Greatest test knocks by Indian batsmen Part 1

Ever since India  started playing  test cricket since 1932, batting more than anything else has been the strong point of the team which has helped the team win test matches both home and away. India over the years has produced some of the greatest batsmen the game has ever known.  This article aims at   rekindling some of the greatest knocks played by India’s batsmen.  Though this   is a very contentious issue and there will be people who will argue and might differ on the list of the greatest Indian test knocks, which is very well appreciated and anticipated.  I have picked according to my wisdom and view 10 of the greatest knocks played by an Indian in tests.  The criteria which I  have tried to apply while choosing these knocks are the match situations, opposition bowling attacks, nature of opposition. There have been some knocks which have come in a losing cause, which in my opinion does not take away the greatness and the quality of these knocks. In any which way.   In this first part of the article i will be placing before all of you the top 5 knocks not necessarily in the order of merit.

1)  V V S Laxman’s 281 against Australia  at Kolkata in  march 2001. –Few people will argue or differ with me on this as this incredible knock just sits head and shoulders  above any knock played by an Indian. Even the Wisden has rated this knock as the best ever played by an Indian and is placed in the 6^th position on its all time list of  greatest test innings.  The Australians under Steven Waugh  had come to India in Feb – March 2001  with a record 15 successive test wins under their belt and quite easily won the first test  in Mumbai well within 3 days. The teams travelled to Kolkata at the Eden Gardens for the second test match.  Australia won the toss and scored 445 runs in the first innings with the help of Steve Waugh’s 110 and despite Harbhajan Singh’s hatrick, India was struggling to even save the match.  Indian team collapsed in the first innings   scoring a mere 171 runs and had to follow on with a deficit of 274 runs.  The only saving grace in the first innings was a knock of V V S Laxman  who scored 59 runs batting at no 6.  It seemed as if Rahul Dravid was getting bogged down at no 3  and  was not in the best of touches as it were and so the team management decided to send V V S  at the pivotal no 3 position.

Rest as they say is history as Laxman and Dravid scripted one of the greatest fight backs this sport has ever witnessed  the duo shared a  partnership of 376 runs for the 5^th wicket and  Laxman scored a scintillating 281 runs  well supported by Dravid who scored 180 runs. India not only did not  lose a wicket on the 4^th day but astonishingly went on to win the test match late on the 5^th day with Harbhajan Singh doing all the damage in the 2^nd innings.  This was only the 3^rd occasion where a team after   having following on went on  to  win a test match. This epic knock just changed the   face of Indian cricket and the team started believing in its own ability and the players always thought that they could pull off a win from virtually any situation.  The circumstances under which Laxman played this innings was simply incredible which makes this knock simply the best knock by an Indian batsman.

2 ) Rahul Dravid’s 233  and 72 against Australia  at Adelaide in  Dec 2003.-  For an Indian batsman the ultimate moment of satisfaction has always been  contributing in a test win in overseas conditions.  By any yardstick, Dravid’s  twin knocks of 233 and 72 against Aussies  at Adelaide is one of the greatest knocks by an Indian. On India’s tour down under in 2003-04  , the 1^st test  at Brisbane was drawn and the  aussies won the toss and on the back of a magnificent 242 d by Ricky Ponting, they scored a mammoth 556 runs in the  1^st innings, scoring a staggering 400 runs on the opening day.  Dravid came in to bat at 66/1   and played one of the finest innings overseas by an Indian. Just like the Kolkata test, the combination of laxman – dravid proved to be nemesis for the aussies once again, with the duo adding 303 runs for the 5^th wicket. Dravid was in imperious form right throughout that series and keeping in mind that the opposition had scored a huge score in the 1^st innings, the pressure on India’s vice captain was immense and he responded with great determination  and helped India score 523 runs just 33 runs short of the aussie total. The aussies collapsed for 196 runs with  ajit agarkar being the chief tormentor taking 6 wickets in the 2^nd innings.

As if the first innings was not enough for the aussies to scratch their head, dravid came to the rescue for team india scoring a classy 72 runs to help score the target of 240 runs . it was indeed appropriate that he scored the winning runs off stuart macgill and India had finally won a test match in Australia after a gap of 22 years.  Dravid was awarded the man of the match and his reaction at the press conference after the kissing the India crest  said it all and showed what this victory meant to him and indeed to all the team members.

