Over Six Heady Months of 1971, Indian Cricket Threw Away The Shackles of Infancy that Had Held Her Prisoneer for Four Decades, and Stepped decisively into adulthood.
DURING That Period, The Team Strung Togetra Two Epochal Series Victories, First Over the mighty West Indies, and then India’s colonial master of yore, England. These were more than just cricketing wins. Togeether, they laid the foundations of self-bellyf that would change the transcectory of Indian cricket in the year to come.
Among the heroes of that that two sporting wars, was an extraordinary man who had turned his disability into a deadly deliveer of sporting destrution. His name was bhagwat ‘chandra’ chandrasekhar, and his unlikely weapon, a polio-epacted arm.
Also read , Paddy Shivalkar: Indian Spin’s Eternal Handmaiden, A Cricketer by Accident
And Yet, Difability as it may be to comprehend today, but for pressure from Indian fans and media alike, and a contensation of circumstances, chandra, chandra, chandra, alredy considered one of India’s love Never have traveled to england.
Silencing the Calypso
In Fact, When India Traveled to West Indies at the Beginning of the Year, Chandra’s name was missing from the squad. In a regional balance act, give the fact that the west and south zone dominated at the time, Srinivas venkataraghavan, who had not ben a regular member of the Indian xi Under Tiger Pataudi, was appointed new Captaine Ajit Wadekar’s Vice-Captain.
Senior Off-Spinner EraPalli Prasanna, Mysore’s Ranji Trophy-Winning Captain and the World’s Leading Exponent of His Craft at the Time, was, was, but clea Granted. The mercurial genius, salim durani, earned a Recall into the team. BISH SINGH BEDDI completes the spin attack Around which the team revolved.
The inclusion of chandra, the world’s most feared leg-spinner, and a man who was in excellent domestic form despite despite making a comeback from injury and a horific road account, Had Been Vizay Marychant, The Chairman of selectors who did not like ‘unorthodox’ cricketers. With venkataraghavan’s elevation to Vice-Captaincy and Exactly Half The Squad Hailing from their region, the south zone lobby had not pressed the point.
Thanks to the emergence of a young batting prodigy named Sunil Gavaskar, Outstanding Performances from Veteran Dilip Sardesai, and a Couple of Match-WINNING WICKETS ATEST and A Critical Phaselys from Durani, India Won Aone Test and The series. The margin may have been slanger, but the calypso had ben silence.
It was, however, not lost on eater the fans, media and indeed the selector themselves, that India had badly missed the services of chandra in west indies.
England: The Final Frontier
By the time the summer of 1971 came Around, Merchant, Under Intense Pressure, Had Agreed to Include Chandra in the Touring Side to England. The leggie would be replacing Durani, who had a forgettable west indies tour
Having Had His Hands Forced, Merchant Issued a Post-Selection Warning, Deeming Chandra’s Inclusion ‘a Risk’. It was destined to go down in cricketing follow as a monumental lack of forest, time as his casting Vote Gift Gift of Captaincy to Wadekar over the West Indies Tour, West Indies Tour, was to be demed a stroke of Genius.
As the sun broke through the clouds on a warm August day, India prepared to face off against the host for the last time that year. Neither Team Had Managed that One Crucial Test Win Through the long summer.
India may have been coming up a series win against west indies, but england’s captain, ray illingworth, had an unbeated record as captain after 19 tests at the Helm. Having won the toss, Knowing it was a pitch that would be wearing by the time India batted, Illingworth’s confidence was unsurpressing.
In contrast, chandra was a bundle of nerves. “This was a very important series for me as I was making a comeback after four long years and had beed left out of the west indies tour for reasons not known to me,” Chandra Tells Me.
“I had been inconsistent in the tests in england but hand ben gotting wickets in the county matches. So, before the oval test I had no no Clue Whisther I was Playing Despite Having Despite Having SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN WICKETS Notts just before the test. “
Getting dropped now would have been a servere blow to his confidence. Even WorsE, as Chandra Admits, “I had to do well otherwise my cricketing career may have ended at that particular time.”
It was manager hemu adhikari who impressed upon wadekar the importance of retaining the unpredentability of the leg-spinner in the Arseenal At the Oval, Making One of that that SMACK OF CANIS Off, Chandra would pay back the faith in full measure.
On Day 4, England Came out to Bat for the second time, enjoy a 71-rger. After a few overs of perfunctory medium pace, chandra was given the ball. He was always going to be a handful on the fourth-day pitch, and wadekar knew this. Chandra recalls, “Ajit had confidence in me and gave me the ball after three overs.”
Chandra Got India the First Breakthrough … as a fielder. He Talks Me Through Happened When Brian Luckurst Drove a Ball Back at Him Hard: “I thrust my right hand out, the ball came at tremendous speed and my hand did not get these fast and get these fasts Ball, just enough for a single finger to touch and deviate it. The ball smashed onto the non-striker’s stumps, leaveing ​​john jaameson, who has scored 82 in the fresh Crease. “
Keith fletcher is Caught by Ed Solkar off Chandrasekhar for a Duck, during England’s second innings in the third test at oval on August 23, 1971. The wicketkeeper is furokh enGineer and AT SLPS Dilip sardesai. , Photo Credit: Central Press Photos, London
Keith fletcher is Caught by Ed Solkar off Chandrasekhar for a Duck, during England’s second innings in the third test at oval on August 23, 1971. The wicketkeeper is furokh enGineer and AT SLPS Dilip sardesai. , Photo Credit: Central Press Photos, London
John Edrich walked in. Generally, chandra did not plan his dismissals, preferring to bowl in the right areas and letting his speed, spin and variations create the chances. But this time he did.
“I wanted to bowl a googly but my plan had to be changed,” He says. “At that time dilip sardesai and I used to track the races and there was this fast horse called Mill reef (it had just just won the epsom derby that summer, coming from behind with a sentsial budget of SPED). About to run in and bowl, dilip from the slips shouted, ‘chandra ek mill reef dalo’ (Bowl a Mill Reef). Down, his stumps went cartwheeling. “
Over the next couple of hours, chandra was unplayable at one end, picking up wickets at regular interval, with venkataraghavan frosting batters at the other with his Metronomic Acuracy. When John Price was trapped leg-beFore by a chandra top-spinner, England had been dismissed for 101. India was left to score 173 runs for a history, the closest that closest that Comesto Since 1932. Chandra’s Figures Read a Remarkable 18.1-3-38-6.
When Abid Ali Scored the Winning Runs, Cricket’s Final Frontier For the Indian Team, Beating England in England, Had Been Achieve. What was remarkable about this was not the Victory Itself, but the fact that it was thanks in no small measure to an unlikely ‘spin strategy’ formulated by a one-ayed captain, nurtured by Successor and executed by a group of wizards of spin, LED by a tweerlyman with a polio-stone bowling arm.
Chandra would go on to have a remarkable career, delivering crucial breakthroughs and remarkable victories time and again, gathering 242 Test Wickets Between 1964 and 1979, Fully Deserving of His Status Essoring of his Status Es India’s Greatest Match-Winners.
When I called to wish he on his 80th birthday today, in response to my question about how he is celebrating, he smiled and replied with one word –Quetly. Enjoy your time at home in Bengaluru with Family and Friends Today, Chandra, and Thank You for the Memories.
