On this day, 1976, India won a historic Test match in Auckland.

They have won only one other Test on New Zealand soil in the forty-five years since then, in 2009.

And that is not the only reason I am calling the win "historic".
+
For example, India were without their newly-appointed captain, Bedi (that too on a turning pitch).

Vice-captain Gavaskar led India for the first time (before Bedi, actually).

There were three debutants, in Surinder Amarnath, Vengsarkar, and Kirmani.
+
On a turning pitch, New Zealand won the toss and put up 266 (Congdon 54) after being 110/1.

Chandra took 6/94 and Prasanna 3/64.

The ball was already turning. Only nine overs of pace had been bowled.

Surinder joined Gavaskar after Vengsarkar fell early.
+
The pair added 204, of which Surinder got 124.

The Amarnaths, Lala and Surinder, thus became the first (and till date, only) father-son pair to score hundreds on Test debut.

With Gavaskar scoring 116 and Mohinder Amarnath 64, and India reached 414 (Congdon 5/65).
+
And now Prasanna took 8/76 – still the best figures by an Indian away from home.

New Zealand were bowled out for 215 (Parker 70).

This was not easy, for umpires David Copps and Robert Monteith did their best to counter Prasanna and Chandra (2/85).
+
They "smilingly turned down" bat-pad catches and leg-before decisions, some of which were definitely unfair.

These decisions were accompanied by chants of "home rules apply, boys" from the crowd.

Chandra's politeness is legendary, but on this case even he lost his calm.
+
He clean bowled Wadsworth, then appealed loudly.

"He is bowled," came the confused response from the umpire.

"I know he is bowled, but is he out?"

This was the last New Zealand wicket. India needed only 68. They won by eight wickets.

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More from @ovshake42

29 Jan
On this day, 1998, a Test match at Sabina Park had to be called off after 61 balls due to pitch conditions.

In 121 years of international cricket, no match had been abandoned for such a reason.

This was what the pitch looked like after not even an hour of cricket.
+ Image
The pitch had been relaid three months ago.

Jamaican Board Chief Executive George Prescod and groundsman Charlie Joseph were both certain that it would hold fine.

Ground supervisor and former West Indies opener Easton McMorris hoped that "either side can make 380 on it".
+
But on the day before the Test, Nasser Hussain had a close look.

He saw the groundsmen on their hands and knees "trying to fill the gaps with Polyfilla or whatever they could find".

There were cracks. Enormous cracks.
+
Read 18 tweets
28 Jan
Russell Crowe made his debut as a film director in the 2014 movie, The Water Diviner.

You might have watched, or will watch, the movie.

Here is a copy-paste of the brief plotline from Wikipedia:
+
"It follows an Australian farmer Joshua Connor, who travels to Turkey soon after World War I to find his three sons who never returned."

There is a cricket bat, found in the Allied trenches.
- You tell me, it is a game or weapon?
- Both in the right hands. Here, give it to me.
+
Even that is not unusual. Many movies feature bats and cool lines.

Russell Crowe is a perfectionist. He wanted the bat to be an exact replica of a bat used by Monty Noble in 1905, a decade before Gallipoli.

His team approached Michael Fahey for an answer.
+
Read 6 tweets
22 Jan
Over two decades before Pujara, an Indian opener had taken the responsibility of stonewalling against a world-class pace attack.

Donald, Matthews, McMillan, Schultz.

He did not get the runs, but he hung around grimly in all five innings:
14 (81)
7 (48)
23 (139)
10 (76)
5 (68)
+
A series tally of 59 runs in 412 balls. Strike rate, 14.3.

Put a 400-ball cut-off (where balls faced is known), and his nobody else has a series strike rate under 18.

Boring, ugly, ghastly, but he would just not give up. He outlasted the new ball every time.
+
A few years before that, India were chasing 348 on the last day of the tied Test. He came out at 253/5.

He remained unbeaten on 48 from 40 balls. This was the second tied Test.

If Pant has the fastest First-Class hundred among Indians, our man has the fastest double-hundred.
+
Read 5 tweets
22 Jan
On this day, 1902, at Adelaide, Clem Hill played a ball from Gilbert Jessop on to the stumps.

He had scored 97.

He had scored 99 and 98 in his two previous innings.

Not only that – these were the first scores of 99, 98, and 97 in the history of Test cricket.
+
Before that, Hill had also scored the first ever 96.

So basically before him, everyone who went past 95 got a Test hundred!

Over his career, Hill crossed fifty 26 times but only 7 of these were hundreds.

However, of the other 19, there were scores of 91*, 96, 97, 98, 98, 99.
+
In other words, another 21 runs would have given him six more hundreds.

He also had 87, 87, 88. And his hundreds included 188 and 191.

Hill was a fantastic batsman, one of the greatest in the post-War era.
+
Read 7 tweets
20 Jan
Frank Chester was born on this day, 1895.

Many hailed him as the greatest umpire of all time.

Before the facts and stories, let me remind that Chester was hit by shrapnel during the Great War.

As you can see, the gangrenous right arm had to be amputated from under the elbow.
+ Image
He used to wear a black leather glove to cover the wooden stump.

Chester was a fine cricketer before the War, talented enough to earn his Worcestershire cap at 16.

He impressed his contemporaries. Jack Hobbs, for example:
+
"I played against him in his brief career and am sure he would have been a great England all-rounder."

The injury robbed Chester of a cricket career, but there was no way he was going to give up cricket.

Encouraged by Plum Warner, he took up umpiring.
+
Read 19 tweets
15 Jan
Raqibul Hasan Sr (also spelled Roqibul, Raquibul, Roquibul) was born on this day, 1953.

He was the first international captain of a representative Bangladesh side.

And his heroics in 1971 on a cricket field, in the face of fire, have been matched by almost no one.
+
Let me provide the backdrop first. This was 1970-71. Threats of Civil War loomed over East Pakistan.

Yahya Khan was making a last-ditch attempt to have control on East Pakistan, and cricket was going to be his tool.

An International XI was touring Pakistan.
+
Their second match was scheduled at Dacca.

In the 1970 Pakistan General Elections, Awami League had won 160 seats out of 300, but were still not allowed to form the Government.

And now Raqibul was roped in, probably as the ruling party's poster boy.
+
Read 17 tweets

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