The international career of Geoffrey Boycott, which had shone so brightly for so long, finally burned out in the heat of India. As is so often the case in his life, the events were surrounded by controversy. In the third Test against India in Delhi at the end of 1981, Geoffrey Boycott passed Gary Sobers‘ record of 8,032 Test runs.
I have never seen him happier. He bubbled, he joked, and he radiated happiness. Yet within a fortnight, Boycott had returned to England, sick of the food, the climate, and the hotels. Although Boycott did not leave the tour until the Calcutta Test was over, a fortnight after his record was achieved, it might be fair to say that his heart went out of it after New Delhi.
On flying east to Calcutta, he might have felt like another man crowned in Delhi, Bahadur Shah, the last of the Mughal Emperors, who was exactly twice Boycott’s age when exiled to Rangoon for his part in the Mutiny. Moreover, on the night of December 28th, last day of the third Test, Boycott suffered a temperature of 102° and some internal disorders for the first time on tour.
Those who would defend him would say that Geoffrey Boycott, having lost his spleen after an accident as a child, was compelled to be almost obsessively careful about his health. Others would say that anyone who had spent two months in India without getting diarrhea must be healthy.
Read More: West Indies Tour to India: Thrilling Finish at Delhi 1966
