Gavaskar despite having to endure the rare sight of Marshall knockingthe bat out of his hands with a super-fast delivery at Kanpur, thehumiliation of some low scores and a couple of ducks , includingfalling to the first ball of a Test match for the
Partab Ramchand25-Oct-2002Thirsting for revenge for the shock defeat sustained in the World Cupin England in the summer, the West Indies came over to India in1983-84 with a definite plan – to mow India down with an incessantdose of pace bowling. That they succeeded in their mission is borneout by the results – a 3-0 victory in the six-match Test series and aclean sweep of all the five one-day internationals.
Gavaskar despite having to endure the rare sight of Marshall knockingthe bat out of his hands with a super-fast delivery at Kanpur, thehumiliation of some low scores and a couple of ducks , includingfalling to the first ball of a Test match for the second time,recovered to tally 505 runs in the series.
The West Indies were very much the top team in world cricket in theeighties and they came to India in the midst of their world record -going 27 Tests without defeat. They were indeed a formidable side,probably the strongest ever from the Caribbean to visit India.
© CricInfoThe batting started with Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes andcontinued with Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd and Larry Gomes. In JeffDujon, they had arguably the best wicket-keeper batsman in West Indiancricket history. And this was backed up by a menacing quintet of fastbowlers in Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts WinstonDavis and Wayne Daniel.Earlier in the year, West Indies had beaten India 2-0 in a five-matchseries at home. And any hopes that India would do better at home weresquashed by West Indies winning the first Test by an innings and 83runs just after lunch on the fourth day. It was a meek surrender bythe Indians and a quick demolition job by the visitors, and but forthe odd match or two or some sporadic gallant batting and bowlingperformances by the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar andKapil Dev, the stage was set for the rest of the series.Even as the West Indies were on the rampage in the Tests, it was hopedthat India would at least do well in the one-day games. But this was aWest Indian side that had come with certain objectives. And armed tothe teeth, they wasted little time in working out their strategy toperfection.First the batsmen performed according to reputation. Lloyd (2),Greenidge and Richards got hundreds while Dujon, the best player ofspin bowling in the side, came up with some timely knocks. Such washis improvement that after starting the series at No 7, he was by theend of the contest, walking out at No 5, ahead of Lloyd. And whilethere was no really big total – the highest was 454 compiled in thefirst Test – the batting never really disappointed. They gave enoughruns for the bowlers to work on.The pacemen, headed by Marshall, time and again ripped through theIndian batting. Marshall was easily the player of the series. Hisawesome pace and bounce proved to be disconcerting for the leadingIndian batsmen and he even caused problems for Gavaskar. He finishedthe series with 33 wickets and his comrade-in-arms Holding was notvery far behind, with 30 wickets. All in all, there little doubt atthe end of the series that India had lost to a far superior all-roundside, shrewdly led by the benign figure of Lloyd.The Indians might have finished on the losing side but they did havetheir few moments in the sunshine. The batting in the three Tests atNew Delhi, Bombay and Madras, all of which were drawn, was of a highorder, symbolised by totals of 464, 463 and 451 for eight declared.Unfortunately at the other end of the pendulum were totals of 164, 103and 90 at Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Calcutta.Gavaskar despite having to endure the rare sight of Marshall knockingthe bat out of his hands with a super-fast delivery at Kanpur, thehumiliation of some low scores and a couple of ducks , includingfalling to the first ball of a Test match for the second time,recovered to tally 505 runs in the series.During it, he set numerous records passing Geoff Boycott’s aggregateand becoming the top run-getter in Tests, equaling and then surpassingDon Bradman’s long-standing record of 29 hundreds, becoming the firstto score either 13 hundreds or three double centuries against WestIndies. And his score of 236 not out in the final Test at Madras wasthe highest score for India in Test cricket, surpassing another longstanding record standing in the name of Vinoo Mankad, who got 231against New Zealand in 1955-56, also at Madras but at the Corporationstadium.Vengsarkar got two hundreds while Roger Binny, Ravi Shastri and SyedKirmani came up with timely contributions. But the batting lackedconsistency and this was responsible for the three heavy defeats, theothers being sustained at Ahmedabad (by 138 runs) and Calcutta (by aninnings and 46 runs), both with more than a day to spare.Another problem was the bowling. It hinged too much on Kapil Dev andthe captain performed heroically to take 29 wickets. But he receivedlittle support, though, Maninder Singh, at the end of only his firstyear in international cricket, showed some promise. Kapil had a spellof nine for 83 in the second innings at Ahmedabad, making him thethird Indian bowler after Subhash Gupte and Jasu Patel to take ninewickets in a Test.