India’s first boundary-hitter Sudhir Naik recalls ODI No.1

Fours and sixes have always been at the heart of oneday international cricketrsquos entertainment valueThe first four by an Indian in an ODI was hit by Sudhir Naik the first six by his Mumbai teammate Sunil Gavaskar That was in the first of Indiarsquos 999 ODIs mdash against England at Leeds mdash in 1974Ahmedabad will host Indiarsquos 1000th ODI on Sunday when the hosts play the West Indies in the first of the three ODIs ldquoIrsquom proud to have hit Indiarsquos first boundary in ODI cricket I hit Geoff Arnold through extra cover while opening the batting with Sunil Gavaskar who scored 28 I thought we did well to put on 44 runsrdquo Naik told Sunday middaylsquoNo field restrictionsrsquoIndia posted 265 in 535 overs in a 55 oversaside game with other contributions from skipper Ajit Wadekar 67 and Brijesh Patel 82 England got to the target in 511 overs with four wickets to spare ldquoWe had no great experience of limited overs cricket although players from Mumbai had played the Talim Shield It was a green top at Leeds and we were put in by Mike Dennessrdquo Naik recalled of that cold July 13ldquoThere were no field restrictions no short boundaries I remember as soon as I hit that boundary off Arnold the field was spread outldquoWe didnrsquot know then that it is important to keep wickets in hand and attack the bowling towards the end We learnt along the way There was gloom in the camp caused by our 03 loss in the Test series but it was an enjoyable dayrdquo added Naik who scored 18 off 29 ballsEngland superiorNaik believed 265 was a matchwinning total but the English batsmen were superior on the day John Edrich slammed 90 off 97 balls to claim the manofthematch award Eknath Solkar and Bishan Singh Bedi captured four of the six wickets to fall while S Madan Lal and S Venkataraghavan claimed one apieceWriting for The Cricketer magazine Yorkshire legend Bill Bowes paid the tourists a handsome tribute ldquoHad they possessed a bowling attack or defence geared to this type of cricket they must have been handsome winnersldquoThey gave 8000 spectators a day to be remembered earned round after round of applause by their enthusiastic efforts and very sportingly fielded in almost torrential rain while England scored the last 20 runs for victoryrdquo