145;It will be a close affair146;

The likes of Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar are not coached on a cricket field. You don8217;t remember a batsman coming down the track to...

The likes of Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar are not coached on a cricket field. You don8217;t remember a batsman coming down the track to lift him straight and his googlies were induckers rising at batsmen8217;s ribs for that definitive end at forward short leg. He stretched the meaning of a spinner. Forty two of his 242 victims from 58 Tests were out leg before wicket and 64 bowled. Chandra, like his other famous fellow spinners of the 60s and 70s, caught Pakistan batsmen in a bad mood during the historic tour of Pakistan in 1978-79. Excerpts from a telephonic interview:

Hype of historic series

It was a big series but you can8217;t compare it to present times. There was little television and the media focus wasn8217;t as intense. There was great hype but it has grown manifold in today8217;s world. I distinctly remember the moment when we landed in Pakistan. People had formed lines on either side of the road to welcome us. They were cheering and waving at us and it was emotional. Unlike travelling to England and Australia, we never felt we were in a different country when we visited Pakistan.

The Pakistan batsmen

It was a tour in which the Pakistan team as a whole performed well. Zaheer Abbas was the stand-out batsman. There is a period in a cricketer8217;s life when he just can8217;t do anything wrong. It was the same with Zaheer. He scored runs in not one or two innings but in every innings we faced him. Imran, Sarfraz and Mushtaq 8212; all had a great series. The running between the wickets of Javed Miandad and Asif Iqbal was also something to behold.

End of road for spinners

Like batsmen, bowlers too could be out of form. It is sometimes easily forgotten. Our spinners were in great form in Australia, a series which had preceded the Pakistan tour. Between Bishan and I, we had picked up 59 wickets in Australia. It wasn8217;t to be so in Pakistan. It isn8217;t as if all of a sudden our powers had deserted us. We just were not in good form. It is like sometimes you can struggle to take wickets on a turning track while on other occasions, you bag a handful on a flat wicket.

Emergence of Kapil Dev

It marked the arrival of a young cricketer by the name of Kapil Dev. He was a very flamboyant batsman and usually bowled inswingers. He had promise but there was little indication he would turn out to be as great a bowler as he eventually did. He was basically an inswing bowler on that tour but was quick to grow on the international circuit.

Pressure on the field

The series was being held after 26 years so there is no escaping the hype which surrounded it. We did feel under pressure and there was certain tension but once you get on the field, these things don8217;t matter. With a little bit of luck, we could have drawn the series 1-1 rather than lose it by 2-0 margin.

Forthcoming series

It would be a closely fought series. Anil Kumble would certainly have a role to play in Pakistan looking at the way he performed in Australia. That8217;s a good news for the Indian team. There would be quite a few issues off the field but the Indians would be best adviced to keep their mind on cricket 8212; the primary reason of their visit to Pakistan.

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