Sardesai - The renaissance man of Indian cricket

Surprise inclusions and omissions abound in almost any touring squad. But there are times when the selectors are responsible for a really shocking inclusion or omission. Syed Kirmani not being picked for the tour of England in 1979 and Sourav Ganguly being selected for the tour of England seventeen years later are prime examples that come to mind.

But there was widespread criticism against the selection of Sardesai, which almost everyone seemed to agree stood out as the proverbial sore thumb. The critics picked holes in his technique and questioned his ability to stand up to fast bowling; they pointed out to his none-too-impressive record in England and Australia; they reckoned that at 31 he was over the hill and said uncharitable things about his tardiness in the field.

But surely never has the selection of a player aroused such widespread criticism as when Dilip Sardesai was selected for the tour of the West Indies in 1971.

To understand this, one has to examine the Bombay right-handed batsman's career briefly. Sardesai made his debut against England at Kanpur in 1961-62 and was more or less a regular member of the Indian team till the tour of Australia in 1967-68. His career had ups and downs, marred somewhat by the fact that he was tried out both as an opener and a middle-order bat.

Left to himself, Sardesai would have preferred to bat in the middle but such was the plight of Indian cricket in the sixties that in the absence of recognised opening batsmen, Sardesai was made the guinea pig.

A moderate tour of England in 1967 followed by a disastrous series in Australia in 1967-68 (he had scores of 1,11,1 and 5 in the first two Tests) saw Sardesai lose his place in the team. Brought back against the same opponents in the return series at home two years later, Sardesai fared no better and after scores of 20 and 3 in the first Test at Bombay, he was dropped again.

By this time, Vijay Merchant had taken over as chairman of the selection committee and he had firm ideas of the future belonging to the youth. Under this process, he gave the big break to youngsters like Ashok Mankad, Gundappa Viswanath, Ashok Gandotra, Ajit Pai, Eknath Solkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Chetan Chauhan and Ambar Roy during the twin rubbers against New Zealand and Australia in 1969-70.

Reverses during the season did not hinder Merchant from continuing this process. When it came to picking the Indian team to tour West Indies in early 1971, the policy was endorsed by the selection of Sunil Gavaskar, P Krishnamurthy, K Jayantilal and D Govindraj.

By now, Sardesai was very much the forgotten man of Indian cricket. He had done nothing of note in the domestic circuit to warrant a comeback. But the equations changed a bit with Wadekar taking over the captaincy from Pataudi. It was on the captain's insistence that Sardesai made the final cut of 16 for the tour. And boy, did all hell break loose!

All over the country, the team was welcomed as having the ideal blend of youth and experience and even the recalls of Salim Durrani, Abid Ali and ML Jaisimha were hailed. But there was widespread criticism against the selection of Sardesai, which almost everyone seemed to agree stood out as the proverbial sore thumb. The critics picked holes in his technique and questioned his ability to stand up to fast bowling; they pointed out to his none-too-impressive record in England and Australia; they reckoned that at 31 he was over the hill and said uncharitable things about his tardiness in the field.

The more vociferous among the detractors alleged that the "Bombay hand" was at work with all three key figures ­ the selection committee chairman, the new captain and the player himself ­ being from the western metropolis.

Even at this stage, it was clear that Sardesai was being taken as a reserve batsman. With Gavaskar, Jayantilal and Mankad as openers and with Durrani, Jaisimha, Wadekar, Viswanath, Solkar and Abid Ali to man the middle-order, there was obviously no place for Sardesai in the playing eleven.

But then fate intervened. A knee problem forced Viswanath to miss the opening first-class match of the tour against Jamaica. Sardesai was included, scored 97 and with Viswanath still on the injured list, the Bombay veteran was included in the team for the first Test at Kingston. And the rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

"`The renaissance man of Indian cricket," gushed Merchant while speaking of Sardesai's feats during the tour of the Caribbean, and most notably the innings that heralded the most successful phase in Indian cricket. Coming in at 13 for two on the second morning after the first day's play was washed out, Sardesai saw India slide to 75 for five.

First in the company of Solkar and then with Prasanna for support, Sardesai scored 212 while helping India to a total of 387. It was enough to force the West Indies to follow on, a major triumph considering the fact that in 23 previous Tests, India had not even gained the first innings lead. It was the first double century by an Indian in a Test outside India.

By resolute batting in the second innings, the West Indies drew the match but the shock had been registered and they never recovered. India won the second Test at Port of Spain by seven wickets ­ their first victory over the West Indies in 25 encounters ­ and not unexpectedly, Sardesai played a leading role in the historic triumph by scoring 112.

A failure ­ only 45 ­ in the third Test at Georgetown was the prelude to another great knock in the next Test at Bridgetown. In the face of a West Indian total of 501 for six declared, India were 70 for six midway through the third afternoon. Again with Solkar, Sardesai retrieved the innings with a record 186-run partnership for the seventh wicket.

India, however, were still in danger of following on when Bishen Bedi joined him for the last wicket, with the score 285 for nine. Sardesai inspired the No 11 batsman to hold on while he went for the shots that saw India reach 347. Sardesai finished with 150 and India ended up saving the match.

Scores of 75 and 21 in the final Test at Port of Spain saw him reach a tally of 642 runs at an average of 80.25 but by this time he was playing a secondary role to "new boy" Gavaskar who was furiously rewriting the record-books. Still there is no denying that it was Sardesai who spearheaded the Indian challenge that ultimately saw them win a series against the West Indies for the first time. And to think that his was the one selection that had attracted so much derision! In severity of criticism followed by enormity of achievement only Ganguly's case a quarter of a century later comes close.