cricket of yesteryear

[S.Balaji]

Walrus,

I fondly remember Padmakar Shivalkar - Mumbai. Great spinner who was no inferior to the magnificient quartet ( i will add Venkat also !!! ). Unfortunately he could not make it to tests for obvious reasons. He was doing extremely well in domestic circuit . Sad he faded away from the scene.

Dilip Doshi - had to wait for Bedi to retire and performed reasonably well though he was not a crafty bowler. Not attacking. A very defensive type .

I wonder how guys like - Shivlal Yadav could get opportunities.

Probably, its poorva jenma puniyam !!!. SY also took 100 wickets.


I also wish to analyse and discuss on certain low profile guys but who contributed IMMENSELY TO OUR GLORIOUS VICTORIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS. I wish to highlight a few :

1. Yashpal Sharma
2. Kirti Azad
3. Madan Lal
4. Roger Binny
5. Sadanand VIsvanath ( remember audi car of Ravi and India's victory in Australia )
6. Balwinder Sandhu
7. Abid Ali
8. Eknath SOlkar
9. Farokh Engineer - Stylish , class
10. Kirmani
11. Karsan Ghavri
12. Sandeep patil - sad sad , he quickly faded

etc etc. You have anything to add to this list ??

[S.Balaji]

Dear Walrus ( whats your real name mate !!?? )

My humble opinion is - one cannot be judged purely by statistics alone.
We should land up in a virtual situation and go backwards to those relevant years and days and we will realise what happened actually.
For example : to win a match, a single cricketer cannot achieve it on his own - of course - Turbanator is an exception - I love his aggression - Calcutta / Chennai were Harbajan's treasure

It has to be a team effort to win matches or save them atleast.\

Venkat was a great team man during those days. If the other 3 could have better bowling averages , its mainly due to Venkat's controlling line and length on the other end. Venkat was very good at that .
Today , if we analyse GRV's record and average , its low below Saurav and Dilip Vengsarkar but it doesnot mean that Vishy is inferior to them.
One can write a big thesis on Vishy.

Again Shivalkar was a class act but could not even make it to Indian 11.

Sandeep brought new dimension to Indian batting . He was the most aggressive batsman after kapil in the early 80s. Those innings in Adelaide - Lilly / pascoe / Hogg etc etc and against Willis in Old Trafford - 6 fours in an over were all terrific things of Sandeep.
He also did extremely well in 1983 world cup.

But Sandeep was out of the scence immediately. Today,if you consider Sandeep's statistics it will show him in poor light BUT I HAVE SEEN HIM on line and he was the most promising player in the 80s.

Thats the moral of the story.

[S.Balaji]

Dear Walrus,

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to go back by 30 years and recollect. In fact, I had to refer to my class mates and friends to get a feeler of the GREAT TEST MATCH .

The Madras Test – 1975 Pongal season ( during those years there will always be a test during Pongal holidays ).
Venkat was declared 12th man and there was huge furore on this and there were rumours that match will be disrupted but ultimately nothing happened as we all know Chennai fans are always knowledable and very sportive

Sunny did not play as he was injured. There were wild comments floated around that Sunny was scared to face Andy and Co and that’s why he himself declared unfit !!
Pataudi was the captain.
The start was awful.
Andy Roberts breathed fire and he was everywhere. Took 7 wickets for a small sum. It was a bouncy and fast paced track only Farokh could reach double figures – This I mean the recognized frontline batsman.
Farokh got out to a controversial decision – Gordon Greenidge took the catch in the slip / Gully cardon just inches from the ground. This was the first match incidentally to be covered by our Doordharshan ( Now podhigai channel !!! )
Ofcourse there was Vishy with his favourite square cuts. At one stage , Clive Lloyd kept 2 gullies but still Vishy could penetrate and was getting boundaries at a faster pace. It was one of the best knocks by an Indian and can be matched only by VVS in Koltakka recently. Of course there was another great inning by SMG at Bangalore in 1986 tour of Pakistan – 96 and got out to a poor decision ( oops , I am deviating )
Coming back to the topic – Poor Vishy had only 2 guys to accompany finally – they were Bedi ( 15 runs ) and Chandra !!! . Vishy managed to get 75 additional runs in the process and India got out for 190 .

