New Delhi: The Stokes-Jadeja controversy towards the end of the fourth Test at Manchester has led to a fierce online debate. But far worse happened in the 1983 Bangalore Test against Pakistan when skipper Zaheer Abbas had arbitrarily left the field with his team on the last day leaving opener Sunil Gavaskar stranded on 86.The TOI reported that play was interrupted for 27 minutes while Sandeep Patil wrote in his autobiography, ‘Sandy Storm’, that “half an hour” was wasted. Gavaskar, who was suffering from “bronchial infection” for the previous two days, his opening partner Anshuman Gaekwad and the two umpires, Madhav Gothoskar and Swaroop Kishen, stayed on the ground during this period.In his book, ‘Runs ’n Ruins’, Gavaskar vividly recreated the scene at the stadium. “The crowd was getting restive and impatient and had begun to boo and shout a little angrily now. The officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association rushed to confer with both the umpires as well as the manager of the Pakistan team, Intikhab Alam.”The Times of India report detailed what had led to the Pakistan team’s exit. “Zaheer’s contention was that Pakistan had completed their quota of 77 overs for the day…. There was a great deal of wrangling over the rules before wiser counsels prevailed on Zaheer and manager Intikhab Alam…He (Zaheer) relented when the umpires pointed out that that the stipulation of 14 overs per hour in the playing condition did not apply for the last day when the mandatory overs had to be gone through,” the report said.
Sunil Gavaskar
Interestingly, the report also said that the umpires had clearly explained the law to Zaheer, fondly called Zed, in the morning. “He perhaps saw the light when it was made clear to him that the match would be awarded to India if his team did not return to the field, England captain (Ray) Illingworth had acted similarly on the tour of Australia and had to bring his team back,” TOI said. The newspaper added, “a potentially explosive situation was thus defused.“Despite the loss of considerable time, the light was good enough for the game to resume. “After this kind of drama one gets disturbed, especially a batsman. But Sunil, without any problem, completed his hundred,” wrote Patil. Gavaskar’s description went, “When play finally did start, I managed to get to my century in the 20th (mandatory) over. As the ball streaked to the boundary, I glanced at Zaheer and he was already walking towards the pavilion along with his players and we followed.” It was Sunny’s 28th Test ton, leaving him one short of Don Bradman’s record 29 centuries. Gavaskar ended with 34 Test centuries.
All-rounder Madan Lal, who was awarded MoM in that game, told TOI over phone that it was the right decision and within the rules to call the Pakