#Rewind360 - A historic Test series win for India thanks to Sunny's masterclass

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  • Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar batting during a cricket match. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

    THE TALE OF THE TAIL AND GAVASKAR’S MAGIC

    Sobers and Wadekar shared a good rapport

    Sir Garfield Sobers

    On April 13, 1971, one of the most extraordinary tosses marked the beginning of the end of one of the most extraordinary series every played by a touring Indian side. When Indian captain Ajit Wadekar called ‘tails’, his counterpart, Gary Sobers didn’t pay attention – deeply immersed in the spinning coin, resulting in utter confusion. So when the coin landed ‘tails up’, both captains thought they had won the toss, both wanted to bat. Mutual admiration between the two ensured that not too much was made out of it, and Wadekar got his say. A young Sunil Gavaskar was ready to open the innings with Abid Ali.

    It was Gavaskar’s first Test series in India whites and it hadn’t got off to the best of starts as he missed the first game due to injury. He eventually made his debut in the second Test, incidentally also played at Port-of-Spain, and ended the match with dual half-centuries. In the third Test at Georgetown, Gavaskar scored his maiden Test ton and backed it up with another unbeaten half-century. In the next game, Gavaskar continued with his rich vein of form and scored 117 not out.

    THIRD CENTURY OF THE SERIES

    By the time the two sides squared up against each other in the fifth Test, India had secured a 1-0 lead in the series. A lead that the team had to defend at all costs to ensure a rare overseas series win against a strong West Indian attack.

    While Gavaskar’s form with the bat was extraordinary, on the eve of the match, he began to suffer excruciating spasms in one of his teeth, something that would affect him during the entirety of the game.

    Abid Ali went cheaply, and Ajit Wadekar at No. 3 soon followed after a brief 42-run stand with Gavaskar. At 68/2, it was left to the youngster and 31-year old Dilip Sardesai to resurrect the innings a bit. The duo put on a 122-run stand for the third wicket before David Holford got Sardesai caught behind for 75.

    Gavaskar, batting at the other end, seemed unperturbed by the bowling attack. He was pulling at will, and unleashing the odd cover-drive. The demeanour suggested that he was in for the long haul, yet again.

    After Sardesai, Gundappa Vishwanath and ML Jaisimha made their way back to the pavilion. India ended the day on 247/5, but more importantly, the young Gavaskar had scored his third century of the series and was batting unbeaten on 102.

    PAIN IN THE TOOTH 

    Venkataraghavan (L) later became an ICC Umpire

    Srinivas Venkataraghavan (L)

    After seeing off the new ball, Gavaskar fell for 124 the next morning, while vice captain Srinivas Venkataraghavan farmed the strike and scored an invaluable 51.

    In the meanwhile, Gavaskar continued to be in withering pain, not able to eat or relax. The fear of anaesthesia making him drowsy was a legitimate concern that kept him away from a dentist’s appointment.

    India ended their innings on 360, all out after batting over 130 overs. The West Indies came out to bat putting their best foot forward. Authoritative hundreds off the bats of Charlie Davis and captain Sobers (who scored his third of the series) and a fine near-hundred by Maurice Foster ensured that West Indies finished their innings with a healthy lead of over 150.

    THE SECOND HUNDRED

    In India’s second innings, Abid Ali fell cheaply once again but Gavaskar was in no mood to back down. Thanks to a couple of reprieves and a flurry of strokes, the Mumbai batsman reached his half-century in just over an hour, while Wadekar gave him company at the other end.

    The following morning, Gavaskar’s mixed aggression took him past yet another hundred in the series, and his second in the match. He became the first Indian batsman after Vijay Hazare in 1947/48 to achieve the feat.

    While Sardesai and Vishwanath fell after making handy contributions, Gavaskar remained constant – ending the day on 180 not out, with India’s score reading 324/4.

    After scratching around for half an hour in the 190s, Gavaskar brought up his double hundred and joined the elite company of Doug Walters, to become the only batsman to score a single and a double in the same match.

    He eventually got out, played on and ended with 220. His series tally was 774 runs, with 773 of those coming in seven innings. Four hundreds, three fifties, and an aggregate scored at an average of over 150, was the highest ever achieved in a debut series, beating George Headley’s 703.

    HAPPY ENDINGS

    Not only did Gavaskar get to visit a dentist and bring an end to his misery, India nearly pulled off an unlikely win against a West Indies team that was quite keen to chase down the stiff target of 262 runs in the remaining two and a half hours of play.

    The game ended in a draw and India took home the series 1-0, one of the finest achievements in the history of Indian cricket – in fact, their first series win in the Caribbean.

    But no-one can forget the fact that it was the series of 1971 that gave India its biggest cricketing idol before another young Mumbaikar stole the spotlight in 1989.

    BRIEF SCORE

    India 360 (Sunil Gavaskar 124, Dilip Sardesai 75, Srinivas Venkataraghavan 51) and 427 (Sunil Gavaskar 220, Ajit Wadekar 54; Jack Noreiga 5 for 29) drew with West Indies 526 (Desmond Lewis 72, Charlie Davis 105, Garry Sobers 132, Maurice Foster 99, David Holford 44) and 165 for 8 (Clive Lloyd 64)

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