WI – Viv and Clive played reasonably well in first innings and Pras took 5 wickets. I distinctly remember – Andy Roberts hitting 2 towering sixes of Pras at the end. WI scored 192 in the process.

The Second innings was not great to mention except that Vishy against scored 40+ and Gaikwad played extremely well to score 80 . We ended up 250 +. The final target was 248 ++

All drama happened in WI second innings –

Clive Lloyd was just middling the ball and one delivery from Pras he stepped out and tried to hit out of the ground and got stumped sweetly by Farokh. It was an unforgettable stumping and I still remember that. Clive later commented that if he had connected it , it would have crossed the Canal !!!
Another interesting point – kalicharan was going well and was taking control over the match when Ashok Mankad had him run out – A direct throw from fine leg I think which I still feel that it is not out but for the throw , the umpire got so excited and gave out. This decision was argued for several days and finally put to rest.
Pras again took 4 wickets and ended the match – Victory to India !!

We all celebrated as it was co-incided with Pongal !!!. It was an unforgettable match and still lasts fondly in my memory.

Summary :

Vishy’s knock – 97 n.o. stands still in memory . This adds value as he did not score century. Chandra was quite frequently moving away from the stumps but managed to support Vishy for long
Pras – magnficient bowling , very crafty, teasing arc , line and length – an object lesson to all youngsters.
Vishy’s flashing square cuts - despite Clive keeping 2 gullies were all great things
But for the controversial runout of Kali , the match would have ended much closer .
Ashok Mankad’s only contribution in this match was that great direct hit from fine leg area !!!

[S.Balaji]

Hello Walrus

I feel now as if I had played that match !!!. Its so exhausting now.

But thanks for making me go back by 30 looooong years !!!

[hehehewalrus]

hi bala sir,
thanks for your sporting acknowledgement. Hope I reciprocate your words. Venkat was undoubtedly a great in Ranji but like many of our players lacked the killer instinct to repeat the success on an international level.

In the Calcutta Test 83-84 2nd innings, it was Marshall all the way with 6-37. Holding grabbed 3 of the top 5, next day Marshall took 4 of the last 5. You will remember the team bus stoned on its way to the hotel.

Thanks for pointing out Holding's efforts that series. I always missed out Holding's bowling that series.

V.Siva was indeed unlucky. He was also an excellent fielder with over 100 catches in Ranji. I had the opportunity to see him play an exhibition match where he nearly took his team to victory with some impossible sixes in his late 30s. He was a lion-hearted cricketer!!!

Have you read the articles by V.Ramnarayan called Curd-rice Cricket in chennaionline? I am sure you will enjoy them.

Jabbar was a brilliant hardworking guy. His son Tanveer Jabbar promised much for TN but faded. Jabbar's brother Abdul Azeem was a rousing strokeplayer for Hyderabad.

Do you know about any inside story of Kirmani's dropping for the 1979 England tour which Venkat led? How did Bharat Reddy and Khanna get selected?

Sunny was very biased against Doshi and was responsible for his exit in favor of Shastri. Though Shastri to his credit performed very well as a newcomer.

I used to read about Kedarnath, Manoj Turakhia, the Shanbal brothers, PC Prakash and some other Jolly Rovers, India Pistons, Chemplast cricketers in the TN league. Did the singers Unnikrishnan and Sanjay Subramaniam get to play the TN league or did they step into singing before that?

