At this time of the year, early mornings in Manchester are not a great time to wake up and watch sport. Certainly not for someone who is going to be 83 in February. But then, India was to play a Test after almost 10 months and that too in Australia. I have happy memories of Adelaide. I can’t remember failing at this picturesque venue. It was December 1967 and the first of a four-Test series. The dates (December 23-28) included Boxing Day and remember, we had rest days then! Bobby Simpson won the toss and elected to bat because the wicket, as always, was a beauty. We responded well to Australia’s first innings score of 335. I opened the batting with Dilip Sardesai and top scored with 89. Chandu Borde, our captain, scored 60 and Rusi Surti 70 as India were all out for 307. Australia rode centuries by Simpson and Bob Cowper to score 369 in the second innings. The right-arm fast bowler David Renneburg took five for 39 in the second innings and we were all out for 251, falling 146 short. We lost but were not humiliated.
India’s performance in Adelaide broke my heart. India are not a 36 all out team. They have quality batting and their very good bowling attack helped us take a first innings lead. What happened in the second innings was an embarrassment. Our batsmen were asking for trouble by hanging their bats. It was amazing that all committed identical mistakes. The awful parade could have been avoided if someone in the dressing room told them to ‘play one ball at a time and that there were no demons in the wicket’. But all credit to the Australian bowlers. They bowled in the right areas and the Day 3 conditions helped them.
However, India badly needs Virat Kohli’s services. For us, it was always “country first”, but trends have changed. I am not saying Kohli should have stayed back—it’s a personal decision but India will miss him. In 1967, on my first tour of England, the Queen broke the news in the Lord’s Long Room that I had become a dad for the first time! I wish both Virat and Anushka well. When the Queen said there was good news for me, I told her that I was expecting it and that it would be a baby girl! She was puzzled. I said, “When my mother lay dying, I was crying at her bedside. She consoled me and said, ‘Farokh, I will come again in your life—as your first child.’ Hence, it has to be a baby girl.” I named her after my mother, Minnie.
After 36 all out in Adelaide, the comparison with 42 all out in the second Test at Lord’s in 1974 was expected. No team wants to get bundled out for such paltry scores. These are freak days. But unlike Adelaide, where our batsmen made a hash of things, the ball was doing a lot on a typical English summer day. In swinging and seaming conditions, the English pacers, helped by some friendly umpiring, knocked us over. In the first innings, me and Sunny (Gavaskar) opened the innings and produced 131 for the opening wicket. Replying to England’s mammoth 629, we were all out for 302. I was top scorer with 86. Gavaskar (49), Vishwanath (52) and Solkar (43) got runs, but our tail was long. Following on, I got a bad decision. I got a huge inside edge off Geoff Arnold but the umpire didn’t see it and once we lost Sunny, Vishy and Wadekar, it was over. We came to England with solid reputation behind us. The years 1970-71 defined us as a Test team and the spin quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandra and Venkat gave us the cutting edge. Beating West Indies at home, winning our first Test in England, Sunny’s batting solidity and Wadekar’s astuteness made us special. So the 42 all out was unexpected.
However, the huge psychological boost Australia had going into the second Test was nullified by a magnificently determined Indian response in Melbourne. Brilliantly led by Ajinkya Rahane, who scored an inspiring century, that redemptive win helped heal the bleeding wound. In terms of balance, India has everything, but they must guard against similar indiscretion in the future.
(As told to Soumitra Bose)