My first tryst with the cricket watching goes back 24 years in 1986 when India toured England and later had Australia touring India. That was a span in Indian cricket when the team was on top as it won 2-0 in England, drew 0-0 with Australia at home including a memorable tied test in Chennai, 2nd one in the history and probably the last one till date (not sure but I guess there was one England Zimbabwe Test drawn too).
I was just 7 then and I was introduced to cricket watching by my father. Before 1986 I vaguely remembered the Benson & Hedges world series win when Ravi Shastri was declared champion of champions and had won an Audie. That was 1985 and earlier that year around January India had toured Australia and had lost a ODI on Jan 26, 1985 or 1986. That was republic day for India and Australia day (later Australia thumped India again on this day in 2000). I remember coming from school and heading to my uncle's place for my cousin's 4th bday celebrations.
Those days DD used to transmit the live cricket and the level of commentary was too good for today's commentary in DD. There was Dr Narottam Puri and some Akash Khanna (not sure his name, but he was bearded and presented World of Sports every Sunday at 4 PM on DD).
My first series of following cricket was the 1986 England tour when Kapil Dev was captain. India had just landed in England sometime in May and Kapil had given an intentful statement 'Hum yaha jeetne aaye hai". I joked with my father on the breakfast dining table 'wat if he loses'. That was not to be, India won the Test series 2-0 and the ODI series was drawn 1-1.
T20 was good 18 years below its invention and only time somebody heard of T20 was in the club cricket when teams play 10/20 over games with tennis balls (at least in India or may be in Stan)
I remember Gavaskar and Srikanth(yes Cheekanth) opening the batting for India with Dilip Vengsarkar in the middle order. Azharuddin was then 1 yr old in Indian cricket and was an excellent slip fielder. I remember he took a diving catch to his left in 2nd slip published in newspapers then. Gooch had caught Maninder Singh in 2nd slip after English keeper (not remember who he was) dropped him, then Gooch dropped him and then keeper dropped again and in next attempt Gooch kicked the ball through his feet and Maninder got out.
There were few England players : Fowler, Redford, Lamb, Ellison (he was a keeper?), Graham Dillie (I thought he used to come running from boundary to deliver), John Embury, Phil Edmonds(both were baldies), Gooch of course, Ian Botham did not play. And the captain David Gower.
Without referring to any literature, I remember India had Sunny, Cheeka, Azhar, Vengie, Shastri, Chandu Pandit, Raju Kulkarni (lol), Chetan Sharma, Roger Binny, Madan Lal etc.
The ODIs were referred as Texaco trophy. The ODIs were played on Saturday and Monday. India won first ODI by 8 wickets and lost the 2nd one. Gavaskar hit the boundary and was out caught in the slips. 1-1.
Later on I followed every tour India made and every tour India had.
In 1986 after Australia toured India in came Lankans and they were thrashed 2-0 with India making its highest score of 7-676 (broken 18 yrs later in SCG) and Azhar out for 199. Sri Lanka then had even more unpronounciable names than now. Laebroy, Ratnayke brothers, Mendis, Ranatunga, Roy Dias, Don Anurasiri etc etc.
1987 was a year when Sunil Gavaskar retired from Tests in Bangalore after an epic 96 vs Pakistan and later that year India almost won the world cup only to lose in the semis.
There were many tours that happened listing down below:
1987 : India vs Pakistan in India
World Cup in India
India vs West Indies in India
1988 : India vs New Zealand in India
1989 : India vs West Indies in West Indies. India lost horribly in ODIs and Tests
India vs Pakistan in Pakistan
1990 : India vs New Zealand in New Zealand
India vs England in England
India vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka
And so forth....
The summer of 1986 was memorable for me as I began the tryst with cricket which is still ongoing with same intensity as it was in 1986. 24 years of watching cricket and supporting India. 21 years of those one thing has been constant and unchanging -- Sachin Tendulkar.
1 Perspectives:
I remember the 1986 England series vividly and it was beautiful to hear live commentary on BBC Radio with Brian Johnston and CM Jenkins; I loved watching the TV highlights with the brilliant BBC title music.
This was Vengsarkar's series with 2 tons on the trot (with Leeds being a difficult wicket to bat on) and swing bowling at its best from Chetan Sharma, Kapil Dev and Binny. For the 2nd test, Binny was unfit and bizzarely Madan Lal who was playing league cricket was drafted in - ahead of Manoj Prabhakar (who was in the sixteen.)
Gavaskar wasn't in the best of form - but Vengsarkar and Mohinder made up for it, wtih Shastri chipping in.
This was one of our best test teams - very well balanced with 2 genuine all-rounders (Kapil, Shastri); 1 bowler who could bat quite well (Binny); and a batsman who was a useful seamer (Mohinder.)
Gavaskar, Srikkanth, Mohinder, Vengsarkar, Azhar, Shastri, Kapil, Binny, More, Chetan, Maninder
(with Prabhakar & Pandit as reserves.)
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