Ramesh, Arun Lal and Carlton Saldanha are quite unlucky unlike Srikkanth. It must be admitted that Srikkanth was very good for ODI's though. He was dropped from tests after 1981-82 in favor of Gaekwad(who was excellent in Ranji 82-83). But Sri single-handedly demolished Srilanka in the One day series 82-83 with some fantastic hitting and since then was selected for one day and Gaekwad for tests.

I read somewhere that Sadanand Viswa got spoiled by wine and other bad habits and faded. Is the rumour about L.Siva and drugs true?

Among the cricketers you mentioned, Madan and Binny are really good. Rest were a little bit lazy, especially Sandeep Patil. He was an extremely lazy fellow at the international level. I have read his book Sandy Storm.

Richards never liked Willis in his county matches with Somerset. He happened to hear about Willis being smacked by Sandeep for 6 fours in the 1981 series. Sandeep met Viv in the 1983 world cup and introduced himself as his fan. Viv asked if he was guy who hit 24 off Willis earlier and took him for a drink. They later met before the final and Viv was delighted that Sandeep had hit Willis for 24 once again in the semifinal and took him to the bar again!

[hehehewalrus]

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to go back by 30 years and recollect. In fact, I had to refer to my class mates and friends to get a feeler of the GREAT TEST MATCH .

hi bala sir, that was a fantastic effort from you. Thanks a lot for the precious memories!!

It is fantastic to hear first hand account of this great match. What are the games you have attended in person at the stadium??

Roberts was incredible in this game with 20 ovs, 7-64 in first innigns and 5-57 in the second.

Clive Lloyd was just middling the ball and one delivery from Pras he stepped out and tried to hit out of the ground and got stumped sweetly by Farokh. It was an unforgettable stumping and I still remember that. Clive later commented that if he had connected it , it would have crossed the Canal !!!

But alas! Super Cat Clive had his revenge in the final test at the newly constructed Wankhede Stadium in Bombay, as he not only blasted 242 but in the second innings blasted 37 runs off a mere 19 balls to set up the declaration and the series clinching effort in the 4th innings.

Vishy’s knock – 97 n.o. stands still in memory .

He also hit 52 and 139 in the 3rd test at Calcutta which brought india back into the series. Do you have any recollections of that?

About this test, I read somewhere that West Indies ended the 4th day strongly at 150-3 chasing 300 to win the series. The Indian team went into the bar to discuss the strategy. After a couple of hours of relaxing and strategising, Pataudi decided to use the underutilised Chandra and wrote down his name on some paper as the lead bowler. The next day Chandra wiped out the innings before lunch and India won by 85 runs.

[S.Balaji]

Dear Walrus,

Great to see your posting and nice to observe that you have INDEPTH INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE ON OUR CRICKET.

I had a wonderful opportunity to see the Madras Test 1975 but during those days, radio was the medium and we used to just sit eagerly before the radio - me , my brothers, my senior cousins my father and at times my mother also.

My cousins were veterans of cricket before 70 and they used to tell me that they will go and sleep in MAC stadium the previous night to get early morning ticket so that they will get the best spot !!

As is always said, the D - Stand was the most popular stand during our days . I am not sure now as I have moved out of Chennai since 94 and I was based in Mumbai for 9 long years and then I am now in Uganda !!

Coming back to the topic of CHennai test - as I mentioned earlier, Alwvn Kalcharan was going well and but for the controversial run out from Ashok Mankad ( can you pls check with somebody whether the throw came from deep square leg or fine leg ?? ) . It was a direct throw and the umpire got so thrilled that he gave out.

There was no third umpire and TV technology was naive and amateurish and hence nobody could conclude but Kali was very confident that the Umpire spoilt the match.

I have gone through your previous posting and will respond point by point shortly

Love

S.Balaji

[S.Balaji]

[quote="hehehewalrus"]hi bala sir,
thanks for your sporting acknowledgement. Hope I reciprocate your words. Venkat was undoubtedly a great in Ranji but like many of our players lacked the killer instinct to repeat the success on an international level.

