unusual match for Kunderan -
Budhi Kunderan, opened India's batting and bowling against England at Edgbaston in 1967. And importantly also kept wickets for the same match.
With two of India's new-ball bowlers unavailable because of injury, Kunderan was also given his only chance to bowl during that tour!
Good Chasers, India and Australia -
In cricket, most times it is impossible to chase targets above 300. But India and Australia have managed to do so. They have managed to get to 316, which is the highest score chased successfully, in a one-day match. And coincidentally, both these teams chased the scores against Pakistan. More recently in the Natwest series in England India successfully chased a total of 325 and won the finals.
India's Triumphant Chase -
Chasing a set target for the team batting second, is always considered difficult, be it one day or a test match. Yet, India has managed to set a record in chasing, by successfully reaching 406/6, in a test match and that too in the fourth innings of the match. The opposition was West Indies, in 1975/76 in Port of Spain.
Economical surprise! Most economical bowling figures -
Guess who holds the record for the most economical bowling figures in One-Day International Cricket. Nope it is not any of the full time bowlers, its West Indian opening batsman Phil Simmons. Simmons had a dream spell at Sydney, against Pakistan with figures of 10-8-3-4.
