Saturday, May 03, 2003
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
The weather will not be their ally for five days. As bowlers sent down deliveries and the day advances the players are bound to feel the heat and humidity. Energy will be expended and the mind and body will become weak. There will be more than the usual quota of drinks breaks for the players and even the umpires to supply fuel for their normal functioning of the body. Even the batsmen will struggle to reach their peak levels of concentration. Needless to say, it will be a tiring exercise, but then for the sake of prestigious title and honour, the players will be showing their big heart and inclined to endure the ordeal in blistering sun. A dozen summers ago two teams were pitted against each other for the title match in similar conditions in the first week of May. The Mumbai and Haryana players did not allow themselves to be distracted and dispirited by the sticky and spiteful weather. There were many men in the Haryana squad led by Kapil Dev who showed nerves of steel and turned out to be brave hearts. Bombay was challenged at its backyard by a bunch of men among whom only Kapil Dev was assumed to be an able competitor. After victory was accomplished Haryana has ten more heroes. Mumbai conceded a lead of 112 runs in the first innings, but did not sulk. It hit back and set up a thrilling finish on the fifth day. The Wankhede erupted as Dilip Vengsarkar took command when things seemed to be offered in a platter for Haryana. Eighteen year old Sachin Tendulkar put his front foot down the pitch and hammered Kapil Dev for a parallel six over long. The contest heightened as the veteran of many battles and a rising star flogged the Haryana attack. Tendulkar left the scene receiving a standing ovation and Haryana won its first Ranji Trophy by two runs leaving Vengsarkar at an undefeated 139 and tears. The two teams managed to script a great tale. Forty wickets went down in that match in which over 451 overs were bowled. The players did not complain about the heat. They played the game in a conventional manner, Mumbai providing the spark on the last day and making Haryana sweat for victory. In the end both the teams were mentally drained; the way they fought it out, conveyed that they had plenty in reserves to run the extra run and dive to stop the ball near the boundary as Rajesh Puri did once to prevent the ball from crossing the rope. Exactly two decades ago, a Brijesh Patel led Karnataka side outsmarted Bombay in the first innings for the title. Batsmen dominated the final with Chandrakant Pandit (now Mumbai's coach) making 157 and boosting Mumbai's total to 534. Karnataka was not rattled. It took the battle to the rival camp and prevailed, though Gundappa Viswanath was dismissed for three by Suresh Shetty. Roger Binny made 115 and in the lower in the order in J. Abhiram, Ranji Khanvilkar and B. Vijayakrishna batted bravely and contributed 153 runs. The threesome frustrated the Mumbai bowling which was in the hands of Raju Kulkarni, Surendra Nayak, Suresh Shetty, Ravi Thakkar. There has been interesting contests between Bombay and Delhi and Bombay and Karnataka, but the annals of the Ranji Trophy show that Bombay and Tamil Nadu have locked horns many times. The first eight meetings between them turned out to be one-sided. Tamil Nadu had its best chance of beating Bombay in the 1973 final when Vaman Kumar and S. Venkatraghavan skittled out a star studded Bombay for 151. Bombay opened with Sunil Gavaskar and Ramnath Parkar. They were followed by Ajit Wadekar, Ashok Mankad, Sudhir Naik, Dileep Sardesai and Eknath Solkar. Mumbai must be wishing it had such a batting line today. It's so fragile now. Tamil Nadu's jubilation became short-lived as left arm spinner Padmakar Shivalkar ran through the Tamil Nadu side taking eight wickets with only Michael Dalvi and Abdul Jabbar more than single digit scores. On a deteriorating pitch, Tamil Nadu had Bombay bundled out for 113 in the second innings, but Tamil Nadu's second innings got worse, shot out for 61 with Solkar and Shivalkar sharing the spoils. Thereafter Mumbai continued to prove its supremacy, until it was beaten for the first time in the 1996 quarterfinal at Tirunelveli. The Tamil Nadu spinners played their role in the first innings, but it was Robin Singh who clinched the match taking 7 for 54 in the second innings. Mumbai took a sweet revenge with Tendulkar hammering a double century four years later, but Tamil Nadu, thanks L. Balaji's fine bowling beat Mumbai by a big margin in a low scoring match last year. Tamil Nadu has not come close to upsetting Mumbai in the latter's home ground. Four years ago Hemang Badani and Robin Singh provided a great opportunity, but J. Madangopal dropped a sitter of Tendulkar when the latter was in his 40s and Tamil Nadu paid heavily for this fielding lapse. Tamil Nadu made 485 in the first innings and Mumbai 490, in which Tendulkar's score was an unconquered 233. Mumbai eventually won the match outright, bowling Tamil Nadu out for 171 and scoring 169 for 2 wickets in the fourth innings to win the match by 8 wickets. The Tamil Nadu team is supposed to have the best batting talent. Mumbai will largely depend on its bowlers to win the final. They have won six so far, but Suresh & Co is all geared up to baulk them.
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