If Indian cricket had one moment that is worth acknowledging, worth remembering, and worth burning into the consciousness of younger viewers, it is the team’s win at the Oval in 1971. Recency bias means we talk of Gabba 2021 as a miracle, and it was a tremendous win from a severely depleted team, but if you want a genuine inflection point, a singular moment or achievement that changed the course of India as a cricketing nation, it must be Oval 1971.
Before India’s win at the Oval half a century ago, India had won barely a third of the number of Tests they had lost. After that, they won more than they lost.
If Don Bradman’s batting average of 99.94 is propagated in perpetuity in a hundred ways, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s figures of 18.1-3-38-6 deserve to be given their own special place in India’s history.
Chandra, as he is popularly known, was no freak, as is often made out to be the case. Certainly he had to overcome much, including polio, to become one of India’s greatest match winners, but the claim that batsmen could not be expected to know what the ball would do because the bowler himself did not does the great man a huge disservice.
In England’s second innings, when they were bowled out for only 101, Chandra accounted for Brian Luckhurst, John Edrich, Keith Fletcher and Ray Illingworth, two of them for ducks, before he mopped up two tail-end wickets.
It is now part of folklore that Ajit Wadekar, the captain, was enjoying a snooze when India picked off the last of the 173 runs needed for victory with four wickets in hand. It was Ken Barrington who woke up Wadekar to break the news of India’s famous win, but this was not the only unusual occurrence at the Oval during that historic game.
Even in this age of gimmickry and hype, it is unthinkable that you could bring an elephant to a cricket ground at an international match, but that is exactly what happened in 1971. Bella, an elephant at the Chessington Zoo, had been co-opted by Indian fans to mark the Ganesha festival, and brought to the Oval. Ganesha is celebrated as the remover of obstacles, and certainly India’s players viewed Bella’s appearance as a good omen. No one more so than Colonel Hemu Adhikari, the manager, who believed that the animal’s appearance on an auspicious day boded well for his team.
As it turned out, India did not rely on divine intervention as much as cricketing excellence. In England’s first innings, they were restricted to 355 not by individual brilliance but teamwork, the wickets spread evenly.
When India batted, the highest score in their total of 284 was only 59, made by Farrukh Engineer at No. 7, with the dashing Dilip Sardesai making the only other half-century of the innings.
Chandra was the wrecker in England’s second dig, but even a chase of 173 was not straightforward for a team not accustomed to winning.
With Sunil Gavaskar gone for a duck, it needed calm minds and steady hands, and fortunately Wadekar, Sardesai and the most zen of them all, Gundappa Viswanath were up to the task. Viswanath may have set hearts racing with his breathtaking stroke play, but, at no time then or now was a smile far away from his face, and he neither played a shot or uttered a word in anger.
Today, India’s cricketers win Test matches they have no business doing. Today, India’s cricketers are not just fearless, they have the resources, attitude and wherewithal to put the fear of god in opposition teams.
What some of them may not realise, however, is that they stand on the shoulders of giants. Without India smiling in Oval 1971, there can be no India growling of 2021.
If each of us is a product of our history and geography, Indian cricket’s very DNA was shaped by events such as the Oval 1971. To not acknowledge these seminal moments, to think only of here and now, would be failing not only our heroes, but ourselves.
The time has come to wear not just black armbands, but those of pride, and give thanks to those who sacrificed so much, and achieved so much, to make Indian cricket what it is today.
Retro Scorecard
England 355 (Alan Knott 90, Jhon Jameson 82, Richard Hutton 81; Eknath Solkar 3/28)
India 284 (Farokh Engineer 59, Dilip Sardesai 54, Ajit Wadekar 48, Eknath Solkar 44; Ray Illingworth 5/70)
England 101 (Brian Luckhurst 33; Bhagwath Chandrasekhar 6/38)
India 174/6 (Ajit Wadekar 45, Dilip Sardesai 40, Gundappa Viswanath 33; Derek Underwood 3/72)
India won by 4 wickets to clinch the three-match series 1-0
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