Rewind, replay to Class of ’86

The comparison should end here. For the two sides are spaced apart by generations and are a study in contrast. Dilip Vengsarkar, who was part of Kapil’s side, says, ‘‘I can’t think of many similarities between the two but surely a number of contrasts come to my mind.’’ Other than Kapil, the team had many genuine all-rounders — Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Ravi Shastri and Mohinder Amarnath.

By any stretch of imagination, Sanjay Bangar or Ajit Agarkar can’t match them either with the ball or bat. ‘‘It was a well-balanced side, particularly a well-balanced bowling attack,’’ reminisces Vengsarkar. With the side having a left-arm spinner in Maninder Singh, the attack had variety to it.

Vengsarkar’s teammate on the tour, Chandrakant Pandit, stresses the same point. ‘‘The present Indian team depends mainly on their batsmen to deliver while in the team of ’86 the work load was shared,’’ he says.

And this becomes obvious when one compares the scores. Kapil Dev’s side won the Leeds Test with the scores of 272 and 237 as compared to the abnormally monstrous 628 that the present crop has scored.

The content of the bowling attack of the two sides are different too. If it was the swing in ’86 that turned the tide, for the side of 2002 it was the spin plan of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble that worked. The two scoreboards give ample evidence of it. Pacers taking 13 wickets in ’86 while spinner taking 14 this time.

The common chord between the two teams is a strong batting line-up. If there were to be a head-to-head contest between the frontline batsmen of ’86 (Sunil Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Amarnath) and the current lineup (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly), the debate might end in a tie.

The other similarity, according to Kiran More — he played his debut series in ’86 — is that both teams played as a unit. ‘‘Though the team of the past was rich in experience, the present crop despite less exposure has gelled well,’’ he says.

Leeds being a happy hunting ground for the Indians, there is however one aspect about the venue that could worry Indian fans. A win here is followed by a long drought! It took 16 years for India to record a win after the ’86 win. But Ganguly’s men can break the jinx earlier with just 10 days left for the final Test at Oval.