3) G R Vishwanath’s 97 against west indies at Chepauk  in Jan 1975-  West Indies arrived at Madras with a 2-1 lead in the five-match Test series, winning at Bangalore and Delhi. Viv Richards , who made his Test debut alongside Gordon Greenidge at Bangalore, had signalled his arrival on the world stage with an unbeaten 192 at Delhi. India won the toss and opted to bat, but lost six wickets for 55 runs as Roberts blew the Indians apart with sustained hostility. Even though there were four days to go, the 1-2 series deficit and the shambles at Madras left even the most optimistic of Indian cricket fans to believe that India would lose the Test and the series at Chennai to this increasingly powerful west Indian unit under Cive Lloyd ,.But there was one steely customer the West Indians had to deal with – a man who was short in height but not in stature. 

The degree of difficulty was best summed up by Sunil Gavaskar . “His 97 not out is the finest Test match innings I was privileged to see,” Gavaskar wrote in his book, Idols, published in 1983. “That attack is the best form of defence was amply proved in this innings. From 91 for seven, Vishy helped in carrying the score to 191, and in the end missed his hundred by three runs when the last man in, BS Chandrasekhar, who had defended dourly, surrendered his wicket to Roberts. Vishy’s strokes in that innings were unbelievable. His square-cutting meant that Clive Lloyd had to keep two fielders on the third man boundary, and the way Roberts was bowling that day, it is a tribute to the quality of batsmanship. The moment Roberts bowled on the leg side, Vishy flicked him past square-leg and past mid-wicket. And the moment there was an over-pitched delivery, he drove it through the covers with elegance.” The last four Indian wickets added 114 runs – Viswanath’s contribution being a whopping 80. He added 21 of those runs with last man Chandrasekhar, who was the worst No 11 in the world. The second highest scorer  in the Indian innings was Ashok Mankad with 19. Viswanath had scored 51.05% of India’s runs and single-handedly defied the fire and fury of Roberts who finished the innings with seven wickets for 64 runs. Roberts followed up with 5 for 57 in the Indian second innings. It was an innings in which Vishwanth yet again rose to the occasion by emerging as the second highest scorer (46), which was good enough for India to win the Test.

4) M S Dhoni’s 224 against Australia in march 2013-  Australia had come to India for a series of 4 test matches and the opening test was to be played at Chennai. The Aussies won the toss and batting first, scored a useful total of 380 runs on the back of  skipper Clarke’s  ton.  India lost 2 quick wickets but  Pujara and Tendulkar rescued the side and after both of them were dismissed, Kohli and Dhoni had a  century stand and with the score at 372/7, the match was in the balance with Dhoni well set and a Chennai wicket beginning to worsen.  This is where, Dhoni took the innings by the scruff of  its neck and shepherded the tail adding a handy 140 runs with no 10 Bhuvaneshwar  Kumar, thus completely  breaking the aussie morale. . He  was especially merciless against spinner Nathan Lyon and  hit 6  huge sixes and scored his first ever double century.  The fact that Dhoni batted so dominantly even with the match in balance and that too with the tailenders, is what makes this innings so brilliant.  The fact that Dhoni as a skipper played  such a magnificent knock  had a tremendous impact on the team and india won the series 4-0 .

5)  Sunil Gavaskar’s 96  against Pakistan in march 1987. –Tthe 2 arch rivals India and Pakistan were playing the final test of a 5 match series at Banglore, with all the previous 4 tests drawn everything hinged on this test.  Pakistan batted first and were bundled out for a mere 116 , Maninder Singh being the chief tormentor taking  7 / 27.   The wicket turned out to be a minefield and india were bowled out for 145 runs and the spin twins from Pakistan, Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef Ahmed  took 5 wickets each.  Pakistan fared a bit better in their 2^nd  innings scoring 249 runs and set India a target of 221 runs to win the match and the series.

 The target was not huge  but the  pitch was playing all kinds of tricks and batting against 2 quality spinners in the last innings was tough.  Pakistan knew that though India had fine batsmen adept at playing spin, but Gavaskar was the key  and the fact that  a bowler like Imran Khan did not bowl a single ball in the last innings is ample testimony to the state of the pitch. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals and only Gavaskar  stood firm amidst the conundrum.  The ball was literally turning square and Gavaskar’s level of concentration was  of a very high standard as was pointed out by Javed Miandad, who stood at silly point and observed Gavaskar’s batting from very close quarters. Finally Gavaskar fell at 96 and India lost the match by 16 runs and with it the series to Pakistan. Till today when people talk of a great innings, this one from Sunny Gavaskar  is undoubtedly mentioned in the league of rare gems.

For audacity and defiance look to the hook shot.

For audacity and defiance look to the hook shot.

Over the 100 or so years since the game of cricket, there have been various cricket shots which have been employed by batsmen to score runs off the fast bowlers.  Even new innovative shots like the upper cut, switch hit and the scoop  shots have been employed by the batsmen particularly in T-20 cricket.  Every different shot displays something unique when played perfectly.   For sheer elegance , we look towards a cover drive. A well executed cover drive is the symbol of  perfect timing and elegance.  Similarly   a perfectly executed straight drive defines balance and symmetry in motion, an on drive played against spin defines  the class and mastery of a batsman over the turning ball. Having said all this, for sheer audacity, bravery and ultimate defiance there is no better shot than a perfectly executed hook shot off a genuine quick bowler.

