Vishy wanted a challenge to give out his best
V Gangadhar prefers Gundappa Viswanath's grace and style to his brother-in-law's dogged performances at the crease.
On the rare occasions when the West Indian superstars Brian Charles Lara and Carl Henry Hooper bat together, I wonder how
lucky the West Indies are to possess two rare gems. Lara
is god's gift to a cricket team, but of late Hooper has proved to be quite an additional blessing. Their association is a rare amalgam of grace, power and cricketing genius. Blessed are those cricket fans who watch them during a partnership.
Of course, all cricket playing nations, occasionally in their
history, boasted such superstars. Len Hutton and Denis Compton
did duty together for several years for England, so did Barry
Richards and Graeme Pollock for South Africa, Rohan Kanhai and
Gary Sobers, Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge for the Windies,
and two brilliant left-handers, Bert Sutcliffe and Martin Donnelly
for New Zealand. Unfortunately, their association was restricted
only to the 1949 tour of England.
The pair of batsmen could be of contrasting or similar styles.
The New Zealand and West Indies pairs were stroke
players of rare ability. So were Pollock and Barry Richards,
though Graeme was the more exciting stroke player. Greenidge
could often steel himself and play a determined, long innings
while his more famous partner swaggered to the crease determined
to thrash any kind of bowling.
In the post-war era when England
struggled to overcome the Bradman and Linsay Hassett-led Australians,
opener Hutton presented a straight bat and plodded on while
Compton charmed everyone with his strokeplay,
which included sweeping the slow bowlers from the middle stump.
But when the need arose as during the 1948 home series against
the 'Old Enemy', Compton buckled down and played two highly responsible
innings which brought him 184 runs in the first Test at Nottingham
and 145 not out in the third Test at Manchester.
India too has been blessed with such double champions. During
the 1940s and early 1950s, the batting rested solely on the
broad shoulders of opener Vijay Merchant and Vijay Hazare who
batted at number four. This was the only instance in cricket when
both players preferred defence to attack. This was because
if they failed, the batting collapsed and the Indian team often
lacked the bowling resources to sustain the batting effort. Yet,
Hazare's cover drives and Merchant's late cuts are still talked
about by lovers of the game.
Merchant quit Test cricket in 1951 and Hazare in 1953, after leading
India through a strenuous tour of the West Indies. India had to
wait nearly twenty years to be blessed with a similar pair
of talented batsmen. When they finally arrived, Gundappa Ranganath
Viswanath and Sunil Manohar Gavaskar held sway for the next
15 years and in the process became brothers-in-law with Viswanath
marrying Kavita, Gavaskar's youngest sister.
Both Viswanath, who turns 50 on February 12, and Gavaskar were
short men. Both were born in 1949 and both played their last Tests
against Pakistan in 1982 and 1987 respectively. Their
batting averages against Australia and England were similar. Gavaskar
averaged 51.67 and Viswanath 53.03 against Australia. Against
England, the figures were 38.20 and 37.60 respectively. Both claimed
a single wicket each in Tests! The brothers-in-law fielded at
slips. Gavaskar held 108 catches in 125 Tests while Vishy pouched
63 in 91 matches.
Viswanath began his Test career in 1969 at Kanpur against the
Australians with scores of 0 and 137. His captain was the Nawab
of Pataudi who insisted that the frail looking youngster should
be in the playing eleven. Chairman of the selectors Vijay Merchant
had to give in. Gavaskar had no such problems and was an automatic
choice for the West Indies tour in 1971 which was captained by Ajit
Wadekar who was Merchant's handpicked choice. Gavaskar blazed
through the Caribbean islands and came to be recognised as the
best-ever batsmen in Indian cricket.
Gavaskar himself has acknowledged that whatever the statistics
may say, he regarded Viswanath as the better batsmen. It all depended on how one viewed the game. Gavaskar played cricket,
the hard, Bombay way, never giving up cricket, accumulating runs
even when that task had no meaning. If he was batting in a Test
which was meandering towards a draw and the bowlers just
went through their motions, Gavaskar would still take a toll of
their bowling, coming up with another century.
