The 1967-68 season was a watershed of sorts for Indian cricket, in that we won a series overseas for the first time ever. What went in our favour in New Zealand was that the wickets suited us and our spinners. Erapalli Prasanna was the pick of the bowlers. He was at the top of his game, and too much to handle for the Kiwi batsmen.
Another factor that aided us was the first leg of that twin tour. We may have lost all four Tests in Australia, but there is no doubt that we were hardened by those tussles against an extremely competitive unit. The 0-4 defeat did not impact our confidence when we arrived in New Zealand. Ajit Wadekar was consistent with the bat. The fielding and catching were top-class. Prasanna capitalised on the same to pick up twenty-four wickets in the four Tests. If memory serves me right, New Zealand did not get big scores in the entire series, except for one innings in which Graham Dowling scored a double hundred.
The seasons that followed that New Zealand tour were eventful to say the least. Ajit Wadekar did a splendid job as captain in the early 1970s.
If 1971 was memorable, 1974 was nightmarish. Ajit retired at the start of the 1974-75 season, and I got a roundabout message. I wasn’t keen initially to take up the offer, as I hadn’t been among the runs in domestic cricket. But the selectors were persistent. They said that the team needed to be rebuilt.
I decided to be frank, and told them that they shouldn’t expect runs from me. I was more than willing to put the team together.
I was engaged in a game of snooker with the late M.L. Jaisimha when the call from the selectors came. They informed me that I was being appointed for the first two Tests. The prospect of being on trial did not appeal to me, and I replied that I wanted all five Tests or none. They said that they would call back. A few days later, they replied in the affirmative.
When people come to me after all these years and compliment me for the part I played in one of the best Test series of all time, I only say that it wasn’t me but the players who were responsible for the quality of cricket that was on show. We lost the first two Tests but then displayed pluck and resilience to draw level.
The third Test at Kolkata was in the balance on the fourth evening. The Windies were chasing a gettable target and although Viv Richards had fallen, Clive Lloyd was batting well. He launched into Chandrasekhar on the final morning, but I chose to keep the latter on. The wicket was turning and the kind of bowler Chandra was, it was a question of one good ball. The tactic paid off, with Lloyd being bowled off his pads. Alvin Kallicharran, the other southpaw, was caught by me, and the lower-order caved in. The West Indies were a good side, but they were not as proficient at handling pressure as their Australian counterparts.
What made that victory special, as also the next one at Chennai, was the fact that we did not have the services of Sunil Gavaskar, who was nursing a finger injury. The Chennai game was won by Gundappa Viswanath and the spinners. Those who were convinced that they would not see a better innings than Vishy’s 139 at Kolkata were forced to do a rethink after watching his unbeaten 97 at Chennai. I remember telling the players to come out of the dressing room and watch him bat, as it was unlikely that they would see batsmanship of that quality again.
I was surprised to hear of the attempt to bring in S. Venkataraghvan for the fourth Test at Chennai at the expense of Prasanna, who had done an excellent containing job at Kolkata. How could a player be dropped for obeying his captain’s orders? The selectors bought my point. Prasanna played at Chennai and delivered another match-winning performance.
The Windies, of course, weren’t happy with our wins, and they went to the extent of slamming the wicket at the brand new Wankhede Stadium, which was to stage the decider. Well, the fact that more than a thousand runs were scored in the first innings suggests that the visitors were way off the mark!
We had our chances in the game, but we made some mistakes. The West Indies won the Test and series, but the Indian cricket fraternity was happy. People reckoned that the series had brought about the resurrection of Indian cricket.
