West Indies destroy India in the first test at Kanpur in 1983-84 by an innings and 83 runs, thus demolishing the myth surrounding the World Cup champions.
West Indies made first use of the wicket and India let them off the hook after getting half the side out for 157. Viv Richards came in like thunder only to vanish like lightening, but even in his brief stay at the wicket he was mercilessly attacking the Indian seamers. It looked at one stage that he was going to bombard the whole stadium.
Kapil Dev’s insistence on his seamers for a long, long time saw the West Indies to safety. Greenidge it was, who took West Indies out of trouble with an innings of character and discipline. He is known as the murderer of bowling. His was an innings of controlled aggression and compact defense and he helped his partner for the sixth wicket of Jeffery Dujon to settle down and the partnership grew from strength to strength. The Indian seamers but for Kapil’s initial spell did not have any telling effect on the batsmen. They bowled into the wicket keeping a packed off side field and the West Indians who are strong on-side players could not have relished it more. No attempt was made to check the scoring in the region between mid-wicket and mid-on and the West Indies got the bulk of their runs in this area.
Ravi Shastri and Raghuram Bhatt bowled a good length and line arid I feel Ravi Shastri was bowling according to his plan, flighting the ball allied with change of pace and the batsmen did not get much liberty. Ravi Shastri no doubt bowled better than Bhatt as he is the right type of spinner who flights the ball while Raghuram Bhatt bowls sideways. Runs were coming fairly easily to the West Indians even on the second day. They were complete masters of on-side play and used every opportunity on short of length deliveries pitched into the wickets. Indian bowlers danced to their tunes.
Jeff Dujon who made 81 and Marshall who came at the fall of Jeff Dujon’s wicket accelerated the scoring rate while Gordon Greenidge played an anchorman’s role. To my surprise Mohinder Amarnath was altogether forgotten and brought in 10 bowls after 122 overs. He gave India the much-needed breakthrough when Gordon Greenidge was caught behind the wicket to his leg cutter. However, India had sigh of relief when Kapil Dev got the last two wickets and West Indies were all out for 454 runs. Malcom Marshall and Gordon Greenidge were unlucky to miss their land marks which was there for the taking. They were responsible in building up a match winning total.
Malcom Marshall then marshalled the Indian batsman into the pavilion bowling at a supersonic speed claiming four wickets Indian batsmen were, unnecessarily to send India reeling to 34 for five. The nibbling at away going balls without getting behind the line. India lost eight wickets for 90 runs, but skipper Lloyd was kind to the batsmen as he rested Marshall who played havoc with the Indian top order batsman. Had he brought on Marshall earlier the story might have been different. Despite the fact that both Madan Lal and Roger Binny were settled, even Marshall’s spell of 4 overs conceded five runs. However, Madan Lal and Roger Binny batted with courage and determination and put on 117 runs for the ninth wicket. Madan Lal who made 63 not out perhaps played the best innings of his life under adverse circumstances and Binny made a useful contribution of 39 runs. India was bowled out for 207 runs and was forced to follow on.
Malcom Marshall once again proved to be a thorn in the flesh of the Indian batsmen in yet another sustained and hostile spell in which he claimed 3 wickets of the first five wickets. India was struggling all the time and were soon 43 for five. Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar played out time to ensure that the match entered the fourth day.
Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri started on an encouraging note playing with supreme confidence. Dilip Vengsarkar was in his true element. I did not appreciate his shot to a short delivery from Marshall straight to Winston Davis at long leg. At the time of executing the shot he propelled his elbow up instead of rolling it down. Ravi Shastri however ran short of partners. The way he batted I once again claim him to be an ideal opening batsman who has the capacity and capability to play on the front foot of the wicket getting well behind the line.
If India wants to come back in this series the Indian batsman must refrain from nibbling at the outgoing ball which has been the reason of their downfall in this Test. This defeat I am sure will bring the Indian players from a trance in which they have been ever since the World Cup victory. I am confident that batsman like Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnathcan show the way of tackling Marshall and the rest of the West Indies speedsters if they can play according to the merits of the ball and apply themselves to the situation. Change in the batting order according to me is not the solution to the present problem. This will unnecessarily put pressure on a batsman demoted in order and make slaughter lambs of the pushed up.
Is Mohinder Amarnath scared?
Indian cricket Test stalwart Mohinder Amarnath running scared? Much as we hate to admit it, the answer, unfortunately, appears to be in the affirmative. It is becoming increasingly apparent that there is much more than meets the eye in the recent indisposition of Amarnath who, until recently, was the sheet anchor of the Indian batting during the tours of Pakistan and the West Indies, and whose sterling batting and bowling performances in the Prudential World Cup played a major role in India’s victory.
The second son of the lion-hearted Lala Amarnath, as is well-known, missed the third Test at Nagpur against Zaheer Abbas’s Pakistanis under mysterious circumstances, the reason deduced by the teams management was that Amarnath was running temperature, but journalists stated he looked fit enough when he visited the press enclosure at Nagpur.
Although he did not participate in the Abid Ali benefit match, Amarnath was present at the Wankhede Stadium during the match and left the next day along with the Indian team for the One- day International at Srinagar. Recalled to the side for the Kanpur Test against the West Indies, Mohinder bagged a pair but was somewhat unfortunate in being adjudged leg before in the first innings, when shouldering arms to a delivery from Marshall which appeared as though it would have missed the stumps.
At the Ferozshah Kotla ground on Sunday bewilderingly he batted as low as number seven and was out for one, caught at the wicket off Wayne Daniel: The uninitiated were surprised at seeing Amarnath, who was perhaps the only Indian batsman to stand his ground manfully in the teeth of the menacing West Indian pace attack during the last tour of the Caribbean, emerge from the pavilion after four, India wickets had fallen.
Indian skipper Kapil Dev sought to explain away the change in the batting line-up by stating that Amarnath was running a slight temperature and had requested that he be permitted to bat lower in the batting order. But those in the know are aware of the true facts and that Mohinder was padded up to bat at number three. Those in the inner circle know only too well that the real reason for Amarnath’s apparent loss of form and his omission from the Test side is because the amicable Delhi, batsman has unfortunately lost his nerve.
Those who have followed the career of the gifted all-rounder. know how shabbily Amarnath was treated by the powers-that-be as a result of which he was repeatedly kept out of the Test side despite outstanding performances in domestic games.
His initial dropping from the Test team had come after a series of failures against pace bowling in Pakistan under Bishen Bedi’s captaincy, when he was struck on the head twice by Imran Khan. When playing against Kim Hughes side in the Bombay Test Mohinder walked on to the wicket in a ludicrous sola hat of the variety worn by cricketers of Lala Amarnath’s vintage.
