FEARLESS AGAINST FAST BOWLING

FEARLESS AGAINST FAST BOWLING 

Mohinder Amarnath is another under-rated player. His performances in the West Indies in 1983 against the pace of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall are unparalleled. He scored two centuries and 4 fifties in the five Test series to emerge top scorer ahead of all others including Gavaskar. Some of Test scores which could be retrieved are as follows : 

First Test :       29 & 40

Second Test : 58 & 117

Third Test :     13 & rain

Fourth Test :   91 & 80

Fifth Test :      54  & 116

Mohinder Amarnath aggregated 598 in 9 innings at an average of 66.44 runs. This was stupendous scoring against the best pace attack in the history of Test cricket. However, in the following home series against the West Indies he ran a string of poor scores and was dropped. He could manage only one run from six Test innings. His scores were 0,0,0,1,0,0. Holding scalped him for 0 thrice.

This was the trademark of the fearsome foursome West Indian fast men. They never let you go away with the prize without extracting their dues. Mohinder Amarnath scored 598 runs off them in the preceding series in the West Indies. They got even in the next in India, reducing him to rubble. Amarnath from his pinnacle of batting glory fell precipitous to a gory death on home soil. The West Indian quartet did not even spare the great Gavaskar. They reduced this immortal of the game to a mere mortal and even less by restricting him to a poor .... before he could somewhat redeem himself in Georgetown, Guyana with an unbeaten 147 in a rain-affected match. In this innings Gavaskar did show his absolute class but that was it. He could hardly score in any other Test in the series. Unlike Amarnath, though, Gavaskar turned the tables on the West Indian speedsters in the followhome series with a 94 ball century at Delhi and an unbeaten 236 at Madras. He also came up with a 90 in the Ahmedabad Test. However, he failed miserably in the next five innings before coming up with his double ton at Madras.

So, there you see. There are players who do perform but are not talked about as the glamour-boys and cash-cows of cricket steal the headlines. Ravi Shastri scored a century in 1983 against the West Indies and so did Kapil Dev. But who talks about these? It is Tendulkar all the way. 

Written by Sugata Bose 

Photo : courtesy, Getty Images