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On the night of March 9, 1971, [EAS] Prasanna and [ML] Jaisimha, who were sharing a room, were visited by Salim Durani, who had also been on the 1961-‘62 tour, and was coincidentally rooming with [Dilip] Sardesai, the fourth member of the side to have been on that trip. Durani, one of the Indian spin-bowling heroes in the 1961-‘62 series against England, requested the duo to remind [Ajit] Wadekar that he was capable of being effective on the Queen’s Park Oval wicket, which was by now infested with rough patches on and outside the left-handed batsman’s off-stump.

Jaisimha and Prasanna passed on the message and Wadekar was quick to spot the correlation between Durani’s ability to hit the deck and the rough patches. He threw the ball to Durani and asked him to bowl his brand of left-arm spin.

Durani pitched one up to [Garry] Sobers. The ball landed in the rough, rose sharply, turned viciously, evaded Sobers’ bat and dislodged the bails. The ultimate cricketer had failed to open his account. Wadekar then stationed himself at short mid-wicket. As if on cue, [Clive] Lloyd pulled Durani straight into the Indian captain’s palms. Two of the most destructive batsmen of all time had fallen in quick succession, both to Durani. India scented victory. [S] Venkataraghavan completed what Durani had initiated. The vice-captain finished with figures of five for 95, and India needed only 124 to register their first ever win against the West Indies in the 25th Test between the two teams.

India’s openers strode in, their intent being to finish it off on the fourth day itself. 74 runs were scored before leg-spinner Arthur Barrett, who like [Jack] Noreiga had made his debut in the preceding Test, dismissed [Ashok] Mankad and Durani. Sardesai’s fall ten runs later prompted Wadekar to send in Abid Ali, with instructions to run quick singles and exasperate the opposition. In Sunil, Abid found a kindred soul. A flurry of singles and twos was complemented by a plethora of overthrows, and the hammering of the final nails in the West Indies coffin. A cover drive off [Vanburn] Holder and a hooked boundary off [Grayson] Shillingford were Sunil’s best strokes of the innings. India were three runs short when he slapped Barrett to the mid-wicket boundary to complete a historic win. In the Indian dressing room, there was bedlam.

As many as eight Indians – Ranjitsinhji, Duleepsinhji and Pataudi Senior included – had scored a century on their Test debuts, but Sunil had outshone them all with his 65 and unbeaten 67 in a Test won by India on foreign soil!

In an age where corporate sponsorship of sport was not a universal phenomenon, fans back in India were pleasantly surprised to read in the papers that Wadekar had received 500 East Caribbean dollars (Rs. 1,800) as the winning captain, and Sunil had received 250 East Caribbean dollars as Barclay’s Incentive Award (Rs. 900) for his performance. The centuries scored by [Kenia] Jayantilal and [ML] Jaisimha in the four-dayer against Guyana, an encounter for which Sunil and Sardesai were rested, meant that Wadekar had an embarrassment of batting riches to choose from for the subsequent Tests. The enthusiasm of the players after the victory at Port of Spain was overwhelming enough for minor discomforts to be overlooked.

‘The clothes that the BCCI had given us began to shrink after the first wash. So in the middle of the tour, I was wearing Salim Durani’s trousers . . . and Vishy was wearing mine!’ – Sunil Gavaskar, Summer of ’71 (PMG)

If at all there was any possibility of recent successes going to Sunil’s head, his new roomie, a man as old and tall as he, was determined to obliterate it. Viswanath had finally recovered from his knee injury and was fit to play. Sunil, the junior among the two, did all the dirty work, like leaving his bed to open the door if the bell rang at an unearthly hour. He was mystified by his partner’s daily request to room service for coffee at 7.00 am. The problem wasn’t as much getting up to open the door and let the bearer in as it was the fact that Viswanath would continue to sleep. He would consume it only an hour later. Sunil watched the charade for a few days after which he protested and insisted that his partner order coffee at 8.00 am. However, Viswanath had the last word: ‘I like cold coffee!’

Their joint visits to the hospital in the first half of the tour, and attempts to rag each other in the second, marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship. They also bonded with another talented youngster. The left-handed Alvin Kallicharran, a compatriot and disciple of Rohan Kanhai’s, was inconsolable when he fell cheaply in the game between the Board President’s XI and the Indians. He thought that he had blown his chances of playing for the West Indies. His spirits were restored by Viswanath, who at that stage had played four Tests, and by Sunil, who had played none. Speaking like seasoned campaigners, they exhorted him not to give up!

