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International Domestic

A Classic at Chepauk

Indian cricket-lovers had just about rediscovered the art of smiling, only to forget it all over again.

The cause was the texture of the wicket that greeted the Indian and West Indies sides when they arrived at the cricket stadium in the Chennai locality of Chepauk for the fourth Test of the 1974-75 series. Clive Lloyd’s young team had steamrolled the hosts in the first two Tests, by 267 runs, and an innings and 17 runs, respectively. India had staged a comeback in the third Test at Kolkata, winning by 85 runs and thus ending a sequence of five successive defeats, started with the calamitous tour of England in mid-1974.

However, the spiteful nature of the pitch convinced many an Indian Fan that the resuscitation they had witnessed at Kolkata, would be rendered useless at Chennai. The wicket seemed straight out of the dreams of Andy Roberts, the ace paceman from Antigua.

India’s woes were compounded by the fact that Sunil Gavaskar, who had scored a record 774 runs in the previous series between the two sides, was unavailable due to a finger injury. He had missed the second and third Tests, and Chennai was no exception.

Tiger Pataudi, who had been reinstated as India’s captain prior to the series, won the toss and choose to bat. The fast bowlers got into the act straightaway, and the end seemed near for India, with the scoreboard reading 41-4. Ashok Mankad stuck around to score 19 before falling to Roberts, and Madanlal followed him into the dressing-room, to make it a perilous 76-6. India’s last hope was their number four batsman.

Gundappa Rangnath Viswanath had won the previous Test for India virtually off his own bat, with a superlative knock of 139. The Chennai spectators and radio-listeners all over the country expected an encore.

They got more than what they had asked for.

Viswanath was magnificent. He took on Roberts and his sidekicks with sizzling drives, deft flicks, and above all, booming square-cuts. The fast bowlers only had to pitch the ball a wee bit short of a length on or just outside the off-stump line, for Viswanath to essay his trademark stroke.

As he carried on, doing everything to keep the scoreboard ticking and at the same time, shield the tail-enders from Roberts, his captain did what Sir Don Bradman had done at Nottingham in 1938.”Come out and watch,” Tiger Pataudi shouted to his players; “You won’t get to see another innings like this again!”

The spectators did not conceal their glee as the little genius first took India past 100, and then 150. They demanded a hundred, but Viswanath chose to give first preference to keeping the tail-enders away from the strike. Several easy singles were not taken in the bargain, but the little genius did not mind it in the least.

Much to the disappointment of the spectators, Robert nipped last-man Chandrasekhar’s bid to hang on. The paceman finished with figures of 7-64, but the spectators were hardly bothered. The object of their affection was Viswanath, who returned with an extraordinary 97 under his belt. Watchers were unanimous in their view that it was probably the best innings ever played at Chepauk.

Viswanath’s Karnataka captain then took over Erapalli Prasanna snared 5-70, and his fellow spinners gave nothing away, as the West Indies were bowled out for 192, thus leading on the first innings by only two runs. The Indians batters then put their heads down in the second innings. Viswanath got 46, but he was overshadowed this time round by Aunshuman Gaekwad, who had made his debut at Kolkata. The youngster from Baroda scored 80, and helped his team set a target of 255.

The pitch had retained its spitefulness throughout the games, but the texture had gone from encouraging pace, to delighting the slow men. The West Indies could not have been blamed for seeing the writing on the wall.

Prasanna, Bedi and Chandrasekhar shared the honours, with four, three and two wickets respectively, as the visitors were bowled out for 154.

From being 0-2 down, India had squared the series. The spinners had done what was expected of them, but even they agreed that the little genius from Bangalore had led the resurgence.

Bowlers, they say, win Test matches, and the batsman save them. For one week in December 1974 (Kolkata) and another in January 1975 ( Chennai), Gundappa Rangnath Viswanath turned this maxim on its head.