Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
Most cricket experts consider 1971 to be the start of the modern era in Indian cricket. An impressive series win in the Caribbean was…
Join The Roar
Become a member to join in Australia's biggest sporting debate, submit articles, receive updates straight to your inbox and keep up with your favourite teams and authors.
Oops! You must provide an email address to create a Roar account
When using Facebook to create or log in to an account, you need to grant The Roar permission to see your email address
By joining The Roar you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions
Login and get Roaring
Oops! You must provide an email address to create a Roar account
When using Facebook to create or log in to an account, you need to grant The Roar permission to see your email address
Roar Guru
Joined May 2017
69.9k
Views
143
Published
2.2k
Comments
FOREST FOREVER
Published
Comments
Most cricket experts consider 1971 to be the start of the modern era in Indian cricket. An impressive series win in the Caribbean was…
Although the Aussies lost the Ashes series in 1981, Allan Border returned home with his head high after showing the pundits that he could…
If 1978 is considered as the beginning of the second century of Australian Test cricket history, then Allan Robert Border is without doubt the…
Just like my previous combined teams, only one slot is available to each Test-playing nation. The main criterion is very simple: the player had…
This will be the last article in this mini series. I selected the year 1984, as my love for the game of cricket reached…
The first World Cup was held in England in 1975 at a time when the limited-overs game was still very much in its developing…
1977 was a special year for me, and it was special for the cricketing world as well. To begin with, I fell in love…
Right now, there are 12 Test-playing nations. In 1971, exactly 50 years ago, this number was much smaller. With South Africa absent from the…
After New Zealand made history by winning the series in England in 1986, Graham Gooch, the England opener, described the Kiwi bowling as, "It…
The years 1985 and 1986 can be termed a golden era in New Zealand cricket history. In roughly 18 months starting from February 1985…
'What might have been?' I love these words. At times the facts become a bit dreary, often the same story just gets repeated. In…
Subhas ‘Fergie’ Gupte was born in Bombay on December 11, 1929, and died in Trinidad on May 31, 2002. He spent the last four…
The list of West Indies batsmen with a 50-plus batting averages in Tests looks like this: George Headley, Everton Weekes, Gary Sobers, Clyde Walcott,…
During the summer of 1971, both Pakistan and India played three-match series against England. Initially, there were some concerns regarding the competitiveness in these…
I started the first part of this article recalling the heroics of Charles Bannerman that led to the famous Australian victory at the MCG.…
As in my previous articles on ‘combined’ Test teams, only one slot is allocated for each Test-playing nation. The criteria are simple: to be…
In the first part of this article, written a few months back, I looked back at Sir Don Bradman’s famous final-innings duck and Sir…
The first Test of the much awaited India versus England series saw a comprehensive victory for the tourists by a margin of 227 runs.…
Needing 98 for victory and with five wickets in hand, with their champion batsman at the wicket, the Indians were fancying their chances of…
It was January 1977, and a beautiful winter morning. It was Sunday - and with the school closed, I accompanied my dad to a…
Highly interesting article. I have watched the Kiwi series with keen interest. Bit disappointed that the Kiwis have looked below par. The India test should be a bigger test.
Certainly has enjoyed the aggressive approach. Pope at the moment looks good for no.3 slot. Problems in opening though.
A new leaf for English cricket
296 is the Eng Target.
Good chance that they reach the target this evening.
Zimbabwe's all-time Test XI
Off topic
Rare failure for Daryl Mitchell this summer; getting out for 56.
Zimbabwe's all-time Test XI
Kevin Curran was a fine all rounder in the 1980s.
Zimbabwe's all-time Test XI
Now I remember, in 1981 it hosted pro wrestling.
What is the sporting capital of the world?
Don’t know about the sporting capital of the word, but when it comes to venue, I thing it’s very difficult to beat the Dacca Stadium ,no known as the ‘Bangabandhu National Stadium’ in Dhaka.
The stadium was originally built as a cricket venue, and it hosted Pakistan’s first ever home test, against India, starting on the new years day of 1995. In 2000 it hosed the inaugural test in Bangladesh cricket history. In 2011, it hosed the opening ceremony of the 2011 WC.
However, very soon after it’s building it became a regular soccer venue. In 1985, it hosted Bangladesh’s first ever home WC qualifier against India.
In 2011, it hosted friendly match between Argentina and Nigeria.
It hosted the 1985 Asia Cup Hockey tournament.
It has also hosted Volleyball, Athletics and Boxing events.
I am sure I have missed one or two other sports.
What is the sporting capital of the world?
The last sentence regarding Mumbai seems very unclear to me. No doubt, Mumbai is the cricket capital, even more impressive than MI success at IPlL is Mumbai’s record in Ranji trophy.
But Calcutta was the traditional venue for Football( soccer) .
In hockey and many other sports the ex maharaj’s played a big part. Specially the house of Patiala played in big part in Indian sports.
What is the sporting capital of the world?
off topic: The Ranji trophy final has started today at Bangalore between Mumbai & Madhya Pradesh (MP).
If MP wins it will be a news; if Mumbai wins I don’t think nobody will care. .