Sobers won the toss for the third time in the Test series at Georgetown, Guyana, and the Windies scored 363. India got off to another bright start. Sunil again had reason to be grateful to Sobers who dropped him in the slips off Holder. Mankad contributed 40 to a stand of 78 before being bowled by Noreiga. Sunil carried on in Wadekar’s company till stumps on the second day.

48 overnight, he reached his third consecutive Test fifty with a glanced two off [Lance] Gibbs who had finally been picked. Wadekar fell early in the face of some hostile bowling, but Viswanath, who had replaced Prasanna in the XI, batted fluently. On a day marked by three interruptions due to rain, Sunil did not allow the frequent trips to and from the pavilion to affect his composure. In fact, he made spectators marvel at the manner in which he paced his innings. He dropped anchor in the morning session when the spinners were getting some purchase from the wicket and went for his strokes when it turned placid in the afternoon.

He batted himself into the 90s, even as the darkened skies made another interruption imminent. Viswanath did his best to give him the strike for the best part of six overs, before the umpires called a halt. He was on 98 at the time. He had cocooned himself from the rest of the world and wasn’t thinking about factors that were beyond his control, like another life that had been granted to him by Sobers when he was on 94. This time, Sobers was at short square-leg when a Noreiga delivery rose higher than Sunil had imagined. Sobers moved to his left in anticipation of a chance, but the ball took the glove and landed in the region where the Windies captain had been standing originally.

The big moment came soon after the resumption. The Georgetown crowd, which like the one at Port of Spain comprised several people of Indian origin, gave him a tumultuous ovation. As he raised his bat to acknowledge their cheers, as also those of his team-mates, Sunil remembered his parents, childhood and college friends, and of course, the Bhagirathi alley, where it had all begun. It was one of those special moments where his entire life flashed before his eyes.

He had reached 116 when Sobers induced him to nick one in the slips. [Joey] Carew all but dropped the catch before hanging on. India gained a slim lead of 13.

The West Indies crossed 100 for the loss of only one wicket, but local heroes Kanhai and Lloyd then fell within a few runs of each other. Sobers came in at 137 for three to a mixed reception. The ambivalence of the spectators was a consequence of his lackadaisical form in the series till that point, and his recent trip to Rhodesia 13, a land that at the time endorsed the ‘whites-are-superior’ perception of its neighbour South Africa.

While Sobers’ Barbadian compatriots were understandably guarded in their criticism, the Guyanese had gone hammer-and-tongs at him, with Forbes Burnham, the prime minister, even threatening to advise India, a champion of the anti-apartheid movement, not to send a team unless Sobers apologised.

Sobers put the matter to rest with a statement denouncing apartheid and emphasising that his team’s interests were paramount. But the Guyanese, who had always been unhappy about Sobers being accorded more importance than their compatriot Kanhai, were still reluctant to forgive and forget. With his team one-down in the series and ahead by only 124 runs, it was imperative for Sobers to deliver. He was aware of this, and had made it a point to touch Sunil, whom he had dropped thrice in the series, for good luck. However, Durani, for the second time, played spoilsport – almost. Sobers edged him onto his pads, and the ball flew to Sardesai at bat-pad. The Indians were ecstatic, but to their horror, the umpire made no signal.

I have no problems with a batsman being reprieved by an umpire, for that is part of the game . . . However, it does bother me that the batsman in question continues to call himself a “walker”.’ – Late Dilip Sardesai, A Memorable Tour (PMG Special feature, May 2006)

Sobers went on to score a hundred, as did [Charlie] Davis. A declaration then gave India 90 minutes in which to score 295. They had no option but to play for a draw, and the St. Xavierites batted well to add an undefeated 123. Sunil’s 64 meant that he had scored 312 runs in his first four Test innings.

Gavaskar has become a household name in the West Indies. The lad takes his task seriously and yet brings to it the fire, passion and adventure of youth. The drives in Shillingford’s opening over were strokes of stunning power. It must certainly be a long time since any West Indian paceman suffered the mortification of being driven to the straight field. There cannot be a more galling experience. – K.N. Prabhu, TOI, 24 March 1971 (filed)

‘Opening with him was a great experience. He was so calm and collected that he made you stress-free. He was a brilliant judge of a run and keen to respond, especially for the first run. His defence was great. It was a pleasure watching him leave the ball. He played off his legs brilliantly. His concentration was so fierce that he was almost in a trance. He would look through me if I said something between overs. He would go into silent mode half an hour before the start and would not talk to anybody. He mastered the art of concentration and put it into practice.’ – Late Ashok Mankad

