gutsy Anshuman Gaekwad is no more !

Cricket, esp Test Cricket of 1970s was differently attractive - a rare photo of fab 4 of yesteryears – Anshuman Gaekwad, Gundappa Vishwanath, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar and Sandeep Patil.

 

Those were the days of master batsman Sunil  Gavaskar opening against fearsome pacers and scoring runs in style – he had various partners  including Eknath Solkar, Farokh Engineer, Parthasarathi Sharma, Anshuman Gaekwad, Chetan Chauhan, Pranab Roy, Krish Srikkanth,Arun Lal, Ghulam Parker – to name a few.  The tall, black, bespectacled Anshuman Gaekwad was different ! - One cannot say whether Anshuman Gaekwad's scoring range was limited but his raw courage against pace was unlimited, a  precious commodity. 

Back in 1974, West indies under mighty Clive Lloyed toured India. Indian team was hampered by injuries – Gordon Greenidge &  Viv Richard,  Hemant Kanitkar made their debut – Venkatraghavan was shabbily treated at Kotla and in the next test  at Calcutta : Anshuman Gaekwad and Karsan Ghavri made their debuts. 

Way back in Dec 1974, India won the Test at Calcutta against the mighty West Indies led by Clive Lloyd………the  two debutants in that test – Anshuman Gaekwad and Karsan Devraj Ghavri …. went on the play longer.  It was one of those Tests when India had two fast bowlers opening the attack – Madanlal and Ghavri. Ghavri in fact bowled 14 overs and took 2 wickets in that match…. In the next match at Chepauk, [remembered for the win and that brilliant knock by the little Master Gundappa Vishnawath on a green top against quality Andy Roberts] – Ghavri chipped in with a good knock of unbeaten 35 and a good partnership, with Anshuman Gaekwad who made a good 80 but was run out.

 

The man ‘Anshuman Gaekwad’ was all of raw courage against pace, patience and concentration and would never throw away his wicket.  In 1983 when India toured Caribbean – S Venkatraghavan and Anshuman Gaekwad were recalled – on an earlier tour he was bruised all over in that  bloodbath at Sabina park.  At Port of Spain in 1976, India created record chasing 403 with ease under Bishan Bedi and bloodbath followed at Sabina Park in Apr 1976.  No Andy Roberts – it was Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel, Bernard Julian and Vanburn Holder.  West Indies won the Jamaica Test by picking up just 11 legitimate wickets. Anshuman Gaekwad, Gundappa Viswanath and Brijesh Patel suffered serious injuries in trying to counter the terrifying West Indian bowling, aimed at dealing body blows and with crowd cheering such bloody act. 

Anshuman Gaekwad, the former India batter and national head coach, has died aged 71, following a long battle with blood cancer. Gaekwad, who was in London till last month, died in Baroda after a brief time in the ICU due to various health complications. 

Gaekwad played 40 Tests and 15 ODIs for India between 1975 and 1987, before becoming a selector, and later, the coach of the national team. As a batter, Gaekwad scored 1985 runs from 70 Test innings. He famously made 81 in Jamaica against a West Indies side boasting the likes of Michael Holding in its attack - a feat rendered doubly impressive by the fact that it came in an era when there were neither helmets nor restrictions on bouncers. Gaekwad had to have an operation after he was stung on the ear by a Holding bouncer that punctured his eardrum. It's an incident he elaborated in great detail in his autobiography 'Guts Amid Bloodbath' which was launched in May 2023. 

Gaekwad had two separate stints as India coach between 1997 and 2000. He first took over in the Sachin Tendulkar era where he oversaw a period of transition.  Retreating back to June 7, 1975 – it was the first match of the inaugural Prudential World Cup – a 60 overs aside tournament.  England amassed 334/4 and won by 202 runs.   Anshuman Gaekwad,  Karsan Ghavri &  Mohinder Amarnath made their ODI debut while John  Alexander Jameson, the man born in Byculla in 1941 opened with Dennis Amiss and faced the first ball of WC from Madanlal.

 

On Sept 29, 1983, Anshuman Gaekwad scored the slowest double hundred in the history of Test cricket — off 652 minutes at Burlton Park, Jalandhar.   This world record stood for a good three years before Brendon Kuruppu made 201 in 777 minutes. At Jallandhar at the end of the second day’s play, India were 37 for two. The third day’s play was washed out. The preceding day was a rest day of a Test match. Gaikwad resumed his batting after three days. He was unbeaten on 17. He held the fort as wickets kept falling.  The 4th day was tedious for the spectators as India scored only  154 runs from 85 overs while losing Yashpal and Sandeep Patil. Anshuman Gaikwad was unbeaten on 121 at the end of the fourth day’s play  and was helped benevolently by Paki fielding.  On the fifth day since there was absolutely no chance of any result, Gaikwad dropped the anchor,  batted resolutely and didn’t go for the bowling. He brought his double century in the third session of the final day, achieving this  feat in 652 minutes — nearly eleven hours — which was the slowest hundred ever in Test cricket. Nineteen minutes later, Gaekwad was dismissed caught and bowled by Wasim Raja. His innings of 201 was scored off 436 balls and it included 17 boundaries. 

Modern day players do not have the mindset to play 50 overs perhaps ! .. .. and the record for the longest innings is held by Len Hutton who in Test 266 in Aug 1938 against Australia made 364 playing 847 balls lasting 797 minutes.  He bowled off-breaks too, took 2 Test wickets and his only wicket in ODI was Roger Harper in 1^st ODI at Nagpur in Dec 8, 1987.  

 
Adieu to the gutsy man of Indian Cricket – Rest in peace – Anshuman Gaekwad.
 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
1.8.2024