A Test for Bangalore

Last week, 46 years ago, saw three notable Test cricket debuts – those of Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, Sir Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge, and the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. TOI takes a look back at that eventful week in November 1974
BENGALURU: The stadium was new – in fact, construction was still going on. Excitement was high. There were, after all, four Karnataka players in the team: Gundappa Viswanath, Brijesh Patel, EAS Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar.But Bengaluru’s historical and a much-awaited first international Test fixture clouded by controversy - rumours of a possible stadium collapse swirled. There even was an agitation against holding the match in the city.
"If my memory is right, the team was lodged at Taj West End and the excitement of the first international Test in Bangalore was clearly in the air both among fans and among four or us local players. Even though I made my debut five years ago, I felt so nervous and at the same time excited about playing in front of the home fans," reminisces Viswanath.
The Indian cricketing legend looked back on his younger days when he used to travel to Madras (now Chennai) with his brothers to watch cricket matches at the Chepauk stadium there. "An international Test match in Bangalore was eagerly awaited for years and I remember it like yesterday. We walked into the field to a jam-packed audience, most of them seated on temporary stands," he says.
Heavy rains the previous night of the match day left everyone anxious on the start of the city’s first international Test tie but the sun came out. "The match started at 12.10 pm as the pitch was wet. Crowds had started to come on right from 6 am that day and remained packed on the wooden temporary stands waiting for the big day of cricket to commence," says cricket statistician HR Gopalakrishna who was All India Radio’s official scorekeeper for the match at the stadium.
Gopalakrishna was 28 and was on the first day of his job. He then collected autographs of all the players and supporting staff on the completed score card of November 22 to 27, 1974, a memento he cherishes to this day.
Gundappa Viswanath in action along with Sunil Gavaskar
Trouble for the Test
The rain and the wet pitch weren’t the only problems. "Spinner Bishan Singh Bedi was dropped from the Indian team for the West Indies series by the board as a disciplinary action. This enraged many of his fans who then threatened that they would prevent the match from taking place by damaging the pitch. Therefore, police had made elaborate security arrangements for the match," recalls cricket historian and author Vedam Jaishankar.
Jaishankar also remembers the propaganda on the newly erected stands of the Chinnaswamy Stadium being unsteady and was prone to a catastrophic turn of events when it’s a full house. "The organizers arranged a display for the press the previous day by placing over 40,000 cement bags on the stands to prove that they could take the weight of the spectators. These temporary wooden stands were put together by workers from Kerala and Tamil Nadu who specialize in erecting wooden structures," he says.
He also remembers how the organisers had to build a boundary wall around the stadium to prevent the cows from straying into the pitch and feeding on the grass.
A cigarette case exclusively presented to the players and staff of the test match by the Karnataka State Cricket Association
Retired police officer Krish Seetharam who was posted for the match security describes how a large but well-mannered Bangalore crowd came to enjoy the cricket match. "Unlike today, there was no need for barricades or netted fences. We had orders not to allow drums and trumpets into the stands but we couldn’t control it. Nevertheless, a decent sport-loving crowd was having a carnival on their first test match experience at home," says Seetharam who was a 26-year-old Inspector of Police attached to the Karnataka Armed Reserve then.
Septuagenarian Maruthi Rao was on the western stands in the stadium from day one to watch the match. "I was working in Bellary then and managed to get a Rs 250 season ticket. The pavilion ticket was priced at Rs 275 which I couldn’t afford. I was a big fan of BS Chandrasekhar. I came specifically to watch him bowl. He didn’t disappoint. He took four wickets in the first innings and two in the second. He dismissed the debutant Viv Richards in both innings and he also claimed Clive Lloyd’s scalp," says the retired banker.
The first Test match was a festive occasion for Bangaloreans with most schools declaring holidays and the city sporting a carnival look for six days. While some collected photographs and autographs from the big sporting event, Bangalore antique enthusiast and historian Kiran Natarajan has a unique memorabilia, a cigarette case made exclusive for the players and supporting staff of the match. "Limited pieces were made for the match and distributed. I managed to source one from England after many years. It is a great piece of history commemorating Bangalore’s first Test 46 years ago – and a game graced by the game’s greats," Natarajan says.
The original score sheet of the match from Nov 22-27, 1974 used by the All India Radio's commentary team
The 1974 Test was also broadcast live on TV, which was quite a big deal in those times. Given the level of interest in the match in the city, many schools and educational institutions officially - or unofficially - declared a holiday. Many places hired black and white television sets and relayed the match for fees between 50p to Rs 2. TV sets were even placed outside the stadium and screened the proceedings to large groups of fans gathered near the stadium. Broadcast was through a specially engineered relay from the TV station in Madras
India lost the match by 267 runs, but while the result may have been disappointing for the fans, the audience got to see some great cricket. They also witnessed what would become one of the greatest cricket teams in the game’s history – Clive Lloyd’s Windies – in action.