The Georgetown Test was followed by a significant political event. It was on 25 March 1971, hours after the completion of the game, that the government of West Pakistan ordered its representatives in its Eastern wing, situated on the other side of the Indian peninsula, to act tough with the restless local populace. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, an East Pakistani whose Awami League had won a majority in the 1970 general elections and hence ought to have been named prime minister of all Pakistan, was arrested, and his fellow East Pakistanis were subjected to a genocide that would have done Adolf Hitler proud. It resulted in an influx of thousands of East Pakistani refugees into India. In the months that followed, the Prime Minister of India made several unsuccessful attempts to draw the attention of the international community to the strain the migration was putting on India. Eventually, Mrs. Indira Gandhi decided to take the bull by the horns.

Her disregard of the risks associated with a proactive stance, especially the possibility of the US and China throwing in their lot with Pakistan, wasn’t quite in tune with India’s conservative image. Like her, the men representing India in cricket were eager to smash the subservient status imposed upon them by the rest of the cricketing world.

They encountered their first major hiccup of the Caribbean tour against Barbados, the best team in the Caribbean. A bowling attack that included the veteran Wesley Hall shot them out for 185 on a bouncy track. Sunil was run out for zero. Sobers then led from the front with 135, and despite some decent performances in the second innings, including 67 by Sunil, the hosts won by nine wickets. The wicket for the Test match, the fourth of the series, was equally lively, and the Indians knew what they were up against.

On April Fools’ Day, his 30th birthday, Wadekar won the toss and elected to field. It was more a defensive ploy than an attacking one, for the obvious idea was to deny the West Indies quickies first use of the wicket. It wasn’t the best pitch on which to bowl spin, and the spinners struggled for the first time in the series. Sobers declared at 501 for five, and India commenced their reply in fading light on the second evening.

Sunil was livid when the umpire ignored his appeal against the light. His state of mind did not improve when Uton Dowe, who was bowling at the time, gave him a glare. What followed was an ungainly hook, which was accepted by Vanburn Holder at mid-wicket. Ironically, the umpire upheld another appeal made by [Pochiah] Krishnamurthy, who came in as nightwatchman, moments later. It indicated that Sunil would have had his way had he been patient.

In a letter that he wrote to his parents that night, he swore not to let himself and his team down in such a fashion. ‘Henceforth, I will only show my back to the bowler,’ he wrote.

But Sunil’s newfound resolve did not quite rub off on his team-mates. They were reduced to 70 for six on the third morning and it appeared that only 14 wickets stood between the West Indies and a series-levelling victory. But the hosts had to first dismiss Sardesai and [Eknath] Solkar.

In an encore of Kingston, the duo rescued India with a partnership of 186. The Indian players watched in amazement as Dilip Sardesai beat Sobers in a battle of wits. When Inshan Ali came on to bowl his googlies, Sardesai pretended to not decipher the bowler and instructed Solkar to do likewise. The longer Ali bowled, the better it was for them. They kept up the charade, and even the odd boundary failed to alert Sobers to the plot. The batsmen were also helped by the inability of the fast bowlers to make the second new ball count. Still, India were 17 short of avoiding the follow-on when the ninth wicket fell. But [Bishan Singh] Bedi, the last man in, was missed twice. He added a record 62 with Sardesai, who was last out for a brilliant 150. The West Indies then went for broke in their second innings and set India a target of 335 to be achieved in five hours.

There was no way India would go for the target, and therein lay the danger of coming undone due to a defensive mindset. However, the visitors were inspired by Mankad’s riposte to a [Uton] Dowe bouncer that struck him on the left arm and broke it. He soldiered on, consuming invaluable time in the process. Wadekar and Viswanath fell soon after lunch, but Sunil was not ruffled. On a spiteful fifth-day wicket, against bowlers who were going flat out, he essayed a gem. India were 138 for four at tea, of which his share was 73. With Sardesai at the other end, the shutters had been put down for good. At stumps, Sunil returned undefeated on 117. He had proved his mettle on one of the fastest strips in the world. Sobers tried every trick in the book to unsettle Gavaskar. He tried every ruse and tactic, including the psychological one of using the heavy roller. – K.N. Prabhu, TOI, 6 April 1971 (filed)

Extracted from ‘SMG, A BIOGRAPHY OF SUNIL MANOHAR GAVASKAR,' written by Devendra Prabhudesai, and published by Rupa and Co.

Read Part 3 here