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Sabina Park 1976: The strangest declaration in the history of cricket, when the West Indies bowled Sunil Gavaskar 'body line' |
Sabina Park Kingston's pitch was considered the fastest in the West Indies in the 1970s.
After losing the Port of Spain Test in 1976, the West Indies removed two of their three spinners and added fast bowlers Wayne Daniel and Vibern Holder. This meant that the host team came on the field with four fast bowlers in the last Test match.
Clive Lloyd won the toss and elected to field, but openers Sunil Gavaskar and Inshuman Gaikwad were not impressed.
Michael Holding was forcing the batsmen to bounce on every ball and when he made a 'full lethal ball' a long time later, Gavaskar drove him across the mid-wicket boundary for four runs.
The bouncer that Holding then dropped almost knocked off Gavaskar's head.
Gavaskar somehow removed himself from the ball line. While doing this, his hat fell but fortunately it did not fall on the wicket.
Reminiscent of the body line series
The West Indies bowlers bowled so dangerously that day that it was reminiscent of the 1933 body line series.
At the time, England captain Douglas Jardine, led by Harold Lloyd, had devised a special strategy to control Don Bradman.
Like Jordan, Lloyd wanted to win this match against India at all costs.
Just as Bradman was the main target of the English team in 1932, Sunil Gavaskar was the number one enemy of the West Indies team in 1976.
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An hour after the lunch break, when the West Indies did not win, Lloyd invited his trump card Michael Holding to bowl again.
He decorated the 'Umbrella' fielding for Gavaskar and put both Julian and Fredericks on the league slip.
Holding then informed the umpire that he would bowl the ball round the wicket.
Beamers with bouncers
Sunil Gavaskar and Inshuman Gaikwad prepared themselves for the bouncer.
But Holding and Daniel went a step further.
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They started throwing bouncers as well as bouncers that could have been deadly at that speed.
After throwing the beamer, both the bowlers tried to show that the ball slipped from their hands by mistake. But it was clear they were doing it on purpose.
Holding and Daniel not only had the support of their captain, but also the spectators watching the match.
Gavaskar writes in his autobiography 'Sunny Days':' It would be wrong to call Jamaican spectators spectators. It would be better for them to use the word 'crowd'.
As the holders hurled bouncers at us, from the stands, 'Kill us man! Hit us! Nose is the head of Mike! ' Voices were coming. His attitude was so bigoted that he never once applauded our shots. Once I squareed Daniel's ball, I asked him to clap regularly. All I can hear from there is laughter. '
JTN IMAGESAll fielders behind the wicket
Inshuman Gaikwad later told the BBC about the match: "The pitch was so tight that the spikes in our shoes didn't fit into it. The West Indies bowlers were constantly bowling short balls, but they could not get us out. He did not put a single fielder in front of the wicket.
"I remember Lloyd fielding four slip, two lane, one deep fine league, one short league and one point field for Daniel. Like Holding, Daniels was throwing beamers in almost every over and using the yorker in the form of a shock ball.
"After throwing three or four bouncers in each over, Gavaskar got so upset that he complained to the umpire during a drink break. The umpire laughed and replied that maybe you are not used to this kind of bowling. Gavaskar became angry when he heard this. When I tried to calm him down, he said I wanted to see my son. I don't want to die. '
Contributing a century for the first wicket
Sunil Gavaskar was not against hooking the ball.
But in one over you can hook up a half bouncer. But what do you do when almost every ball in the over is a bouncer?
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Sunil Gavaskar later wrote in the August 13, 1995 issue of Sports Star: 'A holding ball crushed the finger of my left hand between the handles of the bat. After that it became difficult to hold the bat with this hand. While playing the short pitch ball, my lower hand started dropping the bat because I could not hold the bat firmly.
However, Gavaskar remained on the crease and completed his half-century by hooking the holder's ball. Shortly afterwards, Gavaskar was dismissed at Holding's Yorker. He played the ball on his stumps and the first wicket of the Indian team fell on the score of 136. Only 67 overs were bowled on the first day and at the end of the day's play, India's score was 178 for the loss of one wicket.
The next day the headline in the West Indies newspaper was 'India's slow batting'.
The ball landed behind Gaikwad's ear
The next day, when the score reached 199 for one, Lloyd picked up another new ball.
Holding, meanwhile, threw a ball that Mahendra Amarnath had to play in front of his face to save his face and Julian caught it easily.
New batsman Vishwanath was also greeted with a short pitch ball. He was lucky not to get hurt. But Gaikwad's fortunes were not so good.
