Dev Board
2011
The Lord of the Lord’s
In June, 1986, Dilip Vengsarkar, got his names in the record-books by scoring his third successive hundred at the most famous cricket ground of the world. Overall in 4 tests at the Lord’s, he scored 508 runs, at an average of 72.57, with 3 hundreds and 1 fifty. With this brilliant record at the Mecca of cricket he can claim himself to be the Lord of the Lord’s. Yet, interestingly, in his very first test innings at Lord’s. he was out for a duck. On the second day of August, 1979, India produced a miserable performance with the bat, getting bowled out for 96, on the opening day of the Lord’s test. Gavaskar top scored with 42, as ian Botham , the best all rounder in the world cricket took 5/35. As for Vengsarkar, India’s No.3 bat, he stayed at the wicket for 20 minutes, faced 12 deliveries, but perished before opening his account, before edging Hendrik to the safe of hands of Botham. As he walked back to the pavilions, creating any kind of new record was the remotest thing in his mind, in fact at that very stage, his future as a test player was in doubt.
Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar, first caught the attention of the Indian selectors during the Irani Trophy final of 1975. Playing for Bombay, he smashed 110 playing Bedi and Prasanna with utmost ease. The selctors were impressed enough and he was the youngest member of the Indian team in the two-legged tour of NZ and WI. Many people questioned the wisdom of the Indian board, as after finishing the NZ leg, the Indian players had to travel half the world to reach WI. At least, the selectors deserved some credit for giving an opportunity to the youngsters, Vengsarkar and the Amarnath brothers. With Sardesai, Wadekar and Pataudi all retiring in the first half of the 70′s ,and with Kanitker and PS Sharma looking out of place in the test arena, they actually had vey little choice but to try some youngsters. Interestingly, while Surnider would make a sensational debut hundred, he would fail to achieve the consistency required at the highest level; his brother Mohinder and Vengsarkar, on the other hand would take their time to settle in the test arena, but would eventually become the mainstays of Indian middle order in the 80′s. In NZ, Dilip played in all the 3 test matches, but failed to impress; his highest being 30 at Christchurch. It should be said in his defense, that the wickets provided plenty of support for Hadlee and Co. Things, hardly improved for young Vengsarkar in WI. But, his brave effort at Kingston (39 and 21), against hostile pace of Holding got rich plaudits from the pundits. Still, he remained mostly in the oblivion in the next season. Back in the side, during the tour to Australia (1977-78), he failed to convert a number of starts in to scores against the 2nd string Aussie attack. And although, he did score 157*, and 109 against WI at home, in 1978-79, the 2nd string WI bowling was so weak, that even Geofrrey Boycott’s mom could have scored runs against them. Perhaps, his 83 (at Faisalabad) and 76 (at Lahore) against a more potent Pak attack during the autumn of 1978 deserved greater credits. But, still (prior to the England tour) his record outside the subcontinent remained very poor.
The Indian team performed badly in the first test losing by an innings. Vengsarkar, struggled badly, scoring just 22 and 7. Then came the duck at the first innings at Lord’s. But, he would fight back brilliantly in the 2nd innings. In fact, the whole Indian team performed to secure a draw at the end. Indian batsmen started their 2nd innings on the 4th day, trailing by more than 300 runs. But, Gavaskar and Chauhan put on 79 for the first wicket before Chauhan fell to the spin of Edmonds. But, an even bigger blow came later, as Gavaskar, after looking set for a hundred, chased a wide delivery from Botham, to give the England all-rounder his 100th test victim. Fortunately, he was replaced by India’s best batsman of the decade, Gundappa Vishwanath. Along with Vengsarkar, he started the Indian recovery. The day ended with India at 196/2, Vengsarkar already past his fifty. To force a victory England required early breakthroughs on the final day. But, it was not going to come. Botham was no longer getting the swing he was getting on the 1st day. The spinners Edmonds and Miller, were good enough for county circuit; but they lacked the trickery required to disturb batsmen in the caliber of Vengsarkar and Vishwanath. They shared a mammoth 210 run partnership for the 3rd wicket, and by the time, Vengsrakar was out (103), caught by Boycott of Edmonds, India was close to safety. Vishwanath, too, completed his hundred (113), as India salvaged a highly honorable draw. Both these efforts would be overshadowed by Gavaskar’s brilliant 221 at the Oval. Vengsarkar would shine there as well; in fact, it was his dismissal after a well made 52, (with his team score at 366), that started a bad collapse that denied India a victory, which would have been the greatest in their history. Nevertheless, Wisden was full of praise for young Vengsarkar; they were impressed by his technique, and predicted (quite rightly) a bright future for the 23 year old.