Response :

Venkat was reasonably successful. During those years , not many matches were played in a year compared to now. Besides, when Pras is around, you cannot think of any other off-spinner as he was at his awesome best. Very very crafty guy. Also, for Pat , pras was his favourite.

Quote :
In the Calcutta Test 83-84 2nd innings, it was Marshall all the way with 6-37. Holding grabbed 3 of the top 5, next day Marshall took 4 of the last 5. You will remember the team bus stoned on its way to the hotel.

Response :
You are right but I still remember Holding running like a 100 metres race like Ben Johson !! that evening and ripped through the top order . Yes SUnny got the maximum insult in that match. I think after this treatment by the crowd only, Sunny DECIDED NOT TO PLAY IN CALCUTTA FOR EVER.

Thanks for pointing out Holding's efforts that series. I always missed out Holding's bowling that series.

Response :

My humble opinion is , probably Holding is the greatest bowler of my period . Even Dennis Lilee / Andy Roberts will come after him


Quote :
V.Siva was indeed unlucky. He was also an excellent fielder with over 100 catches in Ranji. I had the opportunity to see him play an exhibition match where he nearly took his team to victory with some impossible sixes in his late 30s. He was a lion-hearted cricketer!!!

Response :

Poor V.Siva as he is one of those great Ranji players who could not make it big. I have seen him playing tennis ball cricket in P.S.High School once in very close quarters and is a very nice man.
I have seen his innings in Viveka several times ( Incidentally, I am a product of Vivekananda College ). Playing for TNCA first division.

Quote :
Have you read the articles by V.Ramnarayan called Curd-rice Cricket in chennaionline? I am sure you will enjoy them.

Response :
Could not read . I will do it.

Quote :
Jabbar was a brilliant hardworking guy. His son Tanveer Jabbar promised much for TN but faded. Jabbar's brother Abdul Azeem was a rousing strokeplayer for Hyderabad.

Response :
Jabbar, as i had mentioned was a nice teamman and played well for SBI. It was Jabbar , Prabakar , Kedarnath ( we call him as Kedari ) , Raghavan ( very senior man - spinner ) , Babul nath , C.S.Suresh Kumar ( played one test ), Barath Reddy - wonderful characters from SBI.
We used to go regularly for HIndu TRophy to watch these guys play.
By the way, is HIndu trophy being played now ??

Quote :
Do you know about any inside story of Kirmani's dropping for the 1979 England tour which Venkat led? How did Bharat Reddy and Khanna get selected?

Response :
I think this was the aftermath of Kerry Packer episode. When Packer invited all top players, I guess he invited SMG / VIshy /Kiri also . SMG expressed his intentions to the Board initially as he wanted to have a go at the top pace bowling in the world but was rejected and hence withdrew .
However,I think Kiri got a bad name in this episode and was not considered for the 1979 tour .
Here, if you analyse the then scenario- we played against 2nd Aussie team under the GRAND OLD MAN - Bobby Simpson - Old Thommo was there . Lilee went to Packer
Sunny scored 3 centuries

WI - Grade 2 team came here under Kali's captaincy - Marshall made his debut , Sylvester Clarke etc etc were bowlers and SUnny made merry - scoring double century in Mumbai , ( got out to the first ball in Bangalore !! ), scored well in kol , failed miserably in Chennai ( vishy was the king in that match ).

I am just mentioning those series as all the top stars were playing for Packer at that time.

Quote :
Sunny was very biased against Doshi and was responsible for his exit in favor of Shastri. Though Shastri to his credit performed very well as a newcomer.

