Four decades of Motera

Motera is celebrating 40 years as a Test centre this year and while praises are deservedly sung of the massive remade stadium one discovered that there were quite a few praiseworthy aspects when the stadium was built and completed in 1983 More of that laterItrsquos a venue that has been quite eventful over the last four decades mdashwins and losses for the hosts careerhigh moments for individual players and of course controversy The lastmentioned aspect was witnessed in the inaugural Test there itself in 1983The virgin pitch became a topic of discussion on Day One when the West Indian batsmen found it difficult to score freelyExperts used words like ldquotreacherousrdquo and ldquosubstandardrdquo while man of the match Michael Holding found ldquoplenty of greenrdquo as described in his book Whispering DeathWest Indies who were put in by Kapil Dev managed 281 a fine recovery after present BCCI president Roger Binny sent back Desmond Haynes Gordon Greenidge and Vivian Richards within 14 deliveriesBinny developed a back problem and left the field after bowling six overs never to bowl again in the TestIndia were bowled out for 41 runs short of a first innings lead and the 241 included a splendid 90 by Sunil Gavaskar It could have been a hundred which wouldrsquove taken him past Sir Donald Bradmanrsquos record tally of 29 tons but Tony Cozier in the 1984 edition of his longrunning annual said the master batsman could do nothing about a sharp lifter from Holding and fended it off to be caught at first slip Clive Lloyd During his innings Gavaskar became the highest rungetter in Test cricket shifting Geoff Boycott 8114 to second position in the listThe excitement was palpable when West Indies were bowled out for 201 Kapil who could only boast of Holdingrsquos wicket in the first innings grabbed 983 in the secondIndia fared disastrously in the second innings in pursuit of 242 with Holding claiming 430Despite winning the Test Lloyd slammed the umpiring ldquoThe two umpires K Ramaswami and SN Hanumantha Rao standing in this Test are the worst Irsquove come across in my playing career They have done a bad job and worse one of them is not even familiar with the laws of the gamerdquo Lloyd was quoted as saying in Cozierrsquos annualThe next Test at Motera was held in the 198687 season when Imran Khanrsquos Pakistanis came visiting The drawn game saw Gavaskar becoming the first man to reach 10000 Test runs through a cut shot to third man off Ijaz FakihMoterarsquos third Test was against Sri Lanka in February 1994 when Kapil Dev crossed Sir Richard Hadleersquos record 431 Test wickets As many as 432 balloons went up and the crowd rose to give the 1983 World Cupwinning skipper a standing ovationIndia and South Africa opened the 199697 Test series here and Sachin Tendulkarrsquos Indians produced an unexpected victory on the fourth dayJust like in the Motera Test against Pakistan stones were peltedmdashat South African spinner Paul Adams forcing skipper Hansie Cronje to take his side off and return after 10 minutes on Day ThreeOn the Saturday of the Test Javagal Srinath bowled an inspired spell of 621 during which he was on a hattrick thrice Spinners Anil Kumble Narendra Hirwani and Sunil Joshi were expected to push SA into submission but pace did it and how Cronje slammed the track and stressed ldquoItrsquos the worst pitch Irsquove come acrossrdquoI happened to interview ICC match referee John Reid the following day in his room at the Cama Hotel and was shocked when he pulled out the rocks that were hurled at the South Africans from his brief case They were going all the way to the then ICC headquarters in LondonIn 1999 the talking point of the drawn Test against New Zealand was India not enforcing the follow on and the Australia tour selectionChairman of selectors Chandu Borde was grilled over why MSK Prasad had been included instead of the experienced stumper Nayan Mongia As it turned out Mongia was sent as a cover for Prasad and returned without figuring in the Tests So much happened in the first five Tests at MoteraThe current Indian team would be buoyed by the fact that they have won the last three Tests there all against Englandmdashone in 201213 and two in 202021 But those who were part of the team in 2008 will cringe while revisiting the scorecard which shows how the hosts lost by an innings and 90 runs to South Africa The visitors bowled out India for 76 before going on to amass 4947 declared An improved performance in the second innings 328 did not help prevent an innings defeatAnd now back to the impressive points of the 1983 version of the stadium Those facilities included fibre glass seats in different colours for the spectators a ramp for handicapped spectators to get in good amount of leg room for the fans in the stands 22 gates for crowd to enter and spacious dressing rooms for the playersDoubtless there are double the number of facilities at the revamped stadium but like way back then nearly 40 years ago there are fears of the pitchBoth teams will be on the edge India cannot lose the Test series and will still keep the BorderGavaskar Trophy even if Australia clinch the Test But a 22 scoreline would mean Australia claim bragging rightsOver to Moterarsquos Narendra Modi Stadiummiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper