The first Test at the Wankhede was played nearly four decades ago when India took on the West Indies. The Mumbai-based stadium will, once again, be part of history next fortnight when Sachin Tendulkar pads up for his last Test against the same opposition from the Caribbean.
Of course, times were different in January 1975 when India and the West Indies met for the decider at the Wankhede. All Test matches in Mumbai till then were played at the familiar Brabourne stadium. Nobody knew what the Wankhede was about and Clive Lloyd, the West Indies skipper, was quite apprehensive.
As he writes in his autobiography, Living for Cricket, “When we came to Bombay for the decisive final Test, there were rumours that the pitch was under-prepared and would not last the distance of six days. The stadium was new and not many matches had been played on the ground, so no one was certain what conditions would be like.”
As it turned out, the pitch turned out to be a batsman’s paradise with Supercat Lloyd hammering a career best 242 not out. The West Indies piled up over 600 runs with sizable contributions coming in from Roy Fredericks, Alvin Kallicharan and Deryck Murray.
There was some tension along the way when the police beat up a young lad who ran onto the field to congratulate the West Indies skipper on his double hundred. As Lloyd recalls, this incident “incensed the crowd to such an extent that, by tea, there was a full-scale riot which left the place looking like a battlefield”.
Fortunately, play resumed peacefully on Day 3 and, following the West Indies declaration, India fought back strongly. Leading the attack was the Little Master, Sunil Gavaskar, who scored an aggressive 86 on his home ground. Eknath Solkar notched up his maiden Test hundred while Gundappa Vishwanath continued his dream run in the series with a classy 95.
India barely avoided the follow-on and the West Indies blazed away to 205 for 3 with Lloyd cracking 37 in just 17 balls which included two sixes in an over. His team-mate, who had made his debut in this series, hit four fours in another over and raced away to 39 not out. Over the next 18 months, the cricketing arena would acknowledge Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards as the world’s best batsman.
The target of over 400 was way too much for India and it finally lost by 201 runs. Yet, Brijesh Patel stood tall with an unbeaten 73. When he reached his 50, an ecstatic female fan rushed on to the field and kissed him. It was a welcome turnaround in sentiment after the fury on Day 2 when cops thrashed the living daylights out of another cricket-crazy fan.
Lloyd was profuse in his praise for the Wankhede especially after all the apprehension about the pitch. “As it turned out, I need not have bothered; the pitch played beautifully all the way through and was one of the best I have played on,” he writes in his book.
The West Indies won the series 3-2 but India had acquitted itself creditably especially after the recent 0-3 drubbing against England which included the 42 all out debacle at Lord’s. It was going to be the first of many, many memorable matches at the Wankhede with Tendulkar’s 200th Test due to be the icing on the cake, at least for this year!
Way back in 1975, the mood in the country was buoyant after the series against the West Indies. Yet, nobody could sense that all this was going to change rapidly in the coming months with the Government’s declaration of Emergency. The euphoria of Tendulkar’s last Test, likewise, will soon be forgotten as politics takes centre-stage with the 2014 elections looming large.