da apostebet： Against all odds, the batting and bowling gelled together at a vitaltime and none personified this never-say-die attitude than JimmyAdams
Partba Ramchand31-Oct-2002On the eve of the 1994-95 tour of India by the West Indies, the hometeam were firmly installed as favourites to win the three-Test series.The Indian team was on a roll at home where they had registered ninesuccessive victories in the period from 1988 to 1994.
Against all odds, the batting and bowling gelled together at a vitaltime and none personified this never-say-die attitude than JimmyAdams. An obdurate left-hander with an insatiable appetite for runs,Adams proved a veritable thorn in India’s flesh by amassing 520 runsat a more-than-Bradmanesque average of 173.33.
Against that, the West Indies had lost their No 1 ranking and theslide had started in real earnest. By the early 90s, the vast majorityof the stars of the all-conquering team of the 80s had retired. Tocompound matters, they were, for various reasons, without severalleading players including reigning captain Richie Richardson, fastbowlers Curtly Ambrose and Winston Benjamin and veteran opener DesmondHaynes.The side, led by Courtney Walsh, had one really big name in vicecaptain Brian Lara, who in the first half of 1994 had set the twofamous world-record scores of 375 and 501 not out. The captain, ofcourse, was one of the top fast bowlers in the world while CarlHooper, Phil Simmons and Keith Arthurton were cricketers with someexperience. But little was known about the other players in the sideand the chances of the tourists doing well were not rated highly.Things seemed to move according to prediction when India won the firstTest at Bombay by 96 runs to make it ten in a row at home. But thewinning streak was halted in the next Test in Nagpur in which the WestIndies earned a honourable draw. And in the final Test at Mohali, WestIndies scored a surprise 243-run victory to level the series againstall expectations.How did this turnabout come about? It would be easy to put it down toa sense of complacency on the part of the Indians. Indeed, it waslargely perceived that Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin had let theWest Indies off the hook at Nagpur with a delayed declaration on thefinal morning.But that would be downplaying the fighting spirit displayed by thevisitors. Against all odds, the batting and bowling gelled together ata vital time and none personified this never-say-die attitude thanJimmy Adams. An obdurate left-hander with an insatiable appetite forruns, Adams proved a veritable thorn in India’s flesh by amassing 520runs at a more-than-Bradmanesque average of 173.33. He just loved tobat and hated getting out, signified by his figures 39 and 81, 125not out and 23, 174 not out and 78 not out.Adams easily put into the shade his more illustrious colleagues, Lara,Hooper and Arthurton, though, the trio did pull in their weight nowand then, and by the end of the series, the Indian bowlers had ran outof ideas to get Adams out. More, however , was certainly expected fromLara, given his lofty reputation. But in six innings, his highestscore remained 91.The bowling hinged too much on Walsh and Kenny Benjamin and the paceduo did well in taking 17 wickets each. But Hooper’s off spinners werea welcome support and he even had a five-wicket haul at Nagpur.India did everything right till the final day of the series when thebatting crumbled against the pace of Walsh and Benjamin. But for thisaberration, the traditional batting strength was in full bloom withSachin Tendulkar getting his eighth Test hundred while still 21.Navjot Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar were the other century makers whileAzharuddin, Nayan Mongia and Sanjay Manjrekar chipped in with valuablecontributions.The eclipse of Vinod Kambli, however, was a sad sight. The left-handerwas a sitting duck for fast, short-pitched deliveries and could onlygarner 64 runs at an average of 10.66. It marked the beginning of theend of his Test career.In bowling, the spinners, not unexpectedly, were the dominant forcewith Anil Kumble and Venkatapathy Raju picking up 33 wickets betweenthem.It was also the first Test series since 1978 without Kapil Devrepresenting India. He had a rather melancholic end to hisinternational career in the first one-day game against the tourists,interestingly enough in his hometown of Faridabad. He was mauled byopeners Phil Simmons and Stuart Williams and went for 37 runs in fiveovers. Then in regaining his crease during a brief knock of 12, hedamaged his hamstring and a few days later, announced his retirement.The tour, in fact, was heavily loaded with one-day matches. Besides acontest between the two teams, there was also a new innovation atriangular tournament involving New Zealand. West Indies lost a oneday series to India for the first time and also went down in the finalof the triangular competition, again to India.