A to Z of Oval: 1971 & 2021

Abid Ali He hit the winning runs by squarecutting Brian Luckhurst for a boundary in 1971Baig Senior pro Abbas Ali Baig who couldnrsquot make the playing XI in any of the three 1971 Tests was in the team for the match vs Sussex after the Oval Test He made 13 and fourChandra Indiarsquos hero of the 1971 Oval Test last completed a full Test series in July 1967 And here BS Chandrasekhar was scripting a historic win with a sixwicket haulDrsquoOliveira Basil was threatening to play a gritty role in putting up a 2nd innings score that would be confronting to the 1971 Indians It didnrsquot pan out as expectedEdrich Lefthander John Edrich never gave his away his wicket easily but India were the only team to dismiss him twice for a duck in a single series In 1971 Chandra had him bowled spectacularly for Duck No 2 in the threematch rubberFarokh Unbeaten on 28 with India one run away from a fourwicket win in the 1971 Test Farokh Engineer urges his junior partner Abid Ali to exercise caution Orders lsquodisobeyedrsquo and Abid spanks one off Brian Luckhurst to the ropes for victoryGundappa Shrugging off his duck in the first innings Gundappa Vishwanath played what experts felt an important innings of 33 battling for almost two hours only to be dismissed when three were needed in the 1971 victoryHutton one of the three topscorers in Englandrsquos first innings with 81 strangely didnrsquot play Test cricket again Richard the son of Sir Len Hutton was probably not picked against after his poor series for the Rest of the World against Australia held in the English winter of 1971Incredible India Things got sweeter for Ajit Wadekarrsquos side after the maiden triumph in the West Indies England were conquered too within few months in 1971 Experts believed India were world champions as England had beaten the formidable Australians 20 earlier in the yearJameson Mumbaiborn batsman John Jameson opened the batting for England in the 1971 Oval Test The highlight of his first innings 82 was the two sixes he smashed off Bishan Singh Bedi that landed on the pavilion side of the groundKenia Hyderabadrsquos Kenia Jayantilal took a vital catch as substitute to send back Basil DrsquoOliveira was a big blow for England No trouble for Jayantilal but trouble for England the BBC commentator felt in 1971London The city was kind to the 2021 Indian tourists They won the Lordrsquos Test of that series there and followed it up with a 157run triumph at the OvalMankad The son of the great Vinoo Mankad didnrsquot hit the high notes as Sunil Gavaskarrsquos opening partner in the 1971 series But Ashok Mankad spent the longest time of the series in the second innings 11 runs off 74 balls to put on 35 with his skipper Wadekar His running catch to dismiss Derek Underwood was memorableNap Thatrsquos what Wadekar took when he returned to the Oval dressing room after which his fellow batsmen went about getting the required runs for the win in 1971Ollie England had two Ollies in the 2021Test against India at the Oval Pacer Ollie Robinson claimed five wickets including 338 in the first innings while batsman Ollie Pope topscored with 81 in the first innings Jasprit Bumrah dismissed him for two while England attempted to chase their 368run targetPujara How can any significant Test match win in the recent past be possible without the grit of Cheteshwar Pujara His 61 in Indiarsquos second innings was the second highest score after Rohit Sharmarsquos 127 in 2021 The playerturnedcommentator put on 153 for the second wicket with the future Test captainQuell Ajit Wadekarrsquos team in 1971 well and truly quelled the challenge of a triggerhappy English team who earlier in the year clinched the Ashes by beating a formidable Australian side on their home turfRohit Centurion in the 2021 Test that India handsomely won to lead the series 21 Rohit Sharma could not be part of the team that had to continue the Pataudi Trophy series the following season Rohit tested positive for Covid19 and Bumrah had to lead the side in his absence at Birmingham series ended 22Sardesai Sure he did not come close to scoring the amount of runs he plundered on the tour of the West Indies in 1971 642 runs in five Tests but Dilip Sardesairsquos 54 and 40 were invaluable knocks at the Oval Thakur in 2021 took the aggressive route in both his visits to the crease in the 2021 Test In the first innings Shardul Thakur clubbed seven fours and three sixes for his 36ball 57 while his second innings 60 off 72 balls was laced with seven fours and a sixUnderwood After going wicketless in his solitary Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston earlier in the summer England recalled their wet wicket specialist for the 1971 Oval Test against India He played a role in giving India a fright in the second innings accounting for three Mankad Sardesai and Solkar of the six wickets to fall before victory was IndiarsquosVenkat The sharp catch at slip to send back opener Brian Luckhurst in Indiarsquos second innings in 1971 and sending back DrsquoOliveira and Alan Knott in the space of five runs lifted the team in no small measure S Venkataraghavan performed his senior role wellWadekar Wise wily and wonderful was Ajit Wadekar as skipper Along with manager Hemu Adhikari Wadekar plotted the downfall of the England team for Indiarsquos first ever Test victory on English soil in 39 yearsXfactor Solkar His catch at forward short leg that send Knott on his way in 1971 could well be one of the finest catches Eknath Solkar took in his 27Test career And letrsquos not forget his 97run partnership with Farokh Engineer in the first innings which Wisden said was vital in limiting Englandrsquos lead to 71Yearn The Indian team could yearn for some rest after the 1971 Test but they were not done with the tour yet There were four more games to play vs Sussex Somerset Worcestershire and TN Pearcersquos XI before they headed home for a grand welcomeZoo Thatrsquos where some Indian supporters got an elephant called Bella from on the final day August 24 of the 1971 Test to mark the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi Chessington Zoo in London is still operational but we hear the elephant passed away in 1990middayrsquos Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper