Socks thief Sudhir Nayak,Calcutta public etc..
Sambit Basu
Posting on behalf of Bhaskar Ghosh.
Sambit
----------------------------------------
(This is more a recollection of the wonderful Ind-WI 3rd test match
from Dec 1974, than a rebuttal of Ravi's posting, so read on if you
are interested ! /BG)
Hi Ravi -
Ravi Krishna (rkri...@iname.com) wrote:
:
: Our own Calcutta people were no better than Britisher. In the Calcutta
: test
: against WI in 1975 , when Roberts came into bowl the first ball of that
: test
: someone from the stadium shouted "Moja chor" (socks thief). Nayak was
: disturbed and didn't want to play but by then the ball had left Roberts
: hand.
: He was out that ball.
:
Haah, I dunno where you got this gem from, and I dunno whether it
deserves a rebuttal - but since I was there, let me take a shot !
That was first test match I watched and I do remember most of the
details pretty well to this day.
Yes, a lot of us shouted "Moja chor" at Naik (I think that's how his
name used to be spelled, rather than Nayak) when he came out to open
with Engineer that day. Reasons ? - most of us thought (rightfully or
otherwise) he *was* indeed guilty of stealing socks and, more
importantly, most of us were badly pissed that Gavaskar was out
injured. Personally, I would have given my right arm to see Gavaskar
bat against Roberts and Gibbs (part of the dream came true in 1983).
When Andy Roberts came in to bowl, most of us had our hearts in our
mouths (you could almost hear a pin drop, believe me!) - so awesome
and beautiful was Roberts' runup and so fearful his reputation. This
was the first genuine pace bowler to visit Eden Gardens since Graham
Mckenzie of Aus in 1969 (Recall that Mckenzie had destroyed India in
the 1st innings). Anyhow - for the first 3-4 overs none of us in the
galleries could even follow the ball before it was picked up behind
the wicket - and my guess is neither could Naik! His feet didn't move,
and if I remember it right - he edged an outswinger to Murray behind
the stumps. Roberts was blindingly fast and accurate, and did wreck
the Indian innings - I think he picked up 5 wickets. None of our
batsmen - except Vishwanath and, to a certain extent, Gaekwad - had
the technique or guts to handle him. Gaekwad even had the nerve to
play a late-cut off Roberts that went thru the legs of Richards in 3rd
slip for a boundary ! ;-) We clapped till our hands were sore !
Anyways, - from another angle - Eden in those days used to house
approx 70K spectators and was a pretty big arena. So even if one
person (or 10) had shouted "Moja Chor" - it would have done nothing to
harm Naik's concentration.
Later, during the 1983 Ind-Windies test at Eden, Gavaskar was out
first ball too - edging/gloving an inswinger from Marshall on the leg
to Dujon. Again, the entire stadium was hushed as Marshall came in to
bowl. Maybe you've heard something about people shouting obscenities
at Gavaskar that actually caused him to edge the first ball - no ? ;-)
Anyhow, that test match was so exciting and entertaining - so full of
memorable scenes. I could go on and on about it. The lush green
table-top of Eden in pre-football days. Lloyd, sporting a big cold and a
bigger moustache and a gigantic handkerchief - coming out to toss,
towering over a slight and stylish Mansur Ali Khan. The slanting runup
and Afro-cut of Bernard Julien. The antics of Madan Lal retreating
towards square leg and throwing his bat at Roberts - he actually
scored 48 runs! Pataudi getting hit on the face by Holder, getting
stiched up - and coming back to play some incredible lofted shots
against Holder. Vishwanath playing two magnificent innings -
including a match-winning century in the 2nd innings. Lloyd throwing
down the stumps without looking at them - while running from
extra-cover to pick up a drive by Vishwanath. I stop here - lest I
bore people stiff.
Ravi, If you had made the entire post totally in jest, forgive this
long-winded answer. BTW, where did you get this gem about Naik from ?
Were you you there ?
/Bhaskar
PS. Long time no see. Hope things are going well at Informix!
Sambit Basu
Ravi Krishna <rkri...@iname.com> wrote:
> Sambit Basu wrote:
Do you have reading disability? I posted it on behalf of somebody.
And it was wriiten on the first line.
Sambit
> > This
> > was the first genuine pace bowler to visit Eden Gardens since Graham
> > Mckenzie of Aus in 1969 (Recall that Mckenzie had destroyed India in
> > the 1st innings).
>
> This is not correct. Mckenzie in 1969 was a pale of his own shadow.
> After the Indian tour Aus went to RSA and were drubbed 4-0 in that
> 4 test series. On those bouncy tracks Mckenzie could not do anything
> and he took some 8 wkts in 4 tests. That was the last series of RSA
> before the boycott.
>
> > BTW, where did you get this gem about Naik from ?
> > Were you you there ?
>
> Nope I wasn't there. Read it in sportsweek.
>
> ------------------
> Ravi Krishna
> rkri...@iname.com
> ------------------
>