Learning to crawl

Sir Pelham Warner’s comment best summed up the Indian sojourn of England in 1946. “Their grace on the field was equaled by their manners of it.” Viewed from any angle ­ the quality of play they provided, the overall results, the gate receipts ­ the 1946 tour was a whopping success, wiping off the memories of the unhappy tour 10 years before.The Indian team itself was a fairly strong one. Adorning it wereplayers of the calibre of Vijay Merchant, Lala Amarnath, MushtaqAli, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Rusi Modi and the captain – thesenior Nawab of Pataudi. The side was managed well by the genialPankaj Gupta, who was a welcome change after the autocraticBrittain-Jones.In such a congenial atmosphere, the Indians played up topotential, and this was reflected in the results. Out of 29first-class matches, the visitors won as many as 11, lost onlyfour and drew 14. Further, this was achieved in one of thewettest English summers on record. If India lost the Test series,they certainly were not disgraced. After all, the first Test waswon by England thanks largely to the batting of one man, thesecond ended in a thrilling draw, and it was possible to arguethat India was in a stronger position in the rain-affected finalTest at the Oval, which was also left drawn.The first post-war Test in England at Lord’s was thankfullyplayed in bright sunshine and was watched by large crowds. India,after being bowled out for 200, did well to get England at 70 forfour, all the wickets being taken by Amarnath. And what a prizebag it was too ­ Sir Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook, Denis Comptonand Wally Hammond!Joe Hardstaff and wicket-keeper Paul Gibb (60) got the inningsback on track with a fifth-wicket stand of 182. Hardstaff hit 205in 315 minutes with 16 fours. India, 228 runs in arrears, put upa better display in the second innings, but they found AlecBedser, in his first Test, tough to handle. The tall Surrey swingbowler had a match haul of 11 wickets as India were all out for275, leaving England to get only 48 runs for victory. The hometeam got these without losing a wicket.In the second Test at Old Trafford, Mankad and Amarnath, takingfive wickets each, bowled out England for 294. Merchant (78) andMushtaq Ali (46) brought back memories of their famous stand atthe same ground 10 years before by putting on 124. Astonishingly,however, India thereafter lost 10 wickets for 46. Englandstretched their lead of 124 by declaring the second innings at153 for five. India, set to make 278 runs in three hours, lostwickets at regular intervals, and the last pair – Hindlekar andSohini – had to bat out the last 14 minutes to draw the matchwith the score 152 for nine.At the Oval, India, after a delayed start, led off with 331,thanks in the main to Merchant’s 128. England were 95 for threewhen further rain stopped play. From England’s point of view, themain gain was Bedser, who in his first series took 24 wickets inthree Tests, a harbinger of many great deeds over the nextdecade.In keeping with their good showing in the Tests, the Indians’record in the first-class games was admirable. None impressedmore than Merchant, who scored 2,385 runs at an average of 74.53with seven hundreds. His batting was a veritable lesson in how tobat in the generally difficult conditions encountered on thetour.Vijay Hazare was not very far behind. The two were already in themidst of a run-getting rivalry in the Pentangular and RanjiTrophy tournaments in India, and happily they carried this toEngland too. A week after Merchant hit an unbeaten 242 againstLancashire, Hazare scored 244 not out against Yorkshire. Hazare’saggregate was 1,344 runs at an average of 49.77. Rusi Modi wasanother to top the 1,000-run mark, finishing with 1,196 runs at37.37.But in a way, perhaps the biggest success of the tour was Mankad,who had the rare distinction of completing the double ­ the onlyIndian to do so on a tour of England. In scoring 1,120 runs at anaverage of 28.00 and taking 129 wickets at 20.76 apiece, Mankadproved that he was among the leading players in the world.Indeed, as a left-arm spinner, he had no equal. Amarnath, with800 runs and 56 wickets, lived up to his reputation, while Hazaredid his bit with the ball too, finishing second in the averageswith 56 wickets.In addition, the Indians performed feats that were either eyecatching or have stood the test of time. Against Sussex at Hove,they hit up 533 for three declared on the first day with all fourbatsmen ­ Merchant, Mankad, Pataudi and Amarnath crossing thethree-figure mark. But it was the feat against Surrey that is themost famous. The Indians, batting first on a Saturday, were 205for nine. Last man Shute Banerjee joined number 10 ChanduSarwate, who had yet to score. The Surrey captain deferred thetea interval in the hope of taking the last wicket quickly.He had to wait till Monday morning.With batting that was of the highest order, Banerjee and Sarwaterewrote the record books. Against an attack that included Bedserand Alf Gover, the two set up the highest last-wicket stand inEngland and the second-highest 10th-wicket partnership of alltime, putting together 249 runs in 190 minutes. Moreover, itremains unique in that it is the only time in first-class cricketthat numbers 10 and 11 have hit hundreds. While Banerjee got 121,Sarwate remained unbeaten with 124.Mushtaq Ali, who was a member of both the 1936 and 1946 teams,maintains in his autobiography that,man-to-man, the 1936 team was the stronger side. But many veterancritics gave the palm to the 1946 side, and on results it isdifficult to argue with this view. Also, the popularity of theside is best illustrated by the touching gesture of LevesonGower, the 73-year-old president of the Surrey Cricket Club, whocame all the way to the London docks to wish the team farewell.He made it clear that he had come in his personal capacitybecause he wanted to say goodbye to those who had given thelovers of cricket such great joy. “They gave pleasure on and offthe field, and never has there been a more popular team,” he saidechoing the view of many.