Revision as of 17:32, 18 August 2015

The greatest. ‘Sunil was one of the two best opening bats I saw’—umpire Dickie Bird, on whose list (and of the All-time-greats lists of many others) Gavaskar ranks at no.1 in the world.

Introduction

FOR INDIA, LIFE’S A PITCH

From minnows to World Champions, Team India has come a long way.

Boria Majumdar

The Times of India

The 1880s

Cricket in India had started in real earnest in the 1880s with the first Parsee tour of England in 1886. While this team was hastily put together and did not fare well, the second Parsee team to tour England in 1888 did much better. The improved standard of cricket in 1890s India is something the TOI drew our attention to when the Parsees, the early patrons of cricket, played G F Vernon’s touring English side in Bombay. Vernon’s team won all its matches in India except the one against the Parsees, which the visitors lost by four wickets. Commenting on the Parsee victory, Times of India wrote, ‘The Parsees are heartily to be congratulated on their really splendid victory . . . It is a great feather in the cap of the Parsees to have pulled off the match.’

1932

The improvement was consistent and it was finally in June 1932 that India cut their teeth in international cricket against the English at Lord’s. This tour, from its very inception, was controversial and was marred by a bitter tussle over captaincy, which was beautifully documented in the pages of TOI. The struggle between the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram and the Maharaja of Patiala for captaincy finally ended in favour of Patiala with Vizzy offered the strange designation of Deputy Vice Captain. He soon withdrew from the tour citing health reasons. Patiala followed suit and ultimately the Maharaja of Porbander led the first official Indian touring team to England. Interestingly Porbander was the worst player in the touring party and India’s first homegrown superhero, C K Nayudu, had the privilege of leading India out at Lord’s on June 25, 1932.

1971

After independence, TOI played an important role in documenting the growing importance of cricket in the Indian public imagination. Wins in the West Indies and England in 1971, considered watershed moments in Indian cricket history, found first-page mention as did India’s first ever Test win against England in 1952 in Chennai. K N Prabhu’s dispatches from the Caribbean in 1971 are invaluable in understanding the significance of this victory and in chronicling the early impact of Sunil Gavaskar on Indian cricket. To their credit the TOI correspondents were farsighted in their analysis. This is borne out from stories on Sachin Tendulkar’s debut series in 1989. Reporting from Pakistan, Sunder Rajan predicted that Sachin was a special talent.

Cricket nationalism

That cricket had become the most potent symbol of Indian nationalism was borne out from coverage of world cups in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007. The 1999 World Cup match against Pakistan occupied many pages drawing attention to the political significance of the encounter against the backdrop of Kargil. And in documenting the curse of match fixing in 2000 or the high of the 2011 World Cup triumph, the paper set new benchmarks. These reports will forever serve as valuable source for historians and aficionados of sport in understanding the emergence of cricket as India’s secular religion.

2001-13: Crises lead to comebacks

The Times of India 2013/08/05

IN A HAPPY SPACE

Indian cricket’s most serious moments of crisis have led to some fighting comebacks. In fact, such has been the trend that the worse the crisis, the better has been the fightback. Here’s a look at how, when the game touched a big low, cricketers got together to give it all a new high...

2001: THE GHOST OF MATCH-FIXING IS BURIED

Soon after Delhi police caught Hansie Cronje on tape in 2000, the former South African skipper’s revelations opened a pandora’s box and cricket in India hit its first low in the wake of some very serious match-fixing allegations. Viewership and fan-following took a hit as investigations went on and suspicion — for the first time — got deeply entrenched in the game. The need of the hour was to restore its popularity in India, and it came a year later. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid came together in a historic 376-run stand at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and it infused a great deal of confidence in the minds of one and all. It would mark the beginning of an exceptional run that culminated with India claiming the number one spot in Test rankings in 2008.

2003: START OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOJOURN RAISES A STORM

A shaky start against minnows Netherlands, followed by a ninewicket loss to eventual titlewinners Australia was enough to politicians to stall parliament proceedings, public to burn effigies on the street and miscreants to pelt cricketers’ homes right at the start of the World Cup. The BCCI too had come under immense pressure to as India struggled to find their feet in South Africa. However, just when experts and commoners alike had begun to give up, Sourav Ganguly’s team rose like the phoenix, winning the next eight matches to make it to the final. The title-clash didn’t go India’s way but a lot of pride certainly got salvaged in the run.

2007: DISASTROUS WORLD CUP CAMPAIGN HAS POSITIVE EFFECTS

Greg Chappell’s experiment, fractured relationships and the debate on a possible divide between the senior and junior cricketers in the team took a toll on the World Cup campaign in the West Indies as Rahul Dravid’s team didn’t go beyond the first round. It was India’s worst outing and the anger of demanding fans led to further agony. Chappell had to leave but in the year that followed, the senior most cricketers in the side —now led by Anil Kumble — worked on the road to resurrection. The Asia Cup, followed by an impressive tour of Australia and success sought at home saw Team India make it to the top of the ICC Test rankings for the first time ever.

2011: TWO WHITEWASHES LEAD TO HUMILIATION

The enigmatic MS Dhoni’s worst moment as captain of Team India came in the aftermath of eight successive Test defeats in 2011 (four each in England and Australia). The result of it wasn’t just a public backlash but selectors too demanding Dhoni’s scalp as skipper and wholesale changes in the team. Dravid and Laxman — who had resurrected Team India’s fortunes a decade ago — called it a day and seniors like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Zaheer were dropped as Dhoni began work on a younger team. The result came in the form of victories at home, followed by a 4-0 whitewash of Australia in early 2013. Dhoni’s captaincy received a fresh lease of life with the freedom to build a new Team India as he wished.

2013: SPATE OF WINS OVERSHADOWS IPL MESS

Shocking revelations of the involvement of BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law in the betting scandal raised a storm in the Indian cricket fraternity. BCCI’s many conflicts of interests, MS Dhoni’s player-management company, Delhi and Mumbai police investigations and heavy politicking caught Indian cricket in a mess and it did appear that matters would get worse. Far away from it all, Dhoni and a young Team India fought great pressure on and off the field to win the Champions Trophy in style — the only title missing from India’s cupboard — to restore a bit of faith among fans. India reclaimed the ODI top spot in rankings and the winning streak has continued.

500+ conceded by India: 2012- 2014

500+ conceded by India: 2012- 2014, The Times of India

India's third-wicket partnerships of 200 or more in overseas tests as on 13 Aug 2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Captains with four hundreds in their first four tests as on 13 Aug 2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India