Viswanath wanted
a challenge to give out his best. Like Viv Richards, he spurned
the easy opportunities which presented themselves occasionally
in the game. In 91 Tests (155 innings) he scored 6,080
runs including 14 centuries and 55 fifties averaging 41.93. His
team-mate and captain, in 125 Tests (214 innings), scored a
monumental 10,122 runs which included 34 centuries, a figure which
may never be equalled, and averaged 51.12.
Cricket is not just about statistics. The true lover of the game looks
for aesthetic values. He wants to see good cricket
even if it meant his team might lose the game. The Bombay media
followed the Indian team expecting centuries from Gavaskar
from every Test he played. The more rational follower of
the game preferred to watch the little genius from Bangalore
who made batting look so easy.
When we discuss the relative
merits of these two batsmen, somehow or other, we remember fondly some
of the innings Viswanath played. For me, two of the outstanding
innings played by Indians in Test cricket came from his bat. His stroke-filled 139 against Clive Lloyd's mighty West Indians in Calcutta during the 1974-75 series when Andy
Roberts bowled at his fastest. Equally great was his near-century against the Windies in the same series on a Chepauk greentop. It was batting at his
best.
Talk to any cricketer of that era and I bet they will mention
Vishy. How brilliantly he played the square drive and the square
cut, placing the ball immaculately between the fielders. Only
Everton Weekes could have played the square cut better. Viswanath
played the bowling on its merits. He did not bother with records
or accumulating runs. Like all great batsmen, he recognised the
entertainment value of the game, but at the same time, loved to
wrest the initiative from the bowlers.
Short in stature, he handled
pace better than spin. Who can forget his immaculate 114 against
Australia at Melbourne in 1980 which enabled India to beat the
home team? When the situation demanded he could put down
his head. India needed a monumental 406 to beat the West Indies
at Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Vishy's solid 112 contributed a
lot to this remarkable victory.
Gavaskar, to a lesser extent, shared this ability to play according
to the situation. The one innings where Gavaskar really sparkled
was his swashbuckling 121 against the West Indians at New Delhi
when he threw his bat around to avenge the humiliation of an innings
defeat in the earlier Test at Kanpur where he had failed dismally.
Gavaskar, more or less, was determined to score heavily whatever
the situation was and however long it took him.
The rain-halted
third Test against the West Indies at Georgetown in 1983 was petering
towards an inevitable draw. But Gavaskar pushed and prodded and
made yet another century. So did he in the drawn Test against
Pakistan in Bangalore. In similar situations. Viswanath would
have opted for sheer entertainment and gone for the bowling. That
was the essential difference between the brothers-in-law.
Unlike Viswanath, Gavaskar never went through a long bad patch.
Playing Pakistan in an away series in 1982, Viswanath could not
come to terms with Imran Khan's fiery inswingers which often rattled
and clean bowled him. This series was his one major failure and
the selectors in their wisdom, dropped him from the Indian team.
He never got a recall though he would have loved to play for
India again.
His lowest average was against Pakistan. In 15 Tests
(23 innings) he scored 611 runs with just one century averaging
27.77. Gavaskar played 24 Tests (41 innings) for an aggregate
of 2,089 runs which included five centuries and an average of 56.46.
To have watched Vishy at the crease
was an unforgettable experience. At a Duleep Trophy match in Ahmedabad's
Sardar Patel stadium, the spectators appeared interested in everything
but the cricket. As the second wicket fell during the south Zone
innings, the small figure of Gundappa Viswanath walked in.
Immediately,
there was a hush in the ground. The tiffin boxes, magazines and
gossip sessions were put aside. 'Ave batting jova malse (now
we can see some real batting)' someone in the crowd said. How right
he was. Vishy was at his silken best and notched up a double hundred
with minimum fuss. This scene was repeated at so many grounds
in India and abroad. That is his greatness. A very,
very happy 50th birthday to him.
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