Response :
Could be right. Not sure but Doshi was already aged at that time. Ravi was summoned to New ZEaland tour overnight after following the Australian series of 1980 - 1-1 tie series. Which saw all tamash - SMG staging a walkout with Chauhan ( WILL WRITE IN DETAIL SOON ABOUT THAT SERIES ALSO )

Quote :
I used to read about Kedarnath, Manoj Turakhia, the Shanbal brothers, PC Prakash and some other Jolly Rovers, India Pistons, Chemplast cricketers in the TN league. Did the singers Unnikrishnan and Sanjay Subramaniam get to play the TN league or did they step into singing before that?

Response :
Unni and Sanjay played for MCC before starting singing, I think
The list of names you had made above again has made me go backwards by several years !!! ( gnabagam varudhey , gnabagam varudhey , pokishamaaga manadhil pudhaintha ninaivugal ellam !!! )
There was also :
G.A.Pratap Kumar( we call him GAP ), P.C. Naresh, K. Srinath ( Srikanth's brother and better player than Srikanth !! )
Ram Prakash, C.S.Suresh Kumar, Babul Nath, T.A.Sekar, Bharat Reddy etc etc.

Quote :
Ramesh, Arun Lal and Carlton Saldanha are quite unlucky unlike Srikkanth. It must be admitted that Srikkanth was very good for ODI's though. He was dropped from tests after 1981-82 in favor of Gaekwad(who was excellent in Ranji 82-83). But Sri single-handedly demolished Srilanka in the One day series 82-83 with some fantastic hitting and since then was selected for one day and Gaekwad for tests.

Response :
Sadagopan Ramesh is really unlucky as he played well against Pak and Srilanka. I think he got injured in that terrible series in Ausie - 2000 under Sachin and never could come back except that he scored some runs in Chennai test against Ausie .
Arun Lal - a very mediocre cricketer , not a great batsman , he had his limitations, not a stroke player- but now making money in TV !!
Carlton - Nice player - played for Blr but faded away as SUnny was experimenting with guys like - GHULAM PARKAR !!!

Quote :
I read somewhere that Sadanand Viswa got spoiled by wine and other bad habits and faded. Is the rumour about L.Siva and drugs true?

Response :
Fine wicketkeeper- sadanand - will mostly come head tonsured !!!. He was one of the success story of our famous Audi car victory in Ausie under SMGs captaincy. faded away soon. No idea on his bad habits.
L.Siva - great leg spinner - was backed by Dilip vengsarkar and Kapil for some time faded away -
I had also heard rumours on his personal front but in the absence of authetic information, I will not comment on this.


Thank you friend, its bye from Uganda !!!

[S.Balaji]

Hello Walrus,

Wish to add some more interesting points to that series of WI in India :

1. Kanput test - It was Marshall Marshall Marshall . In the series before the world cup, India toured WI under kapil's captaincy. SMG was sacked as we lost 3-0 in Pakistan due to Imran's INDIPPERS !!! ( I will come to you later )
Greenidge scored runs.

When India started their reply - SMG was beaten the first ball and I think the second ball, he was consumed by Dujon- Caught Dujon bowled Marshall.

I have to go back to our tour of WI . In that series, Marshall tried a new approach

Going round the wicket and targeted everybody including SUnny.

Sunny was a failure in that series except for one century ( it was his 27th ) and that too it was a rain affected match.

Marshall was taking SUnny's wicket regularly in that series.

We all thought that Marshall will again win over SUnny n India also and he did not disappoint us. In both the innings SUnny got out to Marshall. I still remember the delivery in second innings, when SUnny tried to loosen his grip while facing Marshall express delivery but the bat flew from his Hand !!!
Every body said SHAME SHAME SHAME !!!

There was a huge expectation on SUnny in Delhi as we all thought if he fails here, Kapil is going to axe him .

IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING AND MEMORABLE INNINGS BY SUNNY I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE .

That 120 was unforgettable.

Sunny right from the start went on the offensive ( he started hooking from that match which he had curbed in his entire career for the sake of team ).

Runs were flowing from Sunny's bat and at one stage Clive kept 2 fielders in the fine leg and long leg but sunny kept on finding gaps in between the 2 fielders !!!