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
yes. His job was made harder by the fact that the spinners wer largely ineffective and Binny was unfit to bowl.
yet, at the end of the match, he came for criticism from the media for his decision to field first in an underprepared wicket.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
I think Jo Angel was taller than Julien. But Angel was a right armer. Many expected him to play against NZ at WACA in 1993. Instead the selectors went for a rookie, named Glen McGrath.
West Indies all-time Test XI
One big problem for Sunny was that he never had a steady opening partner. In total he had in 18 years. during the 1974 tour to eng he had 3 different openers in 3 tests. I once wrote an article here on that
To make matter worse, the middle order was very brittle in the 70s. Vishy was fine at 4, but no one looked settled at no. 3
Vengsarkar came good in the 1978-79, but he was a makeshift one. He had problems against genuine pace and he was aware of it. Mohinder Amarnath emerged in 1983 as a solid but unspectacular No 3. Vengsarkar moved to 4 as Vishy was dropped.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
yes thommo was Simpson’s main weapon. But, there wasn’t much quality at the other end.
I have watched some videos of the series; and I got the impression that thommo’s mind was at the WSC. of course I can be wrong. certainly it wasn’t easy for thommo to play under Simpson. think things flared up a bit during the tour to WI, where I believe Thommo was made the VC.
Also, at SCG thommo got into a bit argument with Chauhan. sunny, at the other end describes the incident here
https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/chetan-chauhan-laugh-jeff-thomson-riled-6558920/
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
Well, Sunny is more of an expert. Harsha, of course is very popular.
I think an issue was raised perhaps a decade about Harsha’s dominant position among commentators given he had no international experience. In fact, I don’tr know anything about his cricketing background.
I do know that he was a student of IIM (the leading business school in India). he was supposed to do commentary for Indian Radio during the 1984 Ind-Eng test of 1984. The death of Indira Gandhi meant that there was a slight change in tour schedule; and the test (cricket) coincided with his test (IIM). In a rare occurrence in the history of the Institute, Harsha was granted permission to go ahead with his commentary job, and the professors took a separate test for him.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
Thanks everyone for your comments. I would like to share some views of my own .
1) first of all I don’t like batsman from one generation being compared with another. I don’t think it’s possible. throughout the 70s Indian batting was very brittle. it depended almost entirely on Sunny and Vishy. Although they didn’t have helmet, certainly not before 1978.
2) IMO he was best Indian batsman between 1971 to 1985. In 1986 Vengsarkar with a string of hundreds perhaps took over this mantle.
3) He certainly proved himself against the moving ball in England more than once. His record in Aus perhaps can be a bit misleading as most of his runs there came against weakened attacks.
And yes, I agree that his record against WI doesn’t tell the whole story. But then you can argue that when he faced the ‘real ‘ WI attack in 1983, he was past his peak
4) As a captain he was a bit defensive minded. But, he took over the captaincy just when the great spinners were past their prime. The substitutes were never to the mark .
5) I like him as a commentator; his analysis are good and among all the Indian commentators I find him to be the most objective in his opinions.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
Wayne Clark of WA dismissed Gavaskar 4 times at Gabba and WACA. I was much surprised when he didn’t feature in the Ashes next season. To confuse things even more fro a 9 year old, a Clarke emerged in the WI team.
Now I know that his action was quite a bit suspicious.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
The Ahmadabad test in 1983 is memorable fro many reasons.
Apart from Sunny becoming the leading run getter in test history and Kapil creating a new bowling record:
it was the first time 4 Sikh players were on the field in a test match
Navjot Sidhu was making his test debut. he would become a leading batter for India in the 90s.
Maninder Singh, left arm spinner and my role model, was tryin to establish himself as the new Bedi.
Medium pacer Balwinder Singh Sandhu was playing his 8th and last test.
Gursharan Singh was not in the XI, but substituting for Roger Binny created a new record taking 4 catches.
A right had bat, he did play one test for India at Auckland in 1990.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
Gavaskar’s test record in Aus is interesting:
1977-78 5 test 450 runs 50.00 3 hundreds
1981-82 3 test 118 runs 19. 66 1 fifty
1985-86 3 test 352 runs 117.33 2 hundreds
If course both in 1977-78 and 1985-86 Aus had depleted attacks.
He had poor season in 1980-81 when he struggled in both Aus & NZ.
Lillee always rated Vishy above Sunny.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
I think it was Franklyn Stevenson. There was a quickie named Franklyn Rose who came in the n2d half of the 90s. One of the many who failed to keep the fast bowling tradition going.
West Indies all-time Test XI
I still remember the hype around Lillee breaking Gibbs’ record during the 1981-82 season. I think he kept everyone waiting for one test before getting the record.
I was totally confused to learn about a spinner from WI.
It seemed like something alien to me.
I learned about the’ two little pals of mine’ later.
West Indies all-time Test XI
So the 4th tier would be
Bishop, Clark, Patterson
Wayne Daniel, Gray to the 5th team.
West Indies all-time Test XI
NZ at 7? Must be a big fall. Ageing team perhaps.
A new leaf for English cricket