 A hook shot is perhaps the only shot which can really demoralize   and deflate the fast bowler. It is a perfect marriage of the ultimate contest in cricket – that of a fast bowler  steaming in and hurling hand grenades at the opposition batsman and the batsman not just putting bat to ball but playing a hook shot and sending the ball rocketing to the boundary.  For sheer audacity there is no comparison with the hook shot.  It has to be remembered it is also the only shot which guarantees action on a field whether it is played well or it is mistimed .  if it is played perfectly the ball more or less rockets to the boundary, on the other hand when the batsman fails to judge the speed of the ball it might hit the batsman and even if it is an ugly sight seeing a batsman hit by the hard cricket ball, we must remember that such incidents also   separates the men from the boys and in that sense action to a spectator watching in the drawing room at home or the one witnessing it live in the ground is guaranteed. Subsequently if the batsman slightly mistimes the hook shot, he might get caught  in the deep or the ball might fall tantalizingly in no man’s land. So in any which action is very much on the cards when a batsman attempts a hook shot.

 For me if a batsman has to consider himself to be a great player of fast bowling, then he must be able to take on the quickies and he cannot do that unless he plays the hook shot very well. There have been several players who have played the hook shot , some out of sheer bravado, some out of the fear of being hit and some to prove a point to the bowlers by taking the attack up to him.  There is nothing more emphatic a statement when a batsman pulls of a great hook shot . there have been players who have scored plenty of runs off the hook shot and at the same time the same shot has brought about their downfall.  Through the 70’s and 80’s which is considered the era where great fast bowlers  ruled the roost in test cricket, there have been several fine batsmen , the likes of Viv Richards, Roy Fredricks, Gordon Grenidge Ian Chappell, Ian Bothom  and Mohinder Amaranth to name a few who made effective use of the hook shot.

Each batsman had a unique style of playing the hook shot.  For batsmen like Viv Richards, who had a swagger and an aura about him when he came to the batting crease, his demeanour was such that the hook shot was an extension of his  aggressive intent and his way of telling the bowlers that he was coming to get them and they better be ready. Viv Richards played fearless cricket and the hook shot served him quite well when he took on fast men like Imran Khan, Lillee and Thomson. One of the most important aspects about batsmen who played the hook shot in the 70’s and 80’s was that without helmet they ran the risk of wearing the hard leather ball if they failed to judge the speed and the line of the bouncer, which makes the shot makers all the more remarkable. Before the helmet era.

Ian Chappell loved the cross batted shots and growing in Australia the horizontal hook and the cut shots came very naturally to him and just when everybody lauded his younger brother Greg about his playing in the V, Ian would be quick to retort that  even he  played in the V but the difference being in square  direction of the  arena. Being Aussie skipper when Ian Chappell was going through a lean trot  and was repeatedly getting dismissed  playing the hook shot, he received a huge collection of letters from fans  stacked up together requesting him to relinquish the hook shot which was bringing about his downfall, typically in Ian chappell’s style he did not bother and scored 56 runs in the next innings with a staggering 40runs off the hook shot.

Roy Fredricks and Gordon Grenidge were great hookers  ( pun unintended ) of a cricket ball and  the image of  Roy Fredricks playing the hook shot against one D K Lillee  in the 1975 world cup final at lords is fresh among the people who saw it, the only problem being he trod back on the stumps and was dismissed hit wicket.  One can never forget the innings which Gordon Grenidge played against England chasing 342 at lords , Grenidge scored 214 not out where he made liberal use of the hook shot.

 Mohinder Amaranth  was one helluva player when it came to  playing against the genuine quick bowlers of his era. He  was possibly one of the rare sub continental batsmen who played the hook shot successfully and he was known for his tenacity in  standing up to the quicks, be it in Antigua when in the first innings, he scored 91 gallant runs  hitting 3 hook shots for sixes against the likes of Roberts and holding. During the second innings, he was hit by a ball in  his  mouth off Marshall but typical of the man he scored 80 runs in the innings. He scored more than 1000 runs on the 2 tours of West Indies and Pakistan which were 2 of the best fast bowling attacks going around and hooked the fastest men all round the park.

 Of the modern era a certain R T Ponting  was one of the top batsmen who successfully played the hook shot and with much elan. Ponting  who had a natural forward lunge against fast bowlers would not mind pulling and hooking even of the front foot. He used to swivel  beautifully and rarely had a problem scoring off the hook shot.