da spicy bet： The problem for the Indians was that both the batting and bowling lacked consistency
da brdice： Partab Ramchand16-Dec-2002When the Indian team landed in New Zealand in February 1981 forthe start of their tour, it was with their heads held high. Theyhad come straight from Australia after a miraculous victory inthe third and final Test at Melbourne. Completely againstexpectations they had defeated a formidable Australian side by59 runs to be the first Indian side not to lose a series `DownUnder’.
The problem for the Indians was that both the batting and bowlinglacked consistency. The fact that no Indian batsman got a hundredwhereas in each of the three Tests a front-ranking New Zealandbatsman skipper Geoff Howarth, John Reid and John Wright – gota century made for the clinching difference in the two sides.
But by 1981, New Zealand themselves were a pretty strong teamwith a record second to none. They were particularly powerful athome and only the season before had won a three-Test seriesagainst the West Indies, the No 1 cricketing nation. It wasobvious then that even a confident Indian team had a job on theirhands and so it proved.New Zealand won the first Test at Wellington by 62 runs and theremaining two games at Christchurch and Auckland were drawngiving the hosts the rubber for the first time in seven attemptsagainst India.The problem for the Indians was that both the batting and bowlinglacked consistency. The fact that no Indian batsman got a hundredwhereas in each of the three Tests a front-ranking New Zealandbatsman skipper Geoff Howarth, John Reid and John Wright – gota century made for the clinching difference in the two sides.The Indians’ best was 78 by Chetan Chauhan in the second Test andSyed Kirmani in the third Test. The Kiwi seam quartet of RichardHadlee, Lance Cairns, Martin Snedden and Gary Troup never allowedthe batsmen to settle and the fact that out of the only twothree-figure partnerships for India in the series, one was forthe ninth wicket tells it own tale.Symbolizing the Indian failure to get going was GundappaViswanath who aggregated only 64 runs from five innings whileskipper Sunil Gavaskar was only a little better, averaging 25.20from the same number of innings.The bowling for a start was hampered by injuries. For the firstTest, Dilip Doshi, Shivlal Yadav and Karsan Ghavri were on theinjured list. Yadav missed the second Test too while Ghavri afterplaying in the second Test which incidentally was his 39th andlast game for India – was unavailable for the third Test. Doshiwas back for the second and third Tests. But the injuries to thetwo main spinners resulted in the team management sending forRavi Shastri.The tall left-arm spinner from Bombay was then only 18 but hadalready exhibited his talent while leading the Indian under-19side. Playing in a Ranji Trophy game at Kanpur when he receivedthe summons to join the Indian team, Shastri flew halfway acrossthe world and landed in Wellington on the eve of the first Test.With there being no specialist spinner, his inclusion in theplaying eleven was a foregone conclusion.Displaying the temperament of a veteran in addition to hisyouthful talent Shastri straightaway settled down as though hewas playing another collegiate game. His first over was a maiden.Then a sharp return catch got rid off Jeremy Coney. After takingthree for 54, Shastri went one better in the second innings. Hedismissed Cairns, Snedden and Troup in four balls to end withfigures of 3-0-9-3 as New Zealand were shot out for 100.It is interesting to note, however, that in his first Test, hewent in at No 10. By the end of the series he was the leadingwicket-taker with 15 wickets at 18.46 apiece and in the thirdTest he batted at No 7.But the discovery of Shastri as a long-term prospect was aboutthe only crumb of comfort for the Indians. New caps were alsogiven to other players like Yograj Singh, Kirti Azad and TESrinivasan who failed to make the most of the opportunities. Andcompounding the problem was the comparative failure of theseniors.The tour in fact marked the end of the road for Chauhan and his114-run partnership with Gavaskar at Christchurch was their tenthand last three-figure partnership in Test cricket. Kapil Devlived up to his reputation by taking seven wickets at Wellingtonbut in the remaining two Tests took just one wicket in 52 overs.Like many others in the team, he seemed tired and jaded at theend of a long tour.There was never any chance of a result in the rain-affectedsecond Test at Christchurch but the Indians did make a last-ditchattempt to win the Auckland Test. In arrears by 128 runs, theyposted a second innings total of 284 which left New Zealand fourhours to get 157 on a well-worn pitch and fading light. They were95 for five in 62 overs when bad light halted play.A few interesting facts highlighted the series. Chauhan becamethe first batsman to amass 2000 runs in Test without scoring acentury. In the second Test, Kirmani retired to have sevenstitches on his jaw after attempting to hook a bouncer fromHadlee. Yashpal Sharma kept wickets but when he too was injured,substitute Bharath Reddy, a regular wicket keeper, did dutybehind the stumps.Playing his 34th Test at Christchurch, Hadlee became the firstNew Zealander to take 150 wickets in Tests. Wright who enduredfor 460 minutes and faced 434 balls in compiling 110 at Aucklandcompleted his first hundred in Tests with a six. In the sameTest, Doshi bowled 337 balls before taking his first wicket ofthe match.
