Cricket Carnival in the winters of 1994

In an era when 50 over cricket was highly popular, we bring you this nostalgia piece from the eyes of a young school going kid who grew up in 90s and fell in love with the game

Courtney Walsh led West Indies to a great series level win, here sharing trophy with Azharuddin, after win on 14th December 1994

I was a school going kid back in 1994 who was gradually learning to understand the game. The first match I saw was in 1991 and started to play the game from same year on serious note. A surprise fact we use to play Test Cricket Matches in our colony. 3 hours of Test Cricket daily for five days with regular routine of Test matches. 1^ST Session followed by Lunch, then 2^nd Session before tea and then final season. The Team was unisex and had number of players.

Jimmy Adams in action at Mohali on 4th Day trying to add quick runs 13th December 1994

Walsh was brilliant throughout the tour , here at Mohali on 4th evening 13th December 1994

Jimmy Adams was man of tour for West Indies

Walsh celebrating on final morning of Mohali Test , 14th December 1994

Tendulkar was in sensational form in limited overs

In spite of the fact that I started playing from 1991 but I was too young to understand it,it took me three years to get aware of some of the basics of the game and it was the year 1994 that I came to terms of it , a lot of credit goes to Devon Malcom’s threatening spell at The Oval which blew South Africa and showed what was fast bowling about , then a Waqar Younis special at Kandy where he ripped Sri Lanka with hostile pace was enough for me to imitate the legendary pacer. The Tri series in Sri Lanka in September was the first series I watched completely.

But then the Indian cricket season of 1994 happened, that changed everything; I fell in love with the game. West Indies and New Zealand toured India in a season which ran for 2 months starting from 17^th October 1994 and ending on 14^th December 1994. West Indies played 3 Tests and 5 One day Internationals while New Zealand was the third team apart from the host and the West Indies in Tri Series.

India won the Tri Series Final Comfortably

India vs West Indies – One day Series – 5 Matches India -4 West Indies -1

The international started with West Indies playing the first of the five match series at Faridabad. They won the game handsomely by a hefty margin but I remember especially after coming from school, the commentators talking about injured Kapil Dev, who few days later announced his retirement. This became his last international appearance. The second game at Wankehede was won by India before the series took a break for Tri Series. Once they returned India was high on thewind of tri series. However it would be wrong to say that West Indies was outplayed. Inspite of the fact India won the series 4-1 but the series was far closer than the score line shows. India won the 3rd game at Vishakhapatnam on 7^th Nov 1994 and I still remember returning from school and watching a breathtaking innings of 74 off just 47 balls by Carl Hooper. West Indies fell short by just 4 runs and were unlucky that an over was deducted off their chase for slow over rate. Similar thing occurred in the final game at Jaipur. As I was glued to the tv set West Indian batsmen were playing Indian spinners at ease. While chasing as score of 260 on a Friday afternoon,Lara’s men (Brian Lara was captaining in this game) were comfortably placed with 216-3 , needing only 44 to win with 7 wickets in hand but then Hooper and Adams who were playing with authority were out and then I saw India taking 7-38 to win a remarkable game. The game ended with crackers bursting in the stands of Swai man Singh stadium, it was a treat to watch.

Tendulkar made a brilliant hundred in 5th ODI at Jaipur on 11th November 1994

The Tri Series

The Triangular series were very popular in that era, the fans had too many options, there was another triangular series going on in Pakistan with Australia and South Africa involved in the battle with the hosts. In India the trophy was sponsored by Wills and New Zealand joined both West Indies and India in the bandwagon. India won the first match at Chennai courtesy to a brilliant innings by Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin. I was waiting eagerly for New Zealand’s match which was washed out after they bowled West Indies out for just 122, when I returned from the school, I came to know that a certain left arm spinner (Matthew Hart ) has ripped apart the West Indians with 5-22, the match was washed out and NZ lost out on an important point. However by the time we returned from school in the next match I found that New Zealand has posted a huge score with the help of two brilliant innings from Ken Rutherford and Adam Parore, however those two was overshadowed by Sachin’s century which I did watched as he mesmerized the whole of Baroda.

The next match at Green Park was the controversial one,while the match was won convincingly by West Indies but Indian batting came into scanner as duo Manoj Prabhakar and NayanMongia gave up the try when India needed 62 off 43 runs, they scored 21 and didn’t showed any effort to chase.

New Zealand was hammered by West Indies and India in last two games as a grand final was set up between West Indies and the hosts. However in the final India dominated West Indies with an impressive show in the final with a 72 run win.

The 3 Test Match Series

The West Indies and India started the Test series after the glut of limited over matches. The First Test Match was at Wankhede Stadium, India batted first and scored 272 in first innings with a crucial 80 from NayanMongia . West Indies scored 243 but the Test was at par with India 88-5 and only 117 ahead but then a brilliant 85 from 21 year old Sachin Tendulkar and important contribution from Sanjay Manjrekar(66), Anil Kumble (42) and Javagal Srinath ensured India set up a daunting target of 363 to the visitors. But what was surprising was the fight which West Indies showed after being reduced to 82-5 , Junior Murry and Jimmy Adams began a brilliant partnership which took them to 244-5 before Srinath caught Adams plumb, West Indies were all out for 266 and India took the First Test by 96 runs.

India registered crucial victory at Mumbai, Tendulkar in action during his 85 run innings Day 3, November 20, 1994

The Second Test was played at Vidarbh Cricket Association at Nagpur between 1-5 December 1994 and the game was high scoring one with centuries from both sides the test ended in respected draw for the teams .

The third Test in Mohali was a crucial one for both the sides the Test was played between 10-14 December 1994, a perfect time for a school kid like me as the Winter Vacations began from 10^th December itself. The first day was once again dominated by Jimmy Adams who was in best form of his life. It was his contribution that West Indies scored 443 from 267-6 . India was out for 387 and hence with first innings almost even by the start at the afternoon of fourth day, almost 164 overs were left and West Indies had to set up a daunting total . In such a scenario Walsh took a great decision sending Brian Lara to open in place of Stuart Williams. Lara played the best inning of the tour making a breathtaking 91 off 104 balls and Jimmy Adams made a sparkling 78 of 84 balls with Kieth Arthuton 70 of 106 balls. This helped West Indies make 301/3 in just 56.3 overs and setting up 358 for India in near about 105 overs . In an hour play on fourth innings Benjamin has knocked Siddhu and Walsh had broken Prabhakar’s nose . India ended the day with 37-1

Tendulkar made a brilliant hundred at Nagpur, here celebrating it on 2nd Day of 2nd Test
at VCA Stadium on 2nd Decemeber 1994

Next day on 14^th December 1994, as I eagerly watched the Doordarshan for the fifth day’s play, I saw Indian batting line up blown by a hostile West Indian pace atttack on a spicy Mohali pitch in less than two hours. West Indies bowled India out for 114 (India were 68-8 at one stage and ended with 114-9 , Prabhakar didn’t came out) registering one of the finest and most memorable comeback. This was the last time when West Indies won on Indian Soil.