The Longest Innings

There was much excitement when England batted first and posted a total of 334 for 4wickets in 60 overs with Dennis Amis scoring a sparkling 137. But the anti-climax startedwith the Indian innings, with Gavaskar dropping anchor. It was difficult to guess what theIndian batsmen were up to. India ended at an unbelievable 132 for 3 in the stipulated 60overs, with Gavaskar unbeaten on 36 from 174 balls. His opening partner Eknath Solkar made8, Anshuman Gaekwad 22 and Gundappa Vishwanath, a rriving at the crease after manyprecious overs had been wasted, scored a breezy 37. Brijesh Patel was the other not outbatsman with 16 runs to his credit.

Gavaskar did not endear himself to any-body with his negative batting. Said the lateDenis Compton: "No one expected the Indians to put up such a miserable show, andGavaskar was the chief culprit in this sordid drama." There was an interesting letterin The Cricketer of August ’75 by one Peter E. Hodgkinson of Durham City. Itread: "To which members of the touring Indian party should I apply for the return ofhalf of my £1.50 seat? I was labouring under the delusion that I was going to watch anIndian Test side—instead I saw a batting display that would have disgraced a MinorCounty side."

Gavaskar, who scored at the rate of 0.60 runs per over, later admitted in Sunny Days:"That was by far the worst innings I’ve ever played, it was agony. Sometimes, Ifelt like moving away from the stumps, so that I would be bowled." To make mattersworse, he was dropped three times—all simple chances. Gavaskar’s batting invitedhowls of protest from the crowds as they banged beer cans together, causing "anaweful din".

In his Sunil Gavaskar, journalist and poet Dom Moraes described Gavaskar’seffort in scoring those 36 runs as "notoriously immobile". Clifford Navine Singhwrote in his Gavaskar, Portrait Of A Hero: "His state of mind echoed the poetJohn Donne’s line: ‘ Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone’."Returning to India after a month’s holiday in Europe, Gavaskar received a letter fromthe BCCI president, seeking an explana-tion for his infamous knock. Apparently themanager, G.S. Ramchand, had reported Gavaskar for playing slow cricket. In fact, thereport suggested that his batting had demoralised the younger members of  the side,as well as being against India’s best interests.

Odd was the outcome of the report. The BCCI censured Sunny for playing the way he didand the proceedings were terminated at that point. He was given the benefit of the doubt,as it were. Wrote his biographer C.D. Clark: "They were not likely to dismiss out ofhand one of the country ’s two top batsmen, so there was little else the Board coulddo." "All this left a bad taste in the mouth and did precious little to spur ourplayers to do better in the future," said Gavaskar. But a far more"illuminating" comment came when he spoke of limited overs cricket in general. "It neither enthuses me nor embarrasses me," remarked the maestro.