Balwinder Sandhu

A right-arm medium-pace bowler who could swing the ball both ways and a more than useful tailender, Balwinder Sandhu's international career lasted under two years. But this was a rather action-packed period. His debut against Pakistan was pretty eventful. Besides taking two quick wickets after which Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad ground the Indian bowling into the dust in running up a record partnership of 451, Sandhu, going in at No. 9, top scored with 71. He again was top scorer with 68 in the first Test against West Indies the following month. So far he had been less effective with the ball but in the helpful English conditions, he was quite a handful and emerged as one of the heroes of the World Cup triumph in 1983. His delivery that bowled Gordon Greenidge - the experienced batsman shouldered arms to a ball that came in sharply - is still talked about even today. It provided the much needed breakthrough the Indians needed in the final.

In the wake of his fine show in the World Cup, it came as a bit of a surprise that Sandhu's international career did not last very long. In 1983-84, he played in only one Test against West Indies without much success and was not considered thereafter though he played in a few more one-day internationals. His best bowling of 3 for 87 was against West Indies at Guyana.
Partab Ramchand