india vs west indies jamaica 1976
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West Indies bone breaking bowling
The fourth and last match of the series was played at Sabina Park in Jamaica. The pitch was prepared for fast bowlers. West Indies landed with four fast bowlers and no spinners. They had dreaded bowlers like Michael Holding and Wayne Daniels. Bernard Julien and Van Holder were also no less. India’s first batsman I. Sunil Gavaskar and Anshuman Gaikwad got off to a good start. Both handled the innings till lunch. But after lunch the situation was different. West Indies bowlers started hitting bouncers one after the other. There was no helmet at that time. Captain Clive Lloyd had a clear message to the bowlers – hit the ball on the head.
On the first day of the match, Team India somehow handled things. Anshuman Gaikwad retired hurt after scoring 81 runs on the second day. He was hit by a ball on his left ear and spent two nights in the hospital. Brijesh Patel had to get stitches after getting hurt in his mouth. The ball that got Gundappa Vishwanath out broke his right hand finger. Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi declared the innings at the score of 306 for 6 wickets. Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar themselves did not even come out to bat. He feared that if injured, the team would be left with no bowling options. India did not have bowlers of that pace and West Indies scored 391 runs in their first innings.
Innings declared on 97 runs
The situation worsened in the second innings. The team lost 5 wickets for 97 runs. After this Captain Bishan Singh Bedi declared the innings. Along with Anshuman Gaikwad, Brijesh Patel and Gundappa Vishwanath, Bishan Singh Bedi and Chandrasekhar also did not come out to bat. The captain had said that he and Chandrasekhar had hurt their hands while fielding. He had not declared the innings, the team had no more players left, who could come on the field to bat. All 17 players on the tour turned out for India at one point or the other.
West Indies won the match by 10 wickets after scoring 13 runs in the last innings. After the match, Indian manager Polly Umrigar called a press conference in protest against the intimidation tactics adopted by the West Indies. Lloyd shrugged off that he had not complained when his team faced similar bowling in Australia. Even after this, Team India was highly appreciated for showing determination and courage. But still Bedi is criticized that he declared the innings without batting.
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