Team India replaying the agony in England
Avijit Ghosh, TNN, Times of India, Aug 13, 2011
NEW DELHI: In the last 40 years of Indian Test cricket, the 1974 England tour was perhaps the most humiliating. In that three-Test series, the team led by Ajit Wadekar was not only trampled 3-0, it was also embroiled in a series of off-the-field controversies.
As events have turned out in the past three weeks, the ongoing Test Series has eerie similarities with that ill-fated tour.
Much was expected of the Indian team in 1974. Having beaten England away 1-0 in 1971 and again 2-1 at home in 1972-73, the question was: can they pull off a hat-trick? Similarly, everybody was looking forward to a needle contest between the two sides, especially since MS Dhoni’s Team India is still ranked the world’s No. 1 Test side.
Back in 1974, India had England in trouble on the first day of the first Test. The home team was down five for 127. However, Keith Fletcher, who scored an unbeaten 123, thwarted India and took England to a respectable 328.
Fletcher got the benefit of doubt from an umpiring decision. Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his autobiography, Sunny Days, “Abid was bowling superbly and he brought one back off the seam to trap Fletcher on his back foot. Our appeal was, however, negated by the same umpire who had given Boycott out to an identical delivery.
Boycott had been hit on the front foot as he shuffled across, but Fletcher was on his back-foot, and he was perhaps more palpably leg before than Boycott. May be, the umpire, didn’t like Boycott very much.”
Similarly at Lord’s last month, a crucial umpiring decision that went in England’s favour changed the course of the match. Wrote Boycott in The Daily Telegraph newspaper, “The only blot on the day was the poor decision by the square leg umpire, Asad Rauf. He should have given Pietersen out caught at leg slip when he was on 49. He had an uninterrupted clear view from 20 yards away and chickened out of making the correct decision.” Pietersen went on to make an unbeaten 202 and became the man of the match.
In 1974, India’s first innings reply centred around Gavaskar’s 101 – among his finest Test hundreds ever. In 2011, Rahul Dravid’s unbeaten 103 was the only major contribution. In 1974, India lost by 113 runs. The margin had grown to 196 runs 37 years later. The second Test in the 1974 series was played at Lord’s. India was disgraced in that game; the margin of defeat being as high as an innings and 285 runs. In the second innings, Wadekar’s boys were bowled out for 42, which remains India’s lowest Test score ever.
Dhoni’s team has fared only marginally better – losing by 319 runs. At one stage in the second innings, they were 55 for six before finishing with a relatively respectable 158.
The third Test seems to be progressing on similar lines. In 1974, India was bowled out for 165 in the first innings –opener Gavaskar was out for a first-ball duck. “Geoff Arnold’s first ball to me pitched outside the off-stump and cut back in sharply. I tried to withdraw my bat, but the ball seemed to be drawn by a magnet, hit my gloves and went to wicket-keeper Knott,” said Gavaskar in the same book. Incredibly, Sehwag was out in the same fashion – again off the very first ball he was facing – in the first innings.
India were dismissed for 165 then; this time, thanks to Dhoni’s aggressive 77, India finished with 224. In 1974, England declared after piling up 459 for two wickets; David Lloyd, now ESPN commentator, scoring an unbeaten 214. At Edgbaston, the series scoreline could be 3-0 once again, although there’s one more Test to play for this time.
The off-the-field controversies also have some similarities. During the 1974 tour, the Indian cricket team had turned up 40 minutes late for a function at the Indian High Commission.
It created a furore. Similarly, on this tour, the MS Dhoni’s Team India did not turn up for a function at the High Commission. In a press release, the BCCI later stated that the team had communicated six months ago their inability to attend as they had already committed to another function on the same day. Thankfully, there’s no equivalent to the unsavoury and unfair 1974 shoplifting controversy on this tour.
The 1974 defeat had major repercussions. Wadekar lost his job. The fallout of the 2011 cricket tour remains to be seen.
BRIEF SCORES, 1974: THE PAIN LINGERS…
1st Test: Old Trafford
England 328/9 decl. (Keith Fletcher 123, Dennis Amiss 56, Tony Greig 53; Abid Ali 3/79, B Chandrasekhar 2/55) & 213/3 decl. (John Edrich 100 n.o., Dennis Amiss 47) bt India 246 (Sunil Gavaskar 101, Abid Ali 71, Gundappa Viswanath 40; Bob Willis 4/64, Mike Hendrick 3/57) & 182 (Sunil Gavaskar 58, Gundappa Viswanath 50; Chris Old 4/20, Tony Greig 3/35) by 113 runs.
2nd Test: Lord’s
England 629 (Dennis Amiss 188, Mike Denness 118, Tony Greig 106; Bishan Singh Bedi 6/226) bt India 302 (Farukh Engineer 86, Gundappa Viswanath 52, Sunil Gavaskar 49; Chris Old 4/67, Mike Hendrick 3/46) & 42 (Eknath Solkar 18 n.o.; Chris Old 5/21, Geoff Arnold 4/19) by innings and 285 runs
3rd Test: Edgbaston
India 165 (Farukh Engineer 64, Ajit Wadekar 36; Mike Hendrick 4/28, Geoff Arnold 3/43) & 216 (Suru Naik 77, Ashok Mankad 43; Mike Hendrick 3/43, Chris Old 3/52) lost to England 459/2 decl. (David Lloyd 214 n.o., Mike Denness 100, Dennis Amiss 79) by innings and 78 runs.
