Published: Sep 04, 2012, 10:27 AM (IST)
Edited: Sep 04, 2016, 03:36 PM (IST)
Sunil Gavaskar played one of the greatest innings of all time on September 4, 1979, daring to chase 438 against Mike Brearley’s mighty Englishmen at The Oval. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at the epic chase that India almost pulled off 33 years ago.
It had been a quiet tour for Sunil Gavaskar till then. True, he had scored 61 and 68 in the innings defeat at Edgbaston, 42 (out of 96) and 59 at Lord’s (where Dilip Vengsarkar and Gundappa Viswanath had batted out of their skins, scoring almost impossible hundreds to save the test), 78 at Headingley and 13 in the first innings at The Oval meant that he had had his starts, but the customary hundred had not somehow happened.
Mike Brearley need not have declared eight down on the fourth afternoon, being 1-0 up in the series. But he decided to have a go, given that Gavaskar had not been able to convert his performances into hundreds. Indeed, he had Bob Willis, Ian Botham, Mike Hendrick and Phil Edmonds (and Peter Willey, too) to back his decision: a formidable bowling attack on any pitch against any side, especially if you have a world record target of 438 to defend.
Gavaskar and his ever-dependable opening partner Chetan Chauhan ended the day on a cautious 76 without the loss of a wicket. This meant that they needed 362 on the final day in 6 hours — in other words, run a minute. Things did not look too favourable for the Indians at the end of a tiring, disappointing English season that had involved crashing out of the World Cup without a single win.
Botham confessed to Gavaskar in the morning that he had a dream the previous night — one of the latter scoring a double hundred on the final day of the Test. Gavaskar did not take his dream too seriously. If only he knew!
On the final day, Gavaskar and Chauhan had started off well, but the ever-economic Hendrick bowled an accurate spell to hold them back. However, after bowling a 6-over spell that went for 11, he pulled a shoulder muscle and was out of action for the rest of the match, severely crippling Brearley’s options. India managed to score only 137 in the first 3 hours, but they had not lost a wicket.
Willey, however, kept the pressure on, conceding 2 in a ruthlessly accurate spell of 8 overs. So Chauhan decided to risk his arms and Willis broke through, ending a long vigil. Chauhan had scored 80. India needed 225 with 9 wickets in hand in 3 hours. The opening stand of 213 was 10 more than the Indian record of 203 against England set by Vijay Merchant and Mushtaq Ali at Old Trafford 43 years back.
Gavaskar wades into the English attack
It was then that Gavaskar decided to take charge. He found a perfect foil in Dilip Vengsarkar, and as a result opened up with full vigour against the English attack. Looking a lot different from his usual self without his trademark floppy hat, Gavaskar launched an unexpectedly furious yet risk-free assault on the English bowlers, relying mostly on drives through an extended V, ranging between cover and midwicket. He looked like a man in full control of the situation, planning the pace of the innings and executing things according to the plan. Vengsarkar provided him with commendable support, and when Willis pitched up, he managed to hit him over his head for an imperious straight drive. This was a fairytale innings coming from a man who was shunned four summers back for batting through 60 overs scoring an almost unreal 36.
Suddenly 438 looked achievable. The slips were taken away one by one, and the vacant cover and mid-off areas were now filled with prowling fielders. India cruised past 300; at tea they were left with only 134 to score in the final session with Gavaskar and Vengsarkar still there.
At this stage Brearley — being strategic or unsporting based on the point of view — slowed down the over rate considerably. England bowled only 6 overs in the 30 minutes that followed.  As the mandatory overs began, India required 110 more with both batsmen intact — clearly the firm favourites at this stage. Gavaskar kept on accelerating and Vengsarkar rotated the strike, and soon England was found having a tough time defending 438.
The great man was past 200 now, and was mobbed by spectators despite his efforts to shove them off as they had raided the pitch to congratulate their hero. He soon went past Pataudi’s 203 at Delhi a decade and a half back, thereby registering the highest score by an Indian against England.
With 73 required off the last 12 overs, Botham dropped Vengsarkar off Edmonds, but caught him successfully a run later. Botham, after achieving his “double” of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets earlier in the game (he did it in his 21st Test, eclipsing Vinoo Mankad’s record of 23), had been a relentless workhorse throughout the day, playing more of an uncharacteristic containing role, remaining largely unnoticed and innocuous. However, in the last hour of the match, he suddenly sprung into business with the catch.
At this crucial juncture, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, the Indian captain, made a couple of errors that probably turned out to be decisive as the match took its course from here. With the asking rate hovering around 6 an over and Gavaskar in supreme form, Venkat should possibly have sent his in-form batsman — the ‘other’ Indian batting star of the 1970s — Viswanath, who had already scored a hundred at Lord’s and had top-scored with 62 in the first innings here.
Venkat opted for the powerful yet risky shoulders of Kapil Dev insteadThere was risk involved in the decision, and it did not pay off. Kapil fell for a duck off Willey the next over.
Even at this stage Venkat held Viswanath back and sent in the inexperienced Yashpal Sharma. The promotion of Yashpal above Viswanath’s form, seasoned elegance and class defied the logic of cricket: the required rate was still under 7 — a quite manageable task had Gavaskar and Viswanath been allowed to bat together.
Yashpal hung around, and Gavaskar rampaged along, focused on the target, one eye on the clock. He went past his career-best score of 220 and his own national record of 177 runs in a single day — scored against the West Indies at Bombay the previous season).
As a final throw of dice, Brearley brought back Botham with 49 required off the last 8 overs. The result was immediate: Gavaskar hit straight to David Gower at mid-on. The 443-ball epic of 221 lasted over 8 hours, and included only 21 fours — which meant that the runs were scored mostly in singles. His innings was 2 short of George Headley’s fourth-innings record of 223 and 10 short of Mankad’s Indian record of 231.
With Gavaskar’s departure, Viswanath finally arrived at the crease, and drove Botham exquisitely past point for four. He followed it with another boundary, but fell to Willey shortly afterwards. The catch Brearley took was probably not a clean one, but Viswanath had to leave.
Botham was looking dangerous now, and removed the inexperienced Yajurvindra Singh with 27 runs still to get. At this stage Venkat took his third questionable decision by promoting himself over the usually aggressive Karsan Ghavri. Botham came to the forefront yet again by running out Venkat and trapping Yashpal leg before wicket, and suddenly the match had turned on its head: with 8 wickets down, suddenly all four results seemed possible after Botham’s evening spell of 4-0-15-3.
Ghavri, handicapped by the situation, had no option but to play safe — and with only Bishan Singh Bedi to follow, he saw India to safety with wicket-keeper Bharat Reddy for support. With 15 to score off the last over, Reddy managed to sneak in a boundary, but abstained from taking undue risks, and India ended the Test at 429 for 8 — 9 short of an agonizingly close run-chase of a magnitude that would have stood as a world record even today.
The lion-hearted Botham did collect a couple of stumps as souvenirs for The Little Master, who, despite playing one of the greatest innings of all time, had to return empty-handed.
(A hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobiac by his own admission, Abhishek Mukherjee is a statistical analyst based in Kolkata, India. He typically looks upon life as a journey involving two components – cricket and literature – not necessarily as disjoint elements. A passionate follower of the history of the game with an insatiable appetite for trivia and anecdotes, he has also a rather steady love affair with the incredible assortment of numbers the sport has to offer. He also thinks he can bowl decent leg-breaks and googlies in street cricket)
