Dravid Can Repeat History

Let me be frank with you. I never expected to lead the Indian team to theWest Indies in 1971! I always thought the fight was between the two giants --'Tiger' Pataudi and Chandu Borde and that 'Tiger' had a better chance. When theselectors met for the purpose, I was busy shopping for my new little flat withmy wife. I was really stunned when I saw a large gathering, some of them ofcourse being reporters, for interviews. More responsibility and tension forsure!

Likewise, when the team was announced, there were mixed feelings amongst thecritics and public. The general consensus was that it wasn't a good side tocombat the mighty West Indies and that too on their own soil.

It had no 'Tiger' Pataudi who almost ruled the captaincy of the Indian teamfor about 11 years continuously, a record by any standard. He opted out. It hadno batting genius like Borde. Instead, we had seniors who were not in dazzlingform, youngsters like Eknath Solkar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Sunil Gavaskar, KeniaJayantilal, Devraj Govindraj, Rusi Jeejibhoy coupled with an inexperiencedcaptain not much heard of.

No doubt, when we landed in Kingston, Jamaica, their skipper and my only idolas the best all-rounder then, Gary Sobers, had the same opinion at the airportwhich he expressed over the glass of welcome drinks.

I had of course no words to retort except that "let us wait andsee" and that "we would like to be your foes on the field and friendsoutside". He might have been right as his team was one of the best amongstthe three nations in the cricketing world then.

He had a superb batting line up in himself, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, RoyFredricks, Joey Carew, Charlie Davis, George Camacho and Alvin Kallicharanwaiting in wings. He also had a considerably good pace attack in Keith Boyce,Grayson Shillingford, Vanburn Holder, John Shepherd and Uton Dowe who managed torattle us with their barrage of bouncers with increasing intimidation as thetour progressed.

Compared to that, our so-called medium pace attack was in the hands ofGovindraj, Solkar, Abid Ali and M L Jaisimha to a certain extent. Theirshort-pitched delivery was not even knee-high! The only solace was that we werereally better off in the spin department with the wily Bishen Singh Bedi,deceptive E Prasanna, steady Venkatraghvan and the moody Salim Durrani. Yes, inaddition, their umpiring wasn't that friendly to the guests with no TV to showthe replays.

Our early showing in the first practice game against Jamaica XI was none tooimpressive. Firstly, we hardly had any practice as we missed our flight from NewYork. We arrived in Kingston without our kits. We had to beg and borrow or buycricket clothing and equipment from the local shop.

To top it up, we had Gavaskar and his future brother-in-law Vishwanath on theinjured list from Day One. It was the same case in the second outing at MontegoBay against the WI Board XI.

It was high time to think of proper planning and strategy as the first Testwas next. We decided to concentrate on fielding, more particularly onclose-in-positions for two reasons -- one to provide support to our spinningtrio and another to ensure that we don't drop catches of Sobers, Kanhai or Lloydor otherwise they would get not less than two hundreds.

We pinpointed Solkar, Gavaskar, Abid Ali, Venkat and myself with betteranticipation and reflexes for the job. The bowlers were given specificinstructions to contain these great free scoring, cavalier batsmen and make themlose patience quickly. Thirdly, we decided to go all out when the conditions andcircumstances were in our favour, be positive but exercise caution as well.

And lo! Our strategy started working. We also had a bonus that some of ourbatsmen got into great form. Even the tailenders stood up to the attackcourageously. None of the players flinched from the duties allotted to them.

I admit we had an atrocious start in first Test with me losing the toss, thefirst day's game getting washed out, and we reeling at 75 for four. The trio ofDilip Sardesai, Solkar and Prasanna came to our rescue and how!

What a knock Sardesai played, scoring 212 runs effortlessly -- the best knockI had ever seen flowing from his bat under such a hopeless situation. His doublecentury infused hell of a confidence in all of us.

It also fired great enthusiasm into my players, especially the bowlers. Lateron, his appetite like his love for spicy food increased with every match and atthe right time whenever the side was in dire trouble.

Once against the state team, he was rested for a bad tummy. The doctoradvised him to have only chicken soup. In the evening, I entered his room tofind him eating a full plate of tandoori chicken. On enquiry, he mentioned if hewas allowed to have soup, then why not have the chicken itself. Isn't it one andthe same? I wasn't convinced.

In the same Test, Prasanna and Venkat got the hosts out just for 217 in thefirst innings leaving a deficit of 171 runs. That was good enough for me toenforce the follow-on on the West Indies for the first time as the differencerequired for follow-on is 150 runs for a four-day game as against 200 runs for afive-day game.

Sobers wasn't aware of the rule. I made it a point to go to their dressingroom and asked him to bat again, albeit a little bit loudly so that all hisplayers could hear it loud and clean. That was a psychological ploy as there wasno chance to win the game with only one day left and the wicket had rolled outsuperbly. Henceforth, the public and West Indies players were not to take us forgranted for sure.

Luckily for me, a legend was being born for India in the West Indies. Yes, itwas Gavaskar. To get a record breaking 774 runs on his debut in just four Testsand that too on foreign soil and against one of the best teams in the world issomething which ordinary batsman just can't do!

He had got to be extraordinary, divinely talented with tremendousconcentration, temperament and the will to win. I prayed that he did not get acentury on his debut, as it was a curse to Indian cricket. Whoever had done thatearlier never lasted long in the Indian team.

It was Sobers who named him 'Little Master' at the end of the series. What atribute from one to another great! Had it not been for his century in the firstinnings and double hundred in the second innings, we wouldn't have been able towin the series 1-0. It would have been drawn.

In the second innings of the last Test, he suddenly started hitting almosteach and every ball uppishly. Fortunately, it never went straight to thefielders. When he came back to the dressing room, I asked the reason. He lookedat me and said, 'Sorry captain, I thought I was instrumental in getting Abid Alirun out. It was biting me all along. I know that was wrong and I wouldn't repeatit.' Well, he went on to get 212!

All in all, our main bowlers -- Bedi, Venkat and Prasanna bowled according toplan superbly. Abid Ali's shooter uprooting Roy Fredricks' middle stump with thefirst delivery and those two magical deliveries from Durrani claiming thevaluable wickets of Sobers and Lloyd in the second innings of the second Testwere instrumental in our win.

Solkar and Mankad chipped in with their valuable stands with either Sardesaior Gavaskar, excellent catches were held by Solkar, Venkat and Abid, thepriceless advice I received from Jaisimha from time to time and other smallincidents helped us in registering the first ever win in the West Indies.

Rahul Dravid has a tremendous scope to repeat history after a gap of 35years. It is really surprising that India have had to wait so long. Maybe, theymight have come closer to the target but were unable to turn it into a win.

Maybe, West Indies' battery of pace attack might have gone berserk withshort-pitched deliveries and bouncers to shatter the confidence of our mainbatters then. Maybe, our attack was not good enough to capture all the 20wickets.

Dravid doesn't have to worry. He has perhaps the best and well balanced teamat his disposal. He has a tremendous batting line-up starting with himself,Sachin if fit, Yuvraj, Sehwag, if he gets cracking, Raina the most promisingyoungster, Dhoni, with all the ability in the world to hit any ball if he sodesires, and Irfan Pathan, with great potential.

He has a good seam attack in Pathan, Sreesanth and Agarkar to exploit thefast tracks and humid conditions like we have in Mumbai or Chennai. He also hasa good spin attack to go with.

The West Indies team is still in the process on rebuilding and if our bowlerscontain their main batsmen like Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, ShivnarineChanderpaul and to a certain extent Chris Gayle, victory is on the platter likewe had in 1971.

PTI