It was obvious that much would depend on how Kallicharran got the bestout of his depleted side
Partab Ramchand20-Oct-2002The West Indian side that toured India in 1978-79 was perhaps the
weakest to come to these shores till that date. In the aftermath of
the Packer crisis, most of the top stars had defected to the
Australian TV tycoon’s World Series Cricket, and the team that came to
India was largely made up of unknown names. Captain Alvin Kallicharran
was of course a world-class player, and Larry Gomes was fairly wellestablished as a batsman whose wicket had to earned. But little was
known of the others, and predictably enough, interest in the visitors
was lukewarm.
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It was obvious that much would depend on how Kallicharran got the best out of his depleted side. He certainly led from the front, scoring 538 runs and inspiring players like Gomes and Faoud Bacchus to come good. The left-handed Gomes was a model of consistency, hitting 405 runs with four half-centuries, while Bacchus, after notching up scores of 96 and 61, touched his peak in the final Test at Kanpur. |
Given the fact that India were at full strength, the home team was
expected to win the series. They did, and though the 1-0 margin in the
six-Test series may give the impression that India struggled for
victory, they were very much the better side, and the West Indies were
lucky that they were not beaten by a more comprehensive margin.
Incidentally it was India’s first home triumph over the West Indies in
five attempts.It was obvious that much would depend on how Kallicharran got the best
out of his depleted side. He certainly led from the front, scoring 538
runs and inspiring players like Gomes and Faoud Bacchus to come good.
The left-handed Gomes was a model of consistency, hitting 405 runs
with four half-centuries, while Bacchus, after notching up scores of
96 and 61, touched his peak in the final Test at Kanpur. In scoring
250 in 8-1/2 hours, the Guyanese right-hander made the highest score
at Green Park, the second-highest score in any Test in India, and the
second highest in IndiaWest Indies matches, next only to Rohan
Kanhai’s 256 in Calcutta in 1958-59.There was little substance in the rest of the batting. The bowling too
depended heavily on the pace duo of Sylvester Clarke and Norbert
Philip. While they were no match for the likes of Andy Roberts,
Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft – the men they had the
thankless task of replacing – they were a pretty hostile pair and had
their moments in the series, notably in the fourth Test at Madras on a
pitch of exaggerated bounce. Clarke and Philip were involved in a
bouncer war with Kapil Dev and Karsan Ghavri, and with some help from
Vanburn Holder, almost won the match for the West Indies before India
squeaked home by three wickets for the only decisive result of the
rubber.But considering their relative inexperience, the generally flat tracks
and the strong Indian batting line-up, Clarke (21 wickets in five
matches) and Philip (19 in six) could look back with some
satisfaction. The series took place just after India’s historic tour
of Pakistan, and with India losing that series, Sunil Gavaskar
replaced Bishan Singh Bedi as captain. The responsibilities certainly
did not affect his batting, for Gavaskar took a heavy toll of the
Caribbean attack. For the second time in his Test career, he topped
the 700-run-mark for a series. In scoring 732 runs with four hundreds,
including a double century, Gavaskar confirmed his stature as one of
the world’s leading players. En route, he hit a century in each
innings for a third time, the only batsman to achieve this feat, and
became the first Indian to reach 4,000 runs in Tests.The Indian batting never had it so good. Besides Gavaskar, Gundappa
Viswanath (2), Dilip Vengsarkar (2), Anshuman Gaekwad, Mohinder
Amarnath and Kapil Dev got hundreds. As many as 11 centuries were
notched up by Indian batsmen, and in two successive Tests in New Delhi
and Kanpur, three Indians got hundreds in the same innings. At the
Feroze Shah Kotla, India surpassed a 18-year-old record by compiling
their highest-ever total in Test cricket 566 for eight declared. But
this record lasted for precisely one match. In the next game at the
Green Park, India raised this to 644 for seven declared.The bowling was in the shadow of these stupendous batting feats, but
Kapil Dev, Ghavri and Srinivas Venkataraghavan came up with some fine
performances. Kapil Dev took 17 wickets and Ghavri 27, and for once,
Indian pace bowling was the dominant destroyer. The tour of Pakistan
had seen the break-up of the spin quartet, and this series hastened
the end. Both Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar were dropped, and even if
they were brought back, it was obvious that the main thrust of their
attack was over.It was left to Venkataraghavan to carry the spin burden virtually on
his own, and he did this admirably, taking 20 wickets in the six
Tests, playing a leading role in the lone victory at Madras and almost
bowling India to victory at Calcutta. The West Indies had only one
wicket left when bad light halted play, and they were again lucky to
escape defeat at New Delhi when rain halted proceedings with India in
an advantageous position.
