Zonal zest showed up in loads

1986-87 South Zone captain K Srikkanth and his Duleep Trophy batting weapon Mohd Azharuddin. PIC/MID-DAY ARCHIVES

A bumper 1986-87 home season stared Indian cricketers in the face after returning from their victorious 1986 tour of England. It began with two ODIs against the visiting Australians in September, before the three-Test series opened at Chennai. The Sri Lankans were then hosted for a three-match Test series and a five-game ODI series before the Pakistanis arrived in late January, and their tour, involving five Tests and six one-day games, stretched for two months. In the midst of all this heavy-duty cricket, the top players even figured in domestic cricket.

The Duleep Trophy was held from October 20 to November 5 after the Australians left. Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, however, had already staged the first semi-final between North Zone vs South Zone on October 25, 1986, before hosting the October 31-November 5 final between West Zone and South Zone. The 1986-87 tournament involved a bevy of internationals. In fact, the North team that lost the semi-final to South had 10 India players, with Sarkar Talwar being the only non-India player in the playing XI. And West's India internationals included skipper Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Aunshuman Gaekwad, Chandrakant Pandit, Lalchand Rajput, and Raju Kulkarni.

This bunch took on South in the final. K Srikkanth's side included India players such as Mohd Azharuddin, Sadanand Vishwanath, and Shivlal Yadav. Had Roger Binny not been injured, he too would have been part of the final and L Sivaramakrishnan, another Test man, was not in the XI.

I happened to be at the Wankhede Stadium for the semi-final and final with my little autograph book. In those days, the players came out of the Vijay Manjrekar dressing rooms and entered an alley that led them to the lift of their Garware Club House accommodation. I spotted Madan Lal in good cheer, indulging in some banter with enthusiasts who had watched him toil. He duly signed my book. Among the other cricketers who trooped past was a young WV Raman. Any cricketer known or unknown was worth having in my book, so I asked WV what name he answered to. My what's-your-name question was well taken, and he said "WV Raman." Today WV is a friend and a cricketing mind that needs to be further used for greater things.

It was Raman who stayed unbeaten on 26 with centurion Azharuddin at the other end when South chased 273 and won the semi-final. Azharuddin's 120 was a splendid effort. His team were at 78-4 with three hours and 20 mandatory overs remaining. Before Raman, he was well supported by Vishwanath (56). "Playing with rare freedom, Azharuddin carved the North Zone attack, with 16 boundaries. Azhar could not have hoped for a better opportunity than the semi-final to regain his confidence and to curtail his on-side repertoire. The fact that there was only one onside boundary hit in the 193 runs he scored in the match shows that he is working hard to get rid of the follies," wrote G Viswanath in The Sportstar.

Any captain would have been a worried man if the opposition piled up 516 and Srikkanth could hardly be blamed for thinking of a lost opportunity. That West total included centuries from openers Gaekwad and Rajput, and from Shastri. Gavaskar was dismissed by his India teammate Yadav for seven. South, like West, saw their opening batsmen (Srikkanth and Carlton Saldhana) before B Arun made 149 in South's mammoth 740 total.

Azhar carried his semi-final form into the final, scoring 75 while Raman fell five runs short of a hundred. For us in the stands, it was joyous simply to have the opportunity to watch Azharuddin bat. We should have known, though, that Shastri was not one to throw in the towel. He would not let South get that first innings lead easily. The Sportsweek magazine correspondent wrote: "The tussle for the first innings lead became intense at this stage. Shastri had sensed that his chance lay in getting Azharuddin, the last South player capable of staying put at the wicket. Azhar and his partner Sadanand Vishwanath, on the other hand, realised that they were the last really recognised pair and went about their task sensibly, though Azhar was in such fine touch that he played with total freedom and yet looked solid. It was a fascinating phase with Shastri hemming the batsmen with close-in fielders and Azharuddin dispelling the tension with some exquisite and imperious drives on either side of the wicket."

South won the final on the basis of their first innings lead. But there were three more centuries to come even after they achieved that - another one from Rajput, one from Srikant Kalyani, the prolific Maharashtra batsman and an unbeaten 124 by Saurashtra's Suresh Keshwala. Rajput was left wondering how West could end up losing after scoring 500-plus, and that too at Wankhede Stadium, the home to several from his team.

For me, though, the lasting memory of that match was much simpler. It was Srikkanth getting his team together to pose with the trophy. And from the stands, a young cricket fan was taking it all in.

mid-day's Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.