The Renaissance man of Indian cricket turns 60
`The man responsible for the Renaissance of Indian cricket' as Vijay Merchant hailed him, turns 60 today
Partab Ramchand
08-Aug-2000
`The man responsible for the Renaissance of Indian cricket' as Vijay
Merchant hailed him, turns 60 today. Public memory is proverbially
short and it is easy to forget some of the great deeds performed by
cricketers 30, 40 or 50 years ago. It is however reasonable to believe
that Dilip Narayan Sardesai's exemplary role during the India Rubber
Year of 1971 will not only be recalled fondly today but also be
remembered by future generations.
Surely there has never been a knock that marked a turning point in the
history of the game in any country than Sardesai's 212 at Kingston
that year. Indian cricket, till that day in February 1971, was a sad
tale of defeats and disappointments. In the period 1932-1970 India
played 116 Tests and won only 15 of them. There has been marked
improvement in the fortunes of Indian cricket in the last 30 years and
while there have been many contributory factors, let's not forget the
genesis. And the origin of the great turnabout was enacted at Sabina
Park and the author of the dramatic tale was a 30-year-old batsman
from Bombay.
Adding spice to the tale was the fact that Sardesai's inclusion in the
touring squad was criticised. His career seemed to have grounded to a
halt at 29, for he had failed in the only Test he played against
Australia in November 1969. Prior to that he had had little success on
the tours of England in 1967 and Australia in 1967-68. His cricketing
obituary had already been written and the general tenor of it was a
cricketer of immense potential who did not live up to this promise.
Sure, he had enjoyed tremendous success during 1964-65 when he made
runs consistently - combining style and technique - against England,
Australia and New Zealand. This included an unbeaten double century
made in adversity and a hundred which was then the fastest made by an
Indian batsman.
By 1971 however, successive failures, a couple of injuries and the
reputation of being an ordinary fielder saw to it that he was a
forgotten man. However newly appointed captain Ajit Wadekar insisted
on his inclusion - and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history. India
were in familiar terrain at 75 for five in the first innings of the
opening Test against West Indies. Sardesai with the able support of
Solkar and Prasanna lifted the total to 387. His 212 was a record for
Indian on foreign soil. India forced the home team to follow on. It
was for the first time in 24 Tests that India had even taken the first
innings lead against an opponent who had generally rode roughshod over
them.
Sardesai's innings transformed the Indians. Led by Sunil Gavaskar's
remarkable batting, the visitors went on to win the five match series
1-0. Gavaskar himself admitted freely that he had been inspired by
Sardesai who went on to score two more hundreds. It is true that but
for Gavaskar's 124 and 220 India would have most probably lost the
fifth Test, but where would they have been in the fourth Test without
Sardesai's heroic 150, made in a desperate situation?
Sardesai played a crucial role in India's victory over England at the
Oval later that year with scores of 54 and 40. The forgotten man of
Indian cricket was now the Renaissance man of Indian cricket. And even
though his career did not last very long thereafter and came to a
rather undistinguished end at New Delhi the following year, Sardesai
takes his place as one of the most notable figures who helped shape
Indian cricket's finest hour.