By Kajal Chatterjee
Right from childhood, Test cricket forms the real thing for me, being the pinnacle of the game with the ultimate mettle of the concerned cricketers getting tested in only that version. And even though most of the Tests (specially in the sub-continent) used to end in draws, still I used to enjoy it vehemently as many such matches were highly exciting requiring stamina and perseverance of the players.
Vividly do I recollect the 1983 Test series in West Indies where Mohinder Amarnath rose to the occasion to come up with 2 Test centuries and bagged the Man of the series award also, though India had lost the series 2-0. Not to forget the Bridgetown Test where Amarnath got struck on the face by a Malcolm Marshall bouncer when he was batting on 18. Despite getting retired hurt, he returned to the field later and ended his innings with a gallant 80! Though India lost that Test by 10 wickets, Jimmy was adjudged the Man of the Match for the brave innings of 80 along with his first innings score of 91! This speaks of the stamina of Amarnath who used to fight against all odds compelling Sunil Gavaskar to famously come up with the salutation “Courage, Thy name is Jimmy”!
Amarnath again proved his Never-Say-Die attitude in the 1984 Lahore Test against Pakistan. It was also his comeback match after finding himself dropped previously. India were on the verge of imminent defeat, yet managed to draw the Test thanks to Jimmy’s patient innings of 101 not out on the last day!
Gavaskar’s last Test innings in 1987 will also forever remain etched in memory of all cricket connoisseurs. On that constantly crumbling pitch of Bangalore, though Pakistan had beaten the Indians by 16 runs and won the series 1-0, Gavaskar’s lone fighting innings of 96 was nothing but an exhibition of perseverance! To put things in perspective, Gavaskar had played as many as 264 balls by contesting the deadly spin of the Pakistanis with the next highest scorer being Mohd Azharuddin with mere 26 !
And what to speak of that 2021 innings of the gallant Wriddhiman Saha in his penultimate Test played at Kanpur versus New Zealand! Saha (then reigning as the best wicketkeeper in the contemporary cricketing world) had played a gallant innings of 61 not out by enduring severe pain of stiff neck and helped India (tottering at 167/7 in the second innings) to avoid a possible defeat against New Zealand!
That on the very day of his superlative innings; bizarrely did the Indian team management publicly convey that Saha is “not in their future scheme of things” and thereafter allowed him to play only the last Test of the series at Mumbai is another issue; but Saha’s display of an unconquerable mindset will be recollected forever.
Or that 2001 India-Australia Test series at home! Steve Waugh’s “all-conquering” team had not only beaten India in the first Test at Mumbai, but had also taken 4 wickets in the second innings after asking India to follow-on during the second Test at Eden Gardens! Yet, far from getting intimidated by the huge run deficit, VVS Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) batted for 2 consecutive days, garnered a massive lead with the bowlers specially Harbhajan Singh doing the rest and gifted the country a magnificent win! As if that is not enough, Sourav Ganguly led team went on to beat the Aussies in the subsequent Test at Chennai as well and grabbed the Test series by 2-1! Perhaps only Test cricket can throw up such out of the world moments and memories thereby again proving the ultimate excellence of this brand of the game!
Lastly, though Sportsmanship can be displayed in any form of cricket, we the “Oldies” have first received the taste of it from Test cricket only! Can we ever forget that liberal act of the Indian captain Gundappa Vishwanath who had called back England’s Bob Taylor just because the umpire had erroneously declared him out! Or how Eden Gardens had displayed immense warmth to the great Asif Iqbal during his farewell Test when he was leaving the field for the very last time.
Yes, despite hard competition for success or hunger for glory; values, honesty, dignity, feeling of mutual respect and accountability towards Conscience can never be compromised in the path of life and Test cricket forms the Teacher of these humane divine values.
