India tour of England, 2021

The current India-England series (we still don't know if it is complete or not) is proving to be quite extraordinary in more ways than one. It has been quite a seesaw affair. Apart from the Headingley Test, the other 3 could have been won by either team. 

The last Test at the Oval has brought so many new truths home. India has always been a team of great individuals who played fantastic cricket but couldn't gel with each other as a team to win matches. They were capable of walking into any world eleven on their own accord. Players like Merchant, Mushtaq, Hazare, Mankad, Manjrekar, Gupte, Ghulam Ahmed, Nawab of Pataudi, Farokh Engineer- the list is endless. Mankad's performance at Lord's in 1952 was of such a class that the MCC decided to label it as Mankad's Test. Freddie Trueman when asked about the players he didn't like bowling to mentioned Vijay Hazare. 

Total Recall #2 India vs South Africa, 24th November 1993, Kolkata Hero Cup (First Semi-final)

In this second article of Total Recall series, we are going to relive one of the most iconic matches of the 90’s era, one which shaped a youngster into a man and made millions of Indian fans hopeful that their team is going to get a lot of success in the coming years.

The Backdrop

The CAB Jubilee Cup, known as ‘Hero Cup’, as Hero Honda were the sponsors, was organized from 7th November – 27th November 1993, to commemorate the diamond jubilee of Cricket Association of Bengal. It included host India, along with Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, and Zimbabwe. Pakistan was also scheduled to participate, but they pulled out just four days before the start of the tournament. All the ten league games (each team played the others once) were held at ten different venues and the semi-finals and final were held at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Controversies

There was crowd trouble in the match between India and West Indies at Ahmedabad, which shortened the game, as well as a firecracker burst in the face of Keith Arthurton of West Indies in the final match against India (yes, even firecrackers were allowed to carry inside the stadiums in those days, imagine!).

This was also the first tournament to be broadcasted live on a satellite channel, Star TV. Until then, state terrestrial broadcaster Doordarshan had a monopoly of broadcasting cricket matches in India. Doordarshan even approached the Supreme Court in 1995, stating that the broadcast should be uplinked from India (Star TV did from Hong Kong), but this plea was rejected, which started the entry of multiple sponsors and broadcast rights bids in India.

Points Table (at the end of league stage)

Team P W L T NR Points NRR  West Indies 4 3 1 0 0 6 +1.055  South Africa 4 2 1 0 1 5 +0.543  India 4 2 1 1 0 5 +0.082  Sri Lanka 4 1 3 0 0 2 −0.478  Zimbabwe 4 0 2 1 1 2 −1.260

The Match

India had defeated South Africa in the league stage, but that did not mean anything in a semi-final, which was a new experience for everyone involved. It was the first day-night ODI held at Eden Gardens (the first day night match outside Australia was held in Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium in 1984). So, it was not a very common experience for Indian team to play under lights. The fact that it was winter made things more tilted in favour of the bowlers with some swing and movement at offer. South Africa had been a force to reckon since their re-entry into cricket in 1991, and this was going to be a mouth-watering contest.

Md. Azharuddin won the toss and elected to bat first. By the 7th over, India was tottering at 18/3, with Manoj Prabhakar and Vinod Kambli being brilliantly run out by Daryll Cullinan and Ajay Jadeja out LBW by Fanie de Villiers. When Sachin Tendulkar got out for 15, India was reeling at 53/4. That is when Azhar resurrected the innings, along with the help of Pravin Amre, who scored a slow, but much needed 48 off 90 balls. Such was the domination of South Africa, that these three were the only batsmen to reach a double-digit score (the fourth highest contribution was from Extras, 13 of them!)

Boom: Once in a Lifetime Phenomenon !

India have played 550 plus tests till now. We've had history of flickers of good to fabulous bowling overshadowed by humongous runs piled by run machines like Hazare, Merchant, Tiger Pataudi, Vishwanath, Gavaskar, Mohindar, Azharuddin, Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and Kohli.

Except for a perfect 10 by Kumble, a couple of test hat-tricks and the legendary spin quartet of the yore, Indian Cricket is an enduring story of batsmen lording over barren brown patches and capitulating like greenhorns on greener surfaces. We always lionised our batsmen or condemned them because we never really had a bowling unit that could claim 20 wickets in overseas tests. Ajit Wadeker and Kapil Dev achieved some success in West Indies and England. But consistent success abroad was a mirage for the Indian fans.

Though Ganguly was the first ever captain to dream big and aim for overseas test wins, he never got the bowlers to work as a unit. It was mostly one of them bowling well with others misfiring. That consistent hostility of the West Indies of 1970s and 80s, Pakistan in the Imran Khan to Wasim - Waqar era, Australia in the first decade of new millennium had always remained an elusive dream for Indian Cricket fans.

MSD was a revolutionary Captain in ODI Cricket. But he somehow became a passive spectator in overseas tests as Indian bowlers practically threw in the towel when faced with flat decks. When it comes to Test Cricket, Kohli is a different Captain. He might err with team selection, he may not be quite imaginative in his handling of spinners but he has brought in a hitherto unknown element into Indian Cricket. The consistently aggressive fast bowling unit that can claim 20 wickets in most tests. We aren't talking about the 130kmph variety but those who can keep it above 140 to 150 kmph even in the third session of the day.