Holding threw a bouncer so fast that it went behind his ear. His spectacles bounced off and Gaikwad fell down. His ear was bleeding.
Instead of panicking at the scene, Sabina Park spectators jumped up and clapped for joy. When Gaikwad reached the pavilion, no one was ready to take him to the hospital.
He was rushed to a hospital. He was accompanied by team manager Pali Amrigar.
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He later wrote: 'I was about to get in the car to return to the ground when I got a call asking me to stay because another player was coming to the hospital. First Vishwanath came to the hospital and after him Brijesh Patel was also taken there. Clearly, it was a bowling draw and the umpire did nothing to stop a Rule 46 violation.
Vishwanath and Patel were also injured
Vishwanath's middle finger broke when she came between a very fast ball and the handle of the bat.
What's more, the ball touched his bat and went to the slip where he was caught.
On the one hand, a short ball hit Burjesh Patel in the face, which caused three stitches on his lips and he had to cut his hard-made mustache.
When India's score reached 306 for 6, Bedi declared the innings over.
Lloyd later said in a statement: "It was actually a place on the pitch where the ball was falling and rising dangerously. There was nothing wrong with the bowlers as runs were scored on this pitch.
Wingsarkar started the second innings with Gavaskar
When the West Indies team came to bat, the ball hit the pad of Roy Fredericks but the umpire Gosain did not raise a finger.
West Indies scored 391 runs. This gave him an 85-run lead in the first innings.
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Chandra Shekhar took five wickets while bowling with a broken thumb.
Chandra Shaker's left thumb was broken while trying to catch Lloyd's catch on his own ball.
Bishan Singh Bedi also took two wickets despite his injured finger. There was no question of Gaikwad batting in the second innings. A vein in his left ear was injured and he could still hear a whistle in his ear for several days after returning to India.
Injuries to Vishwanath and Patel also meant that the rest of the Indian batsmen would have to play the best innings of their lives to save the match.
Many days later, Dilip Vengsarkar told the BBC: 'I batted at number five in the first innings. In the second innings, I came to open with Sunil Gavaskar. I asked Gavaskar to allow me to take the first stroke. Gavaskar refused, saying it was the senior player's duty to play the first ball.
"You wouldn't believe that Holding's first ball not only bounced off Gavaskar's head but also went over the wicketkeeper's head for four runs outside the boundary. If I had played that ball, that bet would have fallen on my face because I am taller than Gavaskar.
BediFive wickets for the loss of homes on 97 runs for de inning cleared theOf
Sunil Gavaskar scored just two runs in the second innings.
Bedi later said: "When India's first wicket fell to 5, the score was actually five for 4 as Gaikwad, Vishwanath and Brijesh Patel were all injured."
But in fact the score at that time was five for six as both Bedi and Chandra Shekhar had injured fingers and could not catch the bat. Vengsarkar scored 21 runs.
But the best batsman was Mahendra Amarnath who scored 60 runs with the help of 3 sixes. A holding ball hit Madan Lal on the head.
He was bowled on the next ball. Venkat Raghun also got out on the same score. At that time, India's score was 97 for five.
On the same day, Srinivasa Amarnath was rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendix operation.
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In this test match, all 17 players of India had fielded at some point. When Kermani returned to the pavilion along with Venkat Raghun, it was called the strangest 'declaration' in the history of cricket.
Bedi later clarified that he had no choice but to announce the end of the innings as he and Chandra Shekhar were not in a batting position. At that time, in the second innings, West Indies had to score only 13 runs to win. He achieved this goal very easily.
Michael Holding embarrassed
West Indies won the match by 10 wickets and from here they started the strategy of feeding four fast bowlers in the Test match.
Later, cricket writer Rajan Bala wrote in his book 'The Course of Off' that 'Michael Holding confessed to him that he would always be ashamed for this Test match.'
Michael Holding also wrote in his autobiography 'No Holding Back': 'I was never relieved by the way I was told to bowl. But it was a test match between the two countries. I did exactly what my team and captain wanted me to do. "Later, when our team became stronger and Lloyd gained more experience as a captain, we didn't need that kind of strategy to win."
Gavaskar writes in his autobiography 'Sunny Days':' After the match, Lloyd told a press conference that perhaps the Indian players were expecting a half-walle which they could easily hit fours. Walcott said Indian players should learn to play fast bowling. His complaints about dangerous bowling are not justified. Walcott, who taught us the lesson of right and wrong, was the one who, despite being the wicket-keeper on the 1948 tour of India, picked up the ball on the boundary to delay it and not give the Indian players much time to win. '
And so India was scared to win this match.
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