The class of 1971 India-England series

The tables have turned for Indian and English cricket, and how! When Ajit Wadekar led the Indian side in 1971 to English shores, the hosts were the team to beat.

Unofficially, the No 1 side then, the Ray-Illingworth-led team had beaten Australia in the Ashes that season and the touring Pakistan were also handed a 1-0 defeat. And now after 30 years, when India are in England, MS Dhoni’s side is the team to beat.’

But the man, who led the Indian conquest in 1971, says there was a point to prove then. “We beat West Indies before coming to England and a lot of people thought it was a flash in the pan.

Therefore, we had a point to prove,” Wadekar told DNA. It was not until Indians started winning the tour games in England before the Test series started that the world stood up and took notice of the team.

One of the main cogs of the memorable win, left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi said, having never beaten England in their backyard was the biggest motivation then.

“The nucleus of our side was young. That brought extra energy and zing to go for kill. Mind you, seven or eight English players in Oval Test were on the wrong side of 30s and we had only one in Sardesai (Dilip),” Bedi remembered of the first-ever series win in England.

What transpired in the series, especially in the third Test is now the stuff of a legend. While no one can dispute that, it was BS Chandrasekhar’s devastating spell that bamboozled the Englishmen, the seeds of growing confidence were also sown with some exemplary close-in catching by Eknath Solkar, S Venkatraghavan, Abid Ali and Wadekar himself. “In England’s 2nd outing, Venkat, Ekki (Solkar) and Wadekar were simply amazing in the field,” Bedi remembered.

India’s confidence was on such a high that they actually got under the skin of the English players on a few occasions. When English opener Brian Luckhurst was playing the saving grace in the second essay, Sardesai and Chandra had a small chat across the field. Fielding at mid-off, Sardesai called out for Chandra and said: “Mill Reef, Mill Reef.” Chandra sent a quicker one the next ball and Venkat took a smart catch in slips to send him back.

Wadekar tells the story behind this. “Chandra and Sardesai were fond of horse racing and Mill Reef was a name of a horse. When said Mill Reef, it meant to bowl a quicker one and English were clueless about this. However, we could not bet since our pay was £1 a day only,” said Wadekar.

Well this wasn’t the only occasion. Solkar, a livewire on the pitch, got the better of wicketkeeper Alan Knott with his bail-hiding act.
Knott was superstitious and marked his guard always with a bail.

“Ekki came to me and asked whether he could hide the bails when Knotty came out to bat. I said go ahead,” Wadekar recollected. Knott was flustered not seeing the bails on the stumps and marked his guard with the spikes. “Ekki then removed bails from his pocket and put it back on stumps,” Wadekar added. Four balls later, Knott was caught by Solkar on Chandra’s bowling.

But Chandra on that day was anyway unplayable. “It is one of the most devastating spells of spin bowling I have ever seen,” Bedi said. “English batsmen were groping and had no answer to Chandra’s guile.”

Wadekar could not agree more and said if not for Chandra’s spell, the result could have been different. “English players played to the pitch of the ball and didn’t bother to see Chandra’s fingers and paid the price for it,” Wadekar explained.

However, about the series starting on Thursday, the two 1971 teammates differ. While Wadekar says it is 70:30 in India’s favour, Bedi maintains there is nothing much to differentiate between the two sides. “They have the home advantage and to counter that Indians has more experience,” Bedi said of the clash.

But Wadekar is rest assured that the Indian side led by MS Dhoni has all to come back triumphant. “Dhoni is now a proven leader and he has that knack of getting the best out of everyone. I don’t see anything can go wrong with this team,” Wadekar summed up.