Page 11 - Seniors Toady March 2020
P. 11
When the last West Indies wicket fell, the crowd erupted
replied. Not having taken a look at the scoreboard tournament. Remember, he was not a specialist
till then, I turned to it and was shocked. 9-4! batsman and India were in a hopeless situation
India’s top order had been lopped off and the team when he came out to bat.
was in deep crisis. Sadly, Kapil’s brilliant knock was not captured
This soon became 17-5 as another wicket fell. for posterity, either on radio or TV. The BBC was
Then started the astounding recovery. Kapil Dev on strike for just that day, and one of the greatest
got into his groove with a couple of reassuring exhibitions of batting was limited to being
boundaries, found an ally in Roger Binny, and the disseminated by newspapers or conversations.
Indian innings got the kiss of life. I must confess that this kind of helped me in
I must have watched the match with Vishy for subsequent years. As the stock of Indian cricket
around 25-30 mins, and as soon as explosive grew, that knock acquired greater sentimental
strokes started emanating from Kapil’s bat, like value. As one of the few eyewitnesses to that
ack-ack firing from a machine gun, I sense we inning, there has been a recurring demand for a
were watching something sensational and swiftly piece, debate or discussion in the 37 years since!
headed towards the press shamiana. Victory over Zimbabwe seemed to bring new
Finding a strong ally in Syed Kirmani, Kapil zeal in the team. The pressure under which this
scored a blazing 175 not out to take India to 262, was achieved injected self-belief, and a deep
which turned out to be a match-winning score. I desire to win had been stoked. The players had a
rate this still as the best ever innings in a one-day spring in their steps as they moved ahead in the
international. tournament.
Australia were summarily swept aside to
Incredible impact complete the league phase and qualify for the
A number of batsmen have far exceeded Kapil’s, semi-final. This was against home team and joint
some even making double hundreds. But favourite England. The match at Old Trafford
considering the hardship quotient for Kapil, they was tantalising, with India prevailing through a
all fall short in terms of impact on match and fantastic all-round show.
11 SENIORS TODAY | Issue #9 | March 15, 2020