During the 1979-80 season he scored 112 Vs Aus at Banglaore, but it was his 146* against the Paks at Delhi, later in the season that impressed the pundits most. After India’s poor effort in the first innings, (126 all out, Sikander Bakht 8/69), India were trouble. But, Vengskarkar’s, effort in the 2nd innings ensured a draw for the home side. By this time, Vengsakrkar had established himself as the undisputed no.3 batsman in the side; and by the time India toured England again, in the summer of 1982, he was already a vastly experienced and reliable test batsman. This tour was especially significant, as it marked the 50th anniversary of India’s entrance to test cricket. Unfortunately, for India, only two player performed for them in the 1st test at Lord’s, Kapil Dev, and Vengsarkar. On the first morning, Kapil bowled superbly to restrict England to 96/4, but the spinners (Doshi and Shastri) failed to support him and Derek Randall led the England recovery; he top scored with 126 in an England total of 433. Indian batting collapsed badly against Botham and Willis on the 2nd day, and they were bundled out for 128. Following on, they knew that they needed a miracle to save the match. But, sadly for them Gavaskar and Shastri got out in the 20′s, after looking set for big things. India’s last hope, Vishwanath perished for only 3, ending any hope of India saving the match. They eventually lost by 7 wickets, but not before Vengsarkar and Kapil produced outstanding individual efforts. Vengsarkar, totally dominated the 5th wicket stand of 142 with Yashpal Sharma. Sharma’s contribution in the partnership was only 37. He shut one end up while Vengsarkar went for his shots. It was an wonderful exhibition of measured aggression. Technically, this knock of 157 was his best test innings. Unfortunately, it came for a lost cause. Both Vengsarkar and Sharma fell with the score on 252, and when inexperienced Malhotra fell for a duck, an innings defeat looked a certainty. Kapil dev then struck 89 from 55 deliveries and then picked 3 quick wickets to restore some respectability for his side. India’s next visit to Lord’s saw them achieve that historical WC victory over WI. Sadly for Vengsarkar, he missed most of the cup, including the final, after retiring hurt in the 2nd group match against WI. But, he would make a triumphant return at Lord’s 3 years later, to score another hundred. And this time, the whole team would perform brilliantly to ensure a famous victory.
Vengsarkar’s role by this time had changed a bit. Mohinder Amarnath made a triumphant return to test arena during the 1982-83 season, smashing 5 hundreds against Pakistan and WI. He took over the No.3 slot, while Vengsarkar settled in at No.4. They, along with Gavaskar, gave the batting line up stability, so that the storkemakers, Srikknath, Azhar and Kapil could go for their shots. Here, at Lord’s, after England were restricted to 294, India started well. Gavaskar (34) and Amarnath (69) had built the foundation, and then Vengsarkar and Azza were scoring freely. But, after looking good for 33, Azza mistimed an attempted drive, and gave a return catch to Dilley, the spearhead of the home attack. Then suddenly there was a collapse, while Vengsarkar looked solid at one end, Shastri, Kapil, Binny and Chetna Sharma all perished before reaching double figures. Fortunately, debutant keepr More gave him support, but when he was trapped LBW for 25 by Pringle, Vengsarkar was still short of his hundred. The No 11. Maninder was a rabbit, with the bat, but here he hung on grimly for more than an hour. He scored only 6, but his support not only enabled Vengsarkar to complete his hundred (he finished on 126*), the last wicket pair put on 38 runs, which proved extremely vital in the final analysis. Vengsarkar also top scored in the 2nd innings with 33; as India overcame the nerves to reach their small target for the loss of 5 wickets.
For Vengsarkar, the effort at Lord’s not only completed the hatrick, it marked the beginning of a purple patch for him that would see him score 8 hundreds in 16 tests. His most memorable effort was at Leeds (in 1986), where in a low scoring match, his scores of 61 and 102*, helped India win by a massive margin of 279 runs. His 2nd innings effort there resembled his 1st innings knock at Lord’s. Again he got good support from the No. 10, this time Binny, and after Binny fell LBW to Pringle, Maninder came to the wicket with Vengsarkar still in the 90′s. This time, Maninder lasted less than 10 minutes, but that was enough for Dilip to complete his hundred.
Following India’s shock defeat at the hands of England, in the WC SF of 1987, Vengsarkar took over the captaincy from Kapil. In his first test as captain, his hundred in the 2nd innings gave India the upper hand, but his opposite-number, Viv Richards scored an unbeaten century to take his side home. Dilip scored 102* in a placid pitch at Calcutta, but had to retire hurt, after being hit in the eyes by Winston Davies. He returned from the injury next season, but he no longer looked the same player again. He lost his captaincy in 1989, in controversial circumstances,; featured in only two of the tests during the 89-90 season, but, as expected was inlcluded for the tour of England in 1990. So, he had a chance to add to his 3 hundreds at Lord’s.
In a placid pitch, and in a high scoring match, Dilip was disappointed with his efforts of 52 and 35. In the 1st innings, he looked set for another hundred, as he reached his fifty fairly easily. But, then a lapse of concentration saw him edge a delivery from Fraser to the keeper. Indian batting failed in the 2nd innings, and Vengsarkar’s dismissal after looking well set, hastened their defeat.
Overall, Vengsarkar’s record of almost 7000 runs at an average of over 42 puts him in the 2nd row of all time great batsmen from India. He is not quite in the same league as Sachin, Sunil, Sehwag or Rahul, but he is not far behind. Some of his critics may point out that he never scored a test hundred outside India and England; this certainly is a weak point of his. But, we should also consider the fact that his record against the mighty Windies in the 80′s was considerably superior to most other batsmen in world cricket.
Back in the late 70′s, he had taken over the responsibility of batting at the vital No.3 position for India. After the departure of Gundappa Vishwanath, India’s best batsman of the 70′s, he took over the equally important position at No.4. And finally, during the middle of the Adelaide test in 1991-92, a change in the batting order saw Sachin Tendulkar move up to the No.4 slot. After doing his duty well for more than a decade, he made sure that his duties were taken over by highly capable hands.
Throughout his test career, he remained a loyal servant to the Indian team ; but he always reserved his best for the Lord’s.
About the Author
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