Gavaskar Gets a Chance to Defend His 36 Not Out After Dhoni Inning
“MS Dhoni’s struggle... reminded me of my most infamous innings at the same venue,” Gavaskar wrote in his article.
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It’s 7 June 1975, cricket is ready to have a new beginning. Lord’s is all set to host the first-ever World Cup match – England vs India.
England win the toss and elect to bat first. Dennis Amiss smashes 137 runs off 147 balls to help the home team post the highest-ever (at that time) ODI total of 334/4 in 60 overs. Is 335 too much to get? Don’t worry, India has a batting sensation.
The batsman who led India to Test series wins in West Indies and England in 1971 – Sunil Gavaskar – walks out to bat with Eknath Solkar.
In the second ball of his innings, Gavaskar nicks one to the wicket-keeper, but fortunately the umpire doesn’t react to the hesitant appeal by the bowler and keeper.
Luck is on India’s side, or so it seems.
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Gavaskar starts his innings in the usual Test match manner. He doesn’t seem to care about the required run rate and focuses on seeing off the new ball. The crowd waits for the seeing off to finish.
But as the innings progresses, it becomes more and more clear that Gavaskar is enjoying a hit in the middle, without going for the target.
The crowd voices its frustration, some even run to the middle to speak to Gavaskar, irritated teammates send messages to the batsman, but the Little Master is unfazed.
India lose the match by 202 runs.
When the Indian team’s manager GS Ramchand was asked about the disastrous innings, he said:
Rumours suggested that he was unhappy with Srinivas Venkataraghavan being appointed as captain. But no one knows the real reason behind his freakish innings.
Forty three years later, on 14 July 2018, England post 322/7 in the second ODI at Lord’s. India have to get 323 to seal the series. Is 323 too much to get? Don’t worry, India have the best finisher in the world.
At the fall of the fourth wicket, MS Dhoni walks to the crease. India need 183 runs off 138 balls. Possible?
In the next seven overs, India don’t score a single boundary and the equation is reduced to 159 runs needed from 96 balls (required run rate: 9.93 with five wickets in hand). The match is still within India’s reach. Dhoni would have surely got his eye in after playing out 17 balls.
MSD strikes a boundary off the first ball of the next over.
However, the hopes come crashing down in a few moments. MSD plays out five dot balls off Adil Rashid’s bowling. Maybe, he wants to take the game deep?
Finally, the required run rate shoots up to 27 at the end of the 46th over, a message is sent to Dhoni. The wicketkeeper-batsman goes for a big one and gets out caught at midwicket. Dhoni – 37 (59b 2x4 0x6). India lose by 86 runs.
Virat Kohli says at the post-match interview that the wicket slowed down during the second innings and therefore it was difficult to bat well for the Indians. Does the excuse ring a bell? Gavaskar made the same excuse in 1975!
And he cashes in! 43 years later, the former India captain has finally got a chance to defend his 36 not out innings.
The Little Master, now a renowned commentator, expresses he understands Dhoni’s predicament in an article for The Times of India. Even though Dhoni went into a shell, when India needed the big hits, Gavaskar feels the limited options made Dhoni’s mind negative.
The line “Dhoni’s struggle reminded me of my most infamous innings at the same venue,” is a master stroke by Gavaskar. Could he be trying to explain that his mind became negative during his innings in the 1975 World Cup? Great catch Sunny!
Bottom line – Gavaskar and Dhoni should have gone for the big shots because that’s what their situations demanded, but why didn’t they? We’ll never know, will we?