To West Indies, with hope

Much to our dismay, DD had exhausted all its energies telecasting the previous Indo-Pak series held in Pakistan. So there was no live telecast. But there was All India Radio.

As Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshal hurtled down at breakneck speed, the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Yashpal Sharma, Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani had a tough job on hand. They rose to the occasion like never before. India might have lost the Test series 2-0 but every time Kapil’s devils took to the field, they put up a fight which the Indians collectively were rarely known for.

For instance, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, playing only his second Test, smashed a blistering 60-odds runs after coming to bat at No 9. Sandhu was in the side not as a batsman but as opening bowler. If Sandhu showed his grit, then Jimmy Amarnath — who earned the tag of Mohammed Ali of cricket during the series — put up a display which has few parallels in the history of Indian cricket.

Against Imran Khan’s army, Mohinder had been India’s most successful bat scoring over 600 runs. And against the West Indians, he did an encore scoring over 500 runs. Every time Mohinder went out to bat, he performed well. In one particular match, Mohinder batting at number 3 was hit on the jaw by an express delivery of a West Indian speedster.

With blood dripping from his mouth and T-shirt completedly soaked, Mohinder was carried off the field. But soon, he was back, fighting it out with the tailenders to save the match for his team.

Kapil was Captain Courage. When the chips were down, he upped the ante, smashing the pace quartet all over the park. One such century had Clive Lloyd’s giants gasping for breath. But what really turned the fortunes around for Indian cricket was the team’s victory in one of the three one-dayers. Until then, forget about beating, we had not even put up a semblance of a fight in any of the one-dayers.

The team’s performance prompted no less than Australian captain Kim Hughes to prophesise before the start of the World Cup that Indians were the underdogs who could spring a surprise. So the fighting spirit that Indians showed in this series soon took India to the pinnacle of cricket glory.

The team snatched the Prudential World Cup by humiliating the West Indians, who were looking for a World Cup hat-trick. They also subsequently went on to win the Asia Cup and the Benson and Hedges tournament.

If those days we had fighters till number No 11 who played for the team, today we have players who are more concerned about their individual performances. Time and again, the players have collectively shown how weak-kneed and butter-fingered they are. Small wonder then the man who gave his life and blood for the cricket is piqued at the attitude of the present bunch of cricketers. Yes, Kapil has slammed Sachin, Saurav and co. for not playing as a team. The onus is now on the ‘terrific twosome’ of Indian cricket. They have to prove they are men of guts and courage. And there is no better place than the Caribbean islands.