We see this, but didn’t see that!

Yoursquove probably seen an image of Englandrsquos Brian Close displaying his bruised upper body courtesy West Indies speedster Wes Hall at the completion of the Lordrsquos Test in 1963You may also remember a photograph of England tailender Phil Edmondsrsquos ballscarred body during his countryrsquos 198586 tour of the Caribbean And you have definitely seen photographic evidence of Mike Gattingrsquos bloodied face on the same tour a broken nose while coping with a Malcolm Marshall thunderboltWhat you have surely not seen is Aunshuman Gaekwadrsquos battered and bruised body courtesy Michael Holding amp Co from the Jamaica Test of 197576Gaekwadrsquos story of courage came to the fore again last week during the launch of Guts Amidst Bloodbath the Aunshuman Gaekwad Narrative authored by Aditya BhushanKingston 1976 merited a recall If anything to remind some in this cricketing world that amidst the applause they give out for great IPL feats there was a time when cricketers went out to bat with no helmets and other protective gearThe fourth and final Test of Indiarsquos Caribbean Adventuremdashthatrsquos what the late writerbroadcaster Kishore Bhimani called his 1976 tour bookmdashchanged the face of West Indies and world cricket for many years to comeWest Indians had always displayed a pleasing flair distinctive art form while pace terrors like Hall and Griffith added that spray of danger But skipper Clive Lloydrsquos decision to make fast bowling his chief weapon from that Kingston Test onwards meant that brutality of a different kind had well and truly been injectedLike quite a few series involving India in the 1970s the 197576 rubber was to be decided in the final TestOn a helpful Sabina Park pitch which some reports say had a ridge the West Indians were not going to miss the opportunity to win their first home series since 196465Also read We all must strive to preserve the environmentFresh from their epic win in the third Test at Trinidad India were going well in the first innings at Kingston They ended Day One at 1751 The new ball was taken on the second morning when Gaekwad and Mohinder Amarnath had taken India one short of the 200mark Thatrsquos when Holding turned lethal Tony Cozier in his report for Sportsweek magazine wrote that Holding got the ball to lift from a spot five yards from the batsman and Gaekwad suffered blows to his fingers twice Then came a delivery on the stroke of lunch which hit Gaekwad on his left ear ldquoThat was a sad end to a very defiant innings as Gaekwad did not return to the creaserdquo wrote CozierldquoAmarnath went fending off a rising ball In Holdingrsquos third over Vishwanath who earlier allowed one to go off his gloves received an identical ball to the one that got Amarnath which brought an identical reaction and an identical resultrdquo Cozier addedBedi declared the innings at 3066 as there was no one save himself and BS Chandrasekhar fit to bat West Indies managed an 85run lead before India batted againGaekwad according to Bhushan expressed his desire to go back and bat but manager Polly Umrigar turned him down At 975 skipper Bedi didnrsquot have enough fit batsmen to continue the innings and West Indies romped home by 10 wickets chasing 13 runs for victory West Indies took the series 21With multiple injuries to the Indians bloodbath seemed to be an apt description Gaekwad earned high praise for his brave innings of 81 in 450 minutes on a pitch and off a bowler Holding who Cozier felt bowled ldquoas fast and as dangerously as anyone I have seen anywhererdquoVishwanath caused some laughter at the book launch on Friday when he revealed how Gaekwad answered a ldquowhat happened with that ballrdquo question after a Holding delivery missed his face ldquoSirrdquo said Gaekwad ldquoSince yesterday I have been batting I too donrsquot know whatrsquos happeningrdquoIt was the same Vishwanath who was with rookie Gaekwad when the Test debutant walked in to bat at the Eden Gardens after Andy Roberts had cut open skipper MAK Pataudirsquos chin in 197475Vishwanath tried to cover the blood on the pitch so that Gaekwad who went on to score an invaluable 36 wouldnrsquot see it Ironically Gaekwad who handled the West Indies quicks well fell to the wrist spin of Roy FredericksVishwanath paid Gaekwad the biggest compliment when he told his CCI audience on Friday that the 81 at Kingston was the bravest innings he had ever seenHolding who admitted in his book No Holding Back that he was uncomfortable with ldquothe way we were asked to bowlrdquo in the 197576 Jamaica Test called Gaekwad ldquoas gutsy a batsman as there has beenrdquoBravado and runmaking ability didnrsquot end there Gaekwad played Test cricket for India till 198485 and was recalled to bolster Indiarsquos ODI batting againsthellip you guessed righthellipthe West Indies in 198788 He deserved more than just two threefigure scores in Test cricketRavi Shastri reminded us the other day of Gaekwadrsquos two halfcenturies during the latter half of the 198283 Test series in the Caribbean when they started sharing a roomGaekwad has worn many a hat in Indian cricket and continues to serve the game as an administrator Like Shastri said his story needed to be told and ldquoit was about time he Gaekwad was shown in true lightrdquomiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper