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Arunabha Sengupta

@senantix

6 Jan

@therealkapildev

Thread:
Happy Birthday @therealkapildev
Kapil Dev was always present, in every cricket-crazy consciousness of India of my boyhood

#onthisday #cricket

One just had to close one’s eyes & the graceful, lithe run up could be seen, leap before delivery, head tilted to the left, right hand close to the chest left raised in front of the face, and then the left arm extended outwards as the right came around to send down the delivery

All through the 1980s with more cricket being telecast one found almost every cricket pitch, from coaching centres to school games, full of bowling actions that were almost exact replicas of the great man’s. Yes, Indians could bowl pace, successfully, and Kapil had shown the way

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Arunabha Sengupta

@senantix

5 Jan

Thread:
5 Jan 1971. Garth McKenzie bowled to Geoff Boycott.
The general feeling among the players was it was a part of a joke.
However became part of epoch-making history.
The first ever ODI had kicked off.. .

#cricket #onthisday

It was a weather-driven accident. The first 2 Tests had been drab draws, both captains unwilling to take risks. When the Ashes moved to Melbourne, elements ensured two days had to be called off before play. Even adding a day to the Test match did not help as it kept pouring.

With the Melbourne authorities facing losses of up to £80,000, both boards agreed to arrange an extra Test - the seventh!! The England cricketers were not as delighted as in this pic. They demaded more money. Good old days of Test cricket.

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Arunabha Sengupta

@senantix

4 Jan

Thread:
Danie Craven (died 4 Jan 1993).
An extraordinary career cut short by the WW2 when just 28, Springbok captain, world’s best scrum-half
Springbok #rugby supremo, who said in 1969 “There will be a black Springbok over my dead body”
#onthisday #blm #blacklivesmatter

Craven was also a stellar scholar.
phd in Ethnology at Stellenbosch (dissertation Ethnological classification of the South African Bantu, 3rd doctorate for work on Evolution of Modern Games)
Appointed Stellenbosch's first professor of Physical Education in 1949, till 1975

As far as rugby was concerned, Craven became a selector after the War, and then took over as coach in 1949. The Springboks started to win everything in sight, 10 matches in a row, including the famous whitewash of the All Blacks.

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Arunabha Sengupta

@senantix

22 Dec 20

Thread:
Dilip Doshi was well into his thirties when he finally got the opportunity to play for India. 114 Test wickets at 30.71 - quite an achievement given the late start.
The years of experience bowling for Nottinghamshire and Bengal came in handy.
#cricket #onthisday

Bishan Bedi’s magnificent career stuttered against the quick-footed Pakistani batsmen of 1978-79, stumbled against Alvin Kallicharran’s men immediately after that and came to a grinding halt after India’s tour of England the next summer.

The bespectacled 32-year-old took over when the Packer-hit Australians arrived. 6 for 103 in his first innings. In the final Test of the series he took 8, bowling India to an innings win and taking his tally to 27 in the six Tests.

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Arunabha Sengupta

@senantix

21 Dec 20

Thread:
January 1958
West Indies 579 Pakistan 106.
6-day Test. 3.5 of those days remained.
No one gave Pakistan a chance of saving the Test against Gilchrist, Atkinson, Valentine, Sobers, Smith.
And then 23-year-old Hanif Mohammad took guard

#cricket #onthisday

Perhaps moved by the boyish looks of the diminutive batsman, the veteran Walcott had passed on some valuable advice ahead of the innings: “Never try to hook Gilchrist.”
Hanif started swaying away as the terrifying fast man bowled a barrage of bouncers.
It paid off.

Pakistan ended Day 3 on 162/1, Hanif 61*
3 days left. No one gave them a chance
Even that exemplary leader, Pakistan’s captain, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, spared himself the trouble of a pep talk.
All Hanif got from Kardar was a note beside his bed that said, “You are our only hope.”

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Arunabha Sengupta

@senantix

11 Dec 20

Thread:
Salim Durani born #onthisday 1934
Another of the handful of Indian cricketing icons of the 1960s who promised to be way better than what his end numbers proved; yet another whose legend is linked as much to his cricket as to his debonair image & smouldering good looks

Yes, Durani was handsome enough to play the hero in a Bollywood movie. In fact, he did so, pairing with Parveen Babi in BR Ishara’s Charitra.

Durani had the ability to turn the match with bat or ball, and occasionally did so. He captured 8 wickets at Calcutta and 10 at Madras to help India defeat England in 1961-62. He took 6 for 73 to dismiss Bobby Simpson’s Australians for 174 in 1964-65.

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