By lunch sunny touched 60 !! It was an achievement considering his style of batting.

THere was one close call after that when Holding had him trapped right in front but the umpire saved SUnny.

FInally, he reached 100 with a flash .

All those who bowled - Andy / Marshall / Holding all got severely punished.

Finally he got out to a poor straight forward delivery from Larry GOmes !!!!!!

I THOUGHT I SHOULD MENTION THIS INNINGS OF SUNNY as after this innings, Marshall was reasonably tamed and India faced him with better confidence.

Sad , amarnath who did extremely well in WI and the world cup was scoring telephone numbers !!!! 2 1 0 2 1 etc etc

In the second innings sunny was out LBW to HOlding and he himself walked even before the Umpire could raise his finger


I CONSIDER THIS POSTING AS A PRELUDE TO ANOTHER WONDERFUL INNIGS OF SUNNY IN AHMEDABAD THE NEXT MATCH WHERE HE SCORED 90 RUNS AT A MUCH FASTER PACE

Bye for now

[hehehewalrus]

I had a wonderful opportunity to see the Madras Test 1975 but during those days, radio was the medium and we used to just sit eagerly before the radio - me , my brothers, my senior cousins my father and at times my mother also.

Could you please recollect the commentators and your views on them? I think it may have been Vijay Merchant, Raju Bharatan, Suresh Saraiya to name just 2, since I have seen photos of Raju and Vijay Saab in the commentary box. BTW, was Raju's narration similar to his writing style? Although some of my friends came close to be admitted in Kilpauk Mental Hospital after reading couple of Raju's articles , I am a big fan of Raju and have a file with some 110 articles by him

Coming back to the topic of CHennai test - as I mentioned earlier, Alwvn Kalcharan was going well and but for the controversial run out from Ashok Mankad ( can you pls check with somebody whether the throw came from deep square leg or fine leg ?? ) . It was a direct throw and the umpire got so thrilled that he gave out.

From what I heard, it was from deep point with one stump visible and kalli decide to run since it went to Mankad, usually a horrible fielder.

My humble opinion is , probably Holding is the greatest bowler of my period . Even Dennis Lilee / Andy Roberts will come after him

Thanks. I spent the last weekend with a new DVD of some Aus-WI matches in the 80s. Will play them often to enjoy 'Whispering Death's bowling.

Could not read . I will do it.

I had that file of Ram Sir's articles somewhere. If I find, i will email you. Pls pm ur email address.

Jabbar, as i had mentioned was a nice teamman and played well for SBI. It was Jabbar , Prabakar , Kedarnath ( we call him as Kedari ) , Raghavan ( very senior man - spinner ) , Babul nath , C.S.Suresh Kumar ( played one test ), Barath Reddy - wonderful characters from SBI.
By the way, is HIndu trophy being played now ??

Yes it is still being played. My favorite memory of Jabbar is the 84-85 Duleep Trophy final when he played a match winning 77 to take South to victory over North. I think you are confusing C Suresh with TE Srinivasan. C Suresh made his Ranji debut in 82-83 season only and topped with 481 runs. TE was a vaal-player with a big mouth. Once he sledged Rodney Hogg in the 1979-80 Aussie visit and got bouncers in return. Umpire Gothoskar warned him not to risk his life irritating a pacer like Hogg!

Here, if you analyse the then scenario- we played against 2nd Aussie team under the GRAND OLD MAN - Bobby Simpson - Old Thommo was there

Simmo is my pick for the brainiest cricketer of the century - he is an amazing cricket brain, whether has cricketer or coach. Coming 9 yrs after retirement and hitting 500+ runs vs the Big Three spinners is incredible. Thommo IMHO is another brainless guy like Shoaib Akhtar.

