Above all, this picture summarizes the cricketing spirit at Chepauk. Tony greig cradling GRV after his century in 1976. There was another picture that I could not get — Tony lifting GRV in front of the Mike.
India vs England — Memories at Chepauk
Above all, this picture summarizes the cricketing spirit at Chepauk. Tony greig cradling GRV after his century in 1976. There was another picture that I could not get — Tony lifting GRV in front of the Mike.
This ground , that period — 1963/64 India vs England (at chepauk)
One thing stood out in this test — the continuous maidens bowled by Bapu Nadkarni.
32 overs bowled, 27 Maidens , 5 runs and no wicket. This was against the great Ken Barrington (who had some connections with India).
Two greatest spinners Bedi & Prasanna spun a web around England and bundled them out for a meagre score in the 2nd innings, thus paving a victory for India.
This ground , that period — 1977 India vs England (at chepauk).
The infamous vaseline incident had taken place during this series. India were bundled out for a paltry 80+ score in the 2nd innings. The great Underwood (அடிக்கட்டை) was unplayable in the 2nd innings. I don’t remember but one of my seniors was mentioning about the wicket getting broken, when India was playing.
This was a golden period in terms of leadership for England — Combination of Tony Greig & Mike Brearley. English team had brilliant fielders — Derek Randall, Roger Tolchard , Bob woolmer and Graham Barlow in addition to the wonderful Alan Knott
Look at the way, the umpire was crouching, most probably to identify the no-ball.
Today at Chepauk, Pujara was caught when the ball bobbed off from a close-in fielder. In 1976 test also, this had happened, when Mohinder caught a ball, after it had hit patel/prasanna.
This ground , that period — 1981/82 India vs England (at chepauk)
I was fortunate to watch this test from ‘B’ stand for a day or two. The local cricket buff, kannadasan was fire-dancing, when Yashpal’s innings was dragging. He was chased away by the police. One fan threw a beer bottle (glass) into the playing arena and was severely admonished by the spectators themselves. He was forced to leave. The cricketing spirit quotient was very high and ‘D’ stand fans were one of the most knowledgable crowd in the country.
Dilip Vengsarakar got retired hurt himself because of a bouncer. It had hit him on the back of his head/nape. Good God! Before that, he creamed 5 boundaries in a single over (Allot?)
The great GRV scored an eye-pleasing 222 (Top Indian scorer at tha time) punctuated with delightful Vishy’s trademark strokes. At the other end, Yashpal sharma was trying to save his place in the squad by playing a very very boring innings. At one stage, Botham was mimicking under-arm bowling and provoking Yashpal to hit. May be, Paul allot (a poor mimic of Ian Terrence Botham in frame and action) was making his debut.
Botham was a crowd puller and made the ‘D’ stand guys to dance for his tune. A great entertainer.
Graham Gooch scored a century in a particular session and that was a record at that time in the ground. I don’t remember the complete details, but able to recollect something of that sort from Tamil commentary Trio — koothapiran, Ramamurthy (IAS officer) & Abdul Jabbar.
This ground , that period — 1984/85 India vs England (at chepauk).
This was a magic series for L.Siva, whotook 6 wickets apiece in the 1st 3 innings at Bombay & Delhi. Then, he was sorted out by the English players. He took only 5 more wickets in the next 3 1/2 tests.
There was a major showdown after the Delhi test. Kapil dev was dropped and the chemistry broke down between Sunny & Gavaskar (though his rash shot was given as the reason, there was a continuing enmity between them. One festival match was conducted at varanasi by Kishore Bhimani and there was a dispute between the 2 players about sharing the prize money). Board president had to intervene for his induction in the team at chennai.
Chepauk was generally considered a life saver for struggling players. Because of his spin-friendly nature, players who could play spin well milked runs out of the pitch. Both Fowler and Gatting scored a double century. Gatters scored a blob in his previous appearance at Chepauk and he did not score century for a long time (remember Dean Jones double hundred in the tie test).
This ground , that period — 1993 India vs England (at chepauk)
here is the picture of the great M.A.Chidambaram stadium. Right below the giant score card was the ‘D’ stand, where the tickets were cheaper and was holding the most knowledgeable cricket spectators in the country.
by this time, L.Siva faded away from our cricketing memory. What happened to the great talent? W.V.Raman was 12th manning, in and out of the team, due to zonal quota policy and lack of mentors.
Slowly the tests at chepauk were moving away from the pongal season. On the last day, the gates were open for all and I was at pavilion. After the test was over, every one had left and Gower was sitting alone in the commentary box as a forlorn figure — I should have been there in the middle, instead of sitting here in the AC box. I was in a double mind, whether to approach him or not.
Azharuddin had a sweet revenge and gave a 3–0 drubbing for England. Gooch was the series captain but did not play in chennai. During the team selection, he was particular that David Gower was not picked up in the team and Gower came in as part of the commentary panel (prior to that, Gooch was tad unhappy with a rash shot that Gower played in Australia and Goochy was openly swearing at him. The enmity continued). In fact, Gooch was carrying drinks for his players. One particular TV shot, where he was playing with a toy in front of the camera, became famous.
The devil in Azhar was yet to surface. He was having good relationship with all the players — Kapil, Sachin … His golden boys Anil Kumble, Venkatapathi Raju & Rajesh Chauhan helped to win the test and series for India.
Interestingly,Now, V.Raju is part of Star sports telugu commentary team.
hepauk stadium from a distance. In those days, we were living closer to the stadium. On the days of test cricket, one could hear the roar from a distance. Now, all those things have disappeared or slowly disappearing. Test crickets are rare at chepauk and not attracting great knowledgeable crowd, any more.
With the advent of slam-bang Cricket, who has got the patience to visit?
