The umpires didn’t want to be killed

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">some splash and that calypso: </span>i have been to the west indies twice. i think australia and the caribbean are two cricketing tours which every player would enjoy. the following for the game might have gone down in the west indies as their team is going through a slump but it still is a great place to tour with all its beaches and music.with a good percentage of people from indian roots, there’s no dearth of support for our teams there. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">east meets west: </span>in the context of the present west indies side, we played against the dream team. guys like garfield sobers, viv richards, clive lloyd, alvin kallicharan, michael holding, andy roberts et al were all quality cricketers playing in the same era. there was good camaraderie between the sides, bolstered by sobers who would keep the spirit of the game alive. kallicharan and rohan kanhai were good friends. kanhai was never short of encouraging words. he’d say: “indian blood is running through your veins, don’t let that down.� <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">from port-of-spain to port-of-pain: </span>the 1976 series was truly remarkable. the port-of-spain test holds a special place with that mammoth run chase in the fourth innings. lloydie (clive lloyd) had given his bowlers sufficient time to get us out. but credit to our batsmen they played some memorable knocks. for us representing the country was a great feeling. no question of money as we were paid just $2 or $3 a day. sunil gavaskar was the leader of the pack. gundappa vishwanath was at his sublime best. mohinder amarnath and brijesh patel’s contributions were invaluable. the strategy throughout was that our top five batsmen would see off the second new ball. we did just that when it mattered. this run chase left them stunned. what followed left a very bad taste. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">retired hurt: </span>the following test in jamaica left huge scars on the bonhomie between the two sides. our confidence was on a high after the win in the last test. whereas, with the series locked 1-1, lloyd’s captaincy was on the line as they had also lost 1-5 to australia. we were put into bat and finished day one at 175 for one. charlie (anshuman gaekwad) was batting with amarnath. it was on the second day that the strategy to bowl round the wicket was used. holding almost killed gavaskar bowling six bouncers in an over. gavaskar flung his bat in sheer disgust but none of the umpires intervened. charlie too was almost killed. his 81 was one of the most courageous knocks i’ve seen. he was all black and blue but kept playing. a blow on the ear did charlie in and he stayed in the icu in a hospital for some time. there was no support from the local authorities. one of our injured players was taken to the hospital by the then indian board secretary ghulam ahmed. i couldn’t take it any more and raised the issue with the umpires. i asked them: “gentlemen, could you please define intimidation?� they were flabbergasted and replied: “you leave the country in three days time but we have to live here. we don’t want to be killed.� they were referring to a section of a hostile jamaican crowd that was caged. on the rest day, i got a personal letter from the then jamaican prime minister inquiring about the welfare of the indian players. it was a nice gesture but that still remains the saddest day of my career. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">sunny days: </span>gavaskar started his career there scoring some 700-odd runs in his first series which is remarkable. i don’t think anyone can match that. west indians admire good cricket and sunny produced a lot of it against them. <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">(the former indian captain spoke to dinesh chopra.)</span> </div> </div>