Could be right. Not sure but Doshi was already aged at that time

Age shouldnt be held against Doshi since all spinners mature late. Besides Doshi made his debut in early '79 and was pushed out in early '81 so keeping him for 2 years doesnt make sense. His last game was the Bangalore Test v Pak in 83-84.

G.A.Pratap Kumar( we call him GAP ), P.C. Naresh, K. Srinath ( Srikanth's brother and better player than Srikanth !! ) Ram Prakash, C.S.Suresh Kumar, Babul Nath, T.A.Sekar, Bharat Reddy etc etc.

GAP played for AP. TAS was unlucky that on the 82-83 tour of Pak, some shoddy slipfielding spoilt his figures. He was faster than Kapil then.

Sadagopan Ramesh is really unlucky as he played well against Pak and Srilanka. I think he got injured in that terrible series in Ausie - 2000 under Sachin and never could come back except that he scored some runs in Chennai test against Ausie

Well, compared to Gambhir, Ramesh is inferior. Gambhir is a heavy scorer on the domestic circuit compared to Ramesh and will always be my first choice. Ramesh is more or less in Wasim Jaffer level. He had a great opportunity to play a match winning innings in 2003 Ranji final but flopped.

Arun Lal - a very mediocre cricketer , not a great batsman , he had his limitations, not a stroke player- but now making money in TV !!

Not really! Arun had very good scores whenever given a chance. I cant believe he was dropped in 1986-87 for Srikkanth after scoring 52 and 70 in the only Test he got. He was the best opener we got in the post-Sunny era.
Regarding commentary, Arun and Kirti Azad are the best Indian comms, compared to other crappy speakers(jokers?) like Maninder, Wassan, Mohinder, Yashpal

Carlton - Nice player - played for Blr but faded away as SUnny was experimenting with guys like - GHULAM PARKAR !!!

Correction, Ghulam never got to play a Test after 81-82. He got just a ODI v Windies at Guwahati where he was Man of the Match. But due to age, he wasnt considered. I am okay with guys like him given a chance, considering the fact that Srikkanth got 43 chances to play tests

By lunch sunny touched 60 !! It was an achievement considering his style of batting.

Nice memory there!! I still recollect the 12:40 maanila seidhigal which mentioned SMG's score as 60. The day was October 29 1983 and I recollect the Sportstar cover which had the caption "29th century on the 29th of the month"

THere was one close call after that when Holding had him trapped right in front but the umpire saved SUnny.

Sunny was dropped on 28 by Dujon off a mishook

Sad , amarnath who did extremely well in WI and the world cup was scoring telephone numbers !!!! 2 1 0 2 1 etc etc

Actually Jimmy had terrible sickness at that time. But since he scored 1000 runs before May earlier, selectors forced him to play 3 Tests. The sequence of 0,0,1,0,0,0 was shocking. But he bounced back in the 83-84 Pak tour with a match saving 101* at Lahore.

I was based in Mumbai for 9 long years

Interestingly I was also there for a few years. I went to the last day of the 2002 Test v Windies hoping for a Lara century. But alas, it all ended in 3 hours with Harbhajan's 7-48. Seeing the spineless display, it couldnt believe it was the same country for whom Clive Lloyd had smashed 242 and 37 on that very ground 28 yrs ago
Since none else is participating, I think it will be better to take this offline over email. I am sending a pm. I have come to know dozens of people over net who actually lived within a kilometer from my house, possibly you were my neighbor in Bombay!!!

(Aside: As far as spin goes, I feel Gupte is the best of all! He had a home avg of 30 and away avg of 28 which is great considering that he played a few away series that India lost 5-0. He only played against Eng, WI, Pak and Aus. If he had played NZ, I am sure he would have destroyed them(Even Venkat had 44w off 10 Tests v NZ). Gupte was bowling to top batsmen of the calibre of Weekes/Walcott/Worrell/Hunte/Sobers/Kanhai/Harvey/May/Barrington/Cowdrey/Dexter/Hanif, each of whom are all time greats)