Bat, Ball & Bharat: India’s Cricketing Revolution Part - 2
“It is easy to kill individuals, but you cannot kill the ideas.” - Bhagat Singh
And the idea for us was to stand tall in each win and lose with heads up high……
A hot-headed young man with the heart of a poet wrote these lines on a leaflet in 1929. That man inserted this idea into the minds of Indians fighting for freedom, and even after the great independence, these words stayed in the hearts of the Indians.
(From left to right) - Ajit Wadekar, Eknath Solkar, Bishan Singh Bedi, E.A.S Prasanna.
The story of determination and chasing that one dream, one team, and one goal to win for the country goes a long way. After winning their first test against England on home soil after Independence, Indians had found heroes without capes do exist in blue jerseys who planted the seeds of magic in the hearts of young boys and girls to dare to dream.
The team consisted of self-taught legends like Vijay Hazare, Lala Amarnath, Vinoo Mankad, Shubash Gupte, Polly Umrigar, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, or shall we say, the dream team of legends, who gave so many brilliant, aspiring individual a push to perform with skills and hunger together and creating memories of a lifetime. Whether it's Vijay Hazare’s classy batting with top-notch stroke and elegant style of play, or Lala Amarnath, often called the ‘Father figure of Indian Cricket’, his captaincy and career over the two decades defined the entire legacy of dreamers and doers.
(From Left to right) Vijay Hazare, Lala Amarnath, Vinoo Mankad, Subhash Gupte
With the monumental win against the likes of England cricket team, a giant in International Cricket at that time, and a series win against the newly formed neighbours Pakistan, we were on the right path, then came along the case of Spinners slowly taking over the Indian pitches, remembered as Golden Era of Spin - E.A.S Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar and Bishan Singh Bedi, the spin quartet of India bowling unit, and not forgetting Shubash Gupte, a player who triumphed against the Pakistan and New Zealand series, taking 21 and 34 wickets respectively. These old historical tales of our legends were capable of taking all 20 wickets in a match and marking their name in golden fonts in the book of cricket history. The mighties changed the course and created a strong foundation on which modern Indian cricket spinners rely to gain and learn each time.
(From left to right) E.A.S Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi.
This era of Indian Cricket saw some legendary batsmen, who took it upon themselves to write the magnificent chapters in Indian cricket history. By now, you know the legend of Vijay Hazare and Polly Umrigar; the story of Vijay Manjrekar is one of the standout stories of hustle and class. Vijay was an elegant and stylish right-handed batsman with an acute defensive play. He scored 586 runs in the series against England, with an average of 83.71, arguably the best stats of his career.
Another legend, with a technicality of sound and good movement with his wrists, he was known to be good against the top of spinners who bowled against him, but he also proved his valor against West Indies mighty pacers, the first at Kingston, Sardesai scored a mammoth 212, taking the total to 387, he did this when India’s top order was battered down at 75/5, he became the first Indian player to score a double hundred overseas. And guess what, before the series, he wasn’t even being considered for the series. He came, he saw, and he conquered.
But this era was not just about the batsman and bowlers, there were some others. The term coined has been used since the origin of cricket at the international level, the all-rounders in the cricketing world, or the players who could do it all, tho India had some of its legends in that scene. The legends, Lala Amarnath, Vinoo Mankad, Chandu Borde, and Salim Durani, proved to the people that you can be the One-Man Wonder for your country, whether by Bat or by the bowl, the skills have to speak for themselves.
Whether its the Lala Amarnath’s all-round presence on the field, the first ever centurion for India, and a medium-pace bowler who swings the ball easily above 100 km/h, or Vinoo Mankad who hailed as India’s greatest ever all-rounder at times, scored 1000 runs and took 100 wickets in tests in just 23 matches. Chandu Borde, a player who always came on top whenever India needed a trailblazer to change the face of the match. And then comes the charismatic Salim Durani, an attacking left-handed batsman. The story goes that whenever the crowd asked for a six, this man delivered, on demand!
So by now, you must have known that the Indian cricket team never lacked players who were great and game changers in their own way. Keep following us for more stories like this!
- Sameep