Sole draw, but what a game!

Tomorrowrsquos England v India Test at Edgbaston provides the visitors an opportunity to break new ground Rather literally because a win at this Birmingham ground would be Indiarsquos first in eight attemptsA victory would also mark the first instance of India winning three Tests in a series on English soil India lead 21 The last time India faced such a delightful possibility was in the third and final Test of the 1986 seriesMike Gatting took over Englandrsquos reins at Leeds after Peter Mayrsquos committee sacked David Gower as captain post Englandrsquos opening Test loss at Lordrsquos He was determined to lead from the front and did so in the first innings of the third Test with an unbeaten 183 his predecessor being the second topscorer with 49 in a total of 390 India skipper Kapil Dev claimed the first two wicketsmdashGraham Gooch and Bill Atheymdashbefore England could get their first run on the board After sending back Gower current India chief selector Chetan Sharma saw off the last three batsmen for a fine comeback in the series after missing the Leeds Test through injuryIndiarsquos first innings did not have a centurion with Mohinder Amarnath who like Chetan missed the Leeds Test through injury and Mohammed Azharuddin scoring 79 and 64 respectively The contribution of Kiran More 48 and Roger Binny 40 helped India end up with the same total as England 390 something that had been witnessed only four times previouslyChetan came to the fore in a more emphatic fashion in Englandrsquos second innings with the wickets of Gooch Athey Gower Gatting Bruce French and Zambiaborn Test debutant Neal Radford His sixwicket haul made him the first Indian bowler to achieve that feat in a Test innings in England and his match haul of 10188 eclipsed BS Chandrasekharrsquos 8114 at The Oval in 1971 Englandrsquos fast bowling great Bob Willis was impressed ldquoSharma bowled like a man possessed and extracted more pace more often than any other bowler in the match He is a deceptive customer and richly deserved his success for all the effort he put inrdquo Willis wrote in Wisden Cricket MonthlyBefore India bowled out England for 235 Gavaskar who went past Colin Cowdreyrsquos world record 114 Tests claimed his 100th catch when he held on to one offered by Gower In an eventful Test for himmdashwhich also happened to be his last in Englandmdashit was only fitting for Gavaskar to lead Indiarsquos charge in the 236run chase He smashed 54 off 135 balls for his firsthalf century of the series dismissed caught behind off Neil Foster who got the ball to lift Gavaskar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth 23 off 50 balls had set the tone for a probable victory but leftarm spinner Phil Edmonds had India in a tizzy by dismissing Srikkanth Amarnath Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi ShastriVengsarkarrsquos mastery over the English bowling in the series 126 33 61 102 ended with scores of 38 and 0 at Edgbaston He looked poised for a big score in the first innings but was caught brilliantly by Gooch who dived to his right from second slip off RadfordFrom a possible winning position India were reduced to 1055 When Shastri was dismissed via a splendid catch by John Emburey at second slip in came More and not Kapil Raj Singh Dungarpur the manager of that team told me many years later ldquoKapil was flat on the floor with a bad back He couldnrsquot bat No one except the team members knew about the injury Had the Englishmen got wind of this they would have attacked our batsmenrdquoMore and Azharuddin were told to shut shop and block ldquoHad Kapil been fit he would have won the game for usrdquo More told meon WednesdayThe wicketkeeperbatsman had some luck going for him Before he scored his first run he was dropped by silly point fielder Athey ldquoMy heart skipped a beat I was lucky They were scared of losing the Test which would have made the scoreline 30 Ajju Azharuddin and I batted well It seamed around but it was a good strip to bat on I was in good nick throughout the series and was confidentrdquo remarked MoreFifty minutes were lost to rain and on resumption Azharuddin and More had to score 105 in 18 overs With Kapil not being able to bat that was not going to be possible and the Test ended in a draw with India reaching 1745 ldquoIf it was a match without a result it was not one without either interest or distinctionrdquo wrote Robin Marlar in The Sportstar In Wisden Cricket Monthly its editor David Frith reported from Edgbaston ldquoEngland tried More and Azharuddin concentrated furiously and the overs ran outrdquoTomorrowrsquos battle at the same venue ought to be as engrossingmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper