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last kings cap,
Traditionally, spin bowling has been the strong point of Indian cricket. India can take pride at the long list of quality spin bowlers , who had served India with great distinction. The old timers still talk about Vinoo Mankad and Gupte. The 60's and the 70's was the golden era of Indian spin bowling; not only did India have 4 world class spin bowlers in Bedi, Chandra, Pras and Venkat; there was abundant talent at the domestic cricket as well. Unfortunately, due to the presence of the famous quartet, the likes of Kumar, Geol or Shivalkar had little opportunity to show their spinning talent at the highest level. Doshi did get regular place in the national team for 2/3 years; but that came only towards the end of his career, after the retirement of Bedi.
Kumble came in the early 90, Harabhajan a decade late; and together they formed a lethal partnership, which had proved effective in both test and ODI cricket. Generally, the slow turning pitches of the subcontinent helps the slow bowlers; but some truly great bowlers like Pras, Bedi and Kumble had proved themselves to be highly effective in away matches as well.
In this long history of success for India's spin bowlers, the 1980's appear as a barren period. Following the retirement of Bedi, Pras and Chandra in the late 70's, the selectors tried a number of spinners to fill up the gaps, but only in vain. Doshi, Shastri, Yadav, Manidner, Shivaramakrishnan, Raghuram Bhat, Gopal Sharma, Hiirwani, Arshad Ayub, all had their chances but failed to impress. Shastri did play 80 tests for ?India, but after making his debut as a slow left arm bowler, he gradually improved his batting, and eventually became a highly reliable opening bat; concentrating little on his bowling. fitted baseball caps wholesale , Only 151 wickets in 80 tests testifies to that. Doshi did take 114 wickets in 33 tests; but he was already in his 30's when he made his test against Australia, in Sep. 1979. (In fact, he and Clarrie Grimmett are the only bowlers to take 100 or more test wickets after making their debuts past 30). Also, while Doshi was accurate, he lacked the killer venom of Bedi. India won the 1983 WC with minimal contribution from the spin bowlers. Kirti Azad, an off spinner cum batsman contributed little in the final
Things got so bad that in a desperate bid, the selectors briefly recalled veteran Venkataraghaban in 1983; but Venkat, the most steady but the least penetrative of the famous quartet, was already well past his best then.
Amidst all these constant change and chops in search of India's main spinning weapon in the 80's, three spinners gave the selectors brief hopes. Laxman Shivaramakrishnan, a leg spinner, Maninder Singh, a left arm spinner, and Narendra Hirwani, another leggie, all had their moments of glory early on. They gave hope, but in due time those hopes turned into despair. Here, I would be looking at these three spinners, their moments of triumph, their eventual failure, and perhaps the cause of their demise as well.
Maninder Singh: A protégé of Bishen Bedi, Maninder was a surprise selection at the age of 17 for the long tour to Pakistan during the winter of 1982-83. The team included two other left arm slow bowlers, Doshi and Shastri. But, at the time, Doshi was well into his 30's; and Shastri was concentrating more on his batting.
The series turned out to be a disaster for India; their batsmen struggled against the hostile pace of Imran; the only exception being Mahinder Amarnath, who fought a lone fight scoring 3 hundreds. The Indian bowlers toiled hard on lifeless tracks? as Zaheer, Javed, Mudassar led a run feast for the Pak batsmen. It was a tough baptism to international cricket for young Manidner; but there was no disgrace for him. It was all part of his learning process.
The selectors, quite rightly kept their patience; and Maninder gave glimpses of his talents taking 4/85 at Ahmedabad (1983-84) against the mighty WI and 4/31 against SL (in the autumn of 1985); but it was during the tour of England, in the summer of 1986, that the world of cricket first saw the fullest talent of this young Sikh.
At Lord's, in the 1st test, England started their 2nd innings, late on the 3rd day, trailing by just 47 runs. The match was evenly poised. cheap hats wholesale , But, Kapil in a superb spell of fast bowling on the 4th morning counted for the England top 3. Gatting and Lamb tried a fight-back, but they were pegged back by the guile of young Maninder. last kings cap , He eventually finished with the remarkable figures of 20. 4-12-9-3, cleaning up the tail to restrict the home side to just 180 all out. While the technique of some of the Englishmen against quality spin bowling was highly questionable, the English pundits were still full of praise for Maninder. Most of them were confident, that after years of searching, India had finally found their replacement for Bedi.
Back at Lord's, India overcame one or two nervy moments early on the 5th day to register a memorable 5 wicket victory. Even more conclusive was their 279 run victory in the next match at Leeds. And again, Maninder played his part. After Vengsarkar, in the middle of a brilliant run held the batting together with 61, and 102*, and Binny exploited the conditions superbly to take 5/40 in the England 1st innings, Maninder provided the finishing touch in England's 2nd innings taking 4/26. Only the England skipper Gatting with 31* had any answer to his craftiness.
Maninder, along with the rest of the team, returned home as a national hero, after winning the 3 test series 2-0. ? But there was very little opportunity to rest on the laurels, as the Indian team had a hectic schedule during the 1986-87 season. In Autumn, the Australian top order, Marsh, Boon, Jones and Border, handled Maninder lot better than what the Englishmen had done in the summer; but the poor Lankans looked completely at sea facing Maninder, and the other Indian spinners, later in the season. Especially Maninder looked completely unplayable in the 2nd test at Nagpur.
On the 1st day, Maninder and Yadav restricted the opposition to only 204. With Azhar missing the match, due to injury, Amarnath and Vengsarkar held the Indian middle order together, both scoring hundreds. The tourists had to suffer the humiliation of an innings defeat after managing only 141 runs in their 2nd innings. Manindier was their destroyer in chief, taking 7/51, to finish with match figures of 10/107. Maninder shared the MoM award with Vengsarkar.
India, as expected, won the 3 test series against the Lankans 2-0 (with Maninder taking 18 wickets in the series); but for most Indian fans this was just a pre season friendly before the real action. That was the 5 test series at home against the arch rivals Pakistan. Any cricket match, anywhere in the world, between these two neighbors would attract massive excitement. Here, a number of factors swelled the interest. This was the first test series between the two, since the abrupt end of the 1984 tour of the Indian team, following the tragic death of India's PM Ms. Gandhi; also this was the first full series between the two since 1982-83; when Imran's hostile bowling led the home side to a comfortable 3-0 win. The Indian supporters were keen to see their team take revenge in home soil. Finally, leading the two teams were two of the best all-rounders, the game had ever seen: Imran and Kapil. Their personal rivalry added extra fuel to the burning fire.
The first day of the series saw fascinating cricket with the advantage passing hands a couple of times. Batting first, the Paks lost two quick wickets. But, then a huge partnership between Shoaib (101) and Javed Miandad (94) gave them the command. But, the last session belonged to India, especially to Maninder. He trapped Shoaib leg before, and dismissed Ejaj cheaply to restore parity. Pakistan finished the day at 247/5, but when Salim Malik fell to Maninder early in the 2nd morning India, in fact, held the advantage. But, they were pegged back by a brilliant 8 th wicket stand of 112 between the all-rounders Imran and Akram. Imran finished with 135*, as Pakistan declared at 487/9. Amidst the 4's and the 6's, Maninder held his own finishing with 5/135 from 59 overs.
Indian top order hit back on the 3rd day and the game ended in a high scoring draw, but the experts from the both camps were unanimous in their view after the match that Maninder was the key man in the Indian bowling attack. Yet, he disappointed his fans in the 2nd test at Calcutta, and in the 4th test at Ahmedabad. (He missed the 3rd test at Jaipur because of injury). On both these occasions, Maninder was miserly, making it extremely difficult for the Pak batsmen to score runs of him; but the killer instinct was missing. That instinct came back on the very 1st day of the decisive final test at Bangalore.
Pakistan decided to bat after winning the toss, but was bundled out for only 116. After Kapil had made couple of early breakthroughs, Maninder ran through the strong Pak middle order. Salim, Miandad and Imran; all brilliant players of spin bowling perished to his bowling. He eventually finished with career best figures 18. 2-8-27-7. With the pitch providing him plenty of support, he was just too good for the Pak batsmen. Yet, the Pak side, led superbly by Imran Khan, made a dramatic come back to snatch a narrow 16 run victory at the end. Maninder again bowled beautifully in the 2nd innings, but this time the Pak middle order provided stiff resistance. Maninder took 3/99, to take 10 wickets in a test match for the 2nd time in the season, but it was the Pak spinners iqbal Qasim & Tausif Ahmed who had the last laugh. Sunil Gavaskar's brilliant 96, in his final innings in test cricket, wasn't enough to win the match for India.
The loss to their arch rivals was a big blow to the Indian team; but despite his team's setback, everything seemed to click for young Maninder. With two ten wicket hauls within a season, he had appeared as the No. 1 spinner of the country. India's long wait for a perfect replacement of Bedi seemed over. Yet, Maninder would lose his place in the side very next season, after taking only 2 wickets in 3 tests against WI at home.
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