Look back in wonder: It's 50 years of Indian cricket’s watershed year of 1971

Gulf News

Shyam Bhatia, Cricket connoisseur and owner of Dubai's unique museum, remembers the twin series triumph against West Indies & England  Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/34cwGOl  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #India #cricket

Transcript

00:00With me, I've got Mr. Shyam Bhatia, who honestly, to the cricket followers in the UAE and a lot in the world, does not need any introduction.

00:09In one word, you can call him one of the biggest crusaders of cricket that the sport has seen.

00:14Today, I have invited him to jog his memory for something very, very interesting.

00:20On June 2, India will be leaving for England for a marathon tour.

00:25First, they will have the World Test Championship final against New Zealand,

00:30which will be followed by a five test series against England.

00:34And it will be a very, very high profile and challenging one.

00:37For those who delve a bit with cricket history, they will be aware that this year marks the 50th

00:43anniversary of what is considered as a watershed year in Indian cricket. That was 1971.

00:49Under Ajit Vadhekar's leadership, we first beat West Indies 1-0 in West Indies.

00:56Then the Indian team went to England and they recorded their first overseas win in England

01:02also by a 1-0 margin. This team is often considered as a bit of forgotten heroes,

01:07but who taught India or who gave India the test of how to win abroad.

01:13My first question to Shyam will be, what's the first memory of those two triumphs?

01:191971, I was in Dubai. So, communication from Dubai was not there much that time.

01:29So, only we were getting a news of the matches very late. Then in 1972, I traveled to

01:40India, Bombay. And Ajit Vadhekar, Salim Durrani and all, they have been my old friends from

01:46cricket playing days. And I invited Ajit Vadhekar and Salim Durrani for the dinner. So, we were

01:53having a dinner. Ajit came on the right time. But Salim, there's no news from Salim.

02:02Me and Ajit were sitting in a harbor bar, having a drink, waiting for Salim Durrani. And Salim,

02:09there was no mobile that time, so you can't contact. Salim landed around 9-9-15. I'm very excited.

02:17He said, look, I did an ad for this birth cream or something. I got 15,000 rupees with me. So,

02:26I'm going to pay the bill today. I said, Baba, don't worry, you keep this one. And then both

02:33were telling me the stories of this tour. No doubt, obviously, the hero of the tour was a little

02:41master, Salil Gavaskar. Nobody can take that credit. He was amazed. It was amazing batting.

02:49But few things like Salim Durrani, I think last match was played at 5th, which India won in a

02:57Port of Spain, where Salim Durrani took the two wickets consecutive balls.

03:07Gary Sobers, first Kanhai, Rohan Kanhai and then Gary Sobers. So, Gary always considered

03:16Salim Durrani, the best spinner of India. And that two balls changed the face of the match.

03:24So, they won on that match.

03:27There are so many things to talk about those two series. I mean,

03:32all that I've read about those two tours was in the cricket books, Gavaskar's sunny days.

03:38So, I'll just come to you, before we move on to the in-line tour, in context of the upcoming

03:45in-line tour. You have been a friend with Mr. Gavaskar now for how many years?

03:50Oh, I said from same time, 71, 72.

03:55How many times did the conversation go on to that series against the West Indies? 774 runs,

04:01an average of 150 plus in 18 innings. How could a man do that? But what does he say about that?

04:10You know, Sunny is a person who doesn't talk too much, they say. But I'll tell you another

04:16very incident, good incident in West Indies. When India was playing 90, 2000, exactly 2000,

04:26India was playing a series in the West Indies. And Sunny was a commentator. And I went to see

04:33the matches. So, what happened and Jamaica mascot was out. So, I was going out for lunch to my

04:44friend's house. So, I told Sunny, you also join me. So, Sunny came with me, we went to a friend's

04:50house, Indian. Then there were two or three West Indians were sitting, who are from doctors.

04:58When they saw Sunny and introduced him to Sunny, they were sitting and these guys,

05:07okay, then we sat down. These guys refused to sit.

05:12I mean, he said, we said, please sit. He said, how he can sit in front of little master?

05:20Can you believe it? Then Sunny also told them, please sit down. And then they're telling us

05:25the stories of Sunil, this 1971 series, the batting. I mean, Sunny is a semi-god in West Indies.

05:36First came the West Indies war, I think it ended in April. And then came the England war.

05:43England, what history books tell us is that, it was a three test war and India again,

05:48won in the last test. A sudden Bhagwat Chandra Shekhar put six for 38 to break England's back

05:55in the second. So, England were all out for 101, which made the job easier for India.

06:01Coping with those English conditions, which still continue to be a bit of a tricky

06:07challenge for India. If I was looking at the Indian team shape, I was trying to find out

06:14that who was the new ball bowler with Avidali. Then I could make out that it must have been

06:20Eknath Solkar. Or it must have been Sunny. So, with this kind of a team and with three spinners,

06:30in today's context, you'd never think of playing three spinners in England. But how could

06:36Ajit Vadekar manage to do this and come out winners in that series?

06:41In that time, don't forget, India has the best fielding side. Eknath Solkar, Avidali,

06:50and Ajit Vada himself was a very good fielder in slips. So, they made a lot of difference.

06:55These players, these three fielders did an amazing job taking the catches in that match.

07:02Of the spinners. Along both these series and somewhere down the line in history, when we

07:10talk about the great Indian captains, we talk about Tiger Pataudi, we talk about

07:17of course, then Ahmad Azharuddin's success rate, then Dhoni, then Ganguly, then of course, now Kohli.

07:25Somewhat down the line, do you think that history had been little

07:29unkind to Ajit Vadekar? I mean, has he got his due?

07:33When they reached there, they got a great welcome. They got a great welcome by the public,

07:41by the board, and they came to Bombay. You saw there was an open bus and all these things. Then

07:48they flew to Delhi and they met our Prime Minister Mrs. Gandhi and all these things.

07:56But that time our selection and the board, they were always conflicting. You lose one series,

08:03you are out. You win a couple of series, you're out. They dropped Pataudi, they brought Pataudi

08:10again. So that is a trend was going on that time. That was very tough to hold on a captaincy. They

08:21will never give a chance to anybody to hold for five years. I don't think anybody was a

08:28captain for five years in a row that time. You have been a follower of cricket and you've played

08:34the game at a certain level. If I have to ask you that, how has test cricket changed? I mean,

08:40today when you go to England, I mean, the challenges by and large remain the same, isn't it?

08:46I mean, along with that… No, it's not the same. Gautam, it's not the same. What has changed? I mean, one thing

08:52Mr. Gavaskar himself says is that when wickets got covered from 1975, a lot of

09:00the trickier equation about the pitch was minimized. And why are you saying it's not

09:07the same? What has got easy or what has got tough? If you get a tour in England, first part of a summer

09:15which May and June, the ball swing like hell. And England have all the CMs and who swing the

09:24ball beautifully. An Indian can't play on this swing bowling. And if you go in July-August,

09:31the ball doesn't swing that much. So, that is a big difference in England.

09:39The upcoming series, I mean, which is going to be really a big, big challenge for Virat Kohli

09:44and his men. This is a series which is virtually starting from this early summer, as you're

09:50saying, soon after the WTC final. And it is going on till September. So, how equipped are

09:59Kohli's men to handle this? And also, finally, I would like to ask you that, are you going?

10:06Because if you don't go, I think it will be a rare occasion when you're going to miss the England series.

10:11No, I'm going definitely. And I have bought the tickets already.

10:17How do you rate Kohli's men's chances this time?

10:22Today, we have good. England have a better bowling start. In early, we are starting in June. So,

10:30we are still better off than the first part of June. Because if sun is shining, it's good for us.

10:40And then, we have also, not the same bowler, but we have bowling side, the same thing is good.

10:49We have better batting than England. If our batsmen, first five, they can get some runs

10:59in the first, in June, end June or early July, we'll be good. And second part of the

11:07summer, with the July games, I'm sure we will give them a tough fight and we should win.

11:14I'm betting on that. India should win this series. We have equally good bowlers. We have,

11:23not equally maybe, 60-40. But batting side are good. We need earlier batsmen to score the runs.

11:35Before wrapping up, I will ask you about this, about this, you know,

11:39jinx in England. I mean, we have started to travel well over the last 10 to 15 years. I mean,

11:46now we have won a back-to-back series in Australia. This time, again, you know, with a

11:53subpar team. Then in South Africa, we drew the series and came back. When it comes to England,

11:59our success rate goes down. Though in the last series, we did well. So why is it so? And what

12:07is it that we need to do to get over this? Because now we have got a full series. We can't say that,

12:12you know, we didn't get the chance to come back. We have full series. After winning in England,

12:20they are quite confident. But don't forget, I rate Ravi Shastri as one of the top, top

12:30manager, coach, everything today. His guidance to the players is amazing. I have a heart from

12:40horse's mouth. I have spoken to Ravi various times. He is fully prepared to this too. And

12:49boys are quite confident. And I'm glad this Ravi and Virat have a very good rapport.

12:58So that will make them to go ahead. We thank you, Shyam, for your wonderful

13:04recollection of those days of years back. Nice talking to you after a long time.

13:10Life was so different. Yeah, the life was so different. I mean,

13:14Salim Durrani earning 15,000 rupees from his first commercial.

13:20He was on the moon.

13:23This is amazing when players earn in millions today. But that's the way world has changed,

13:29society has changed. Thank you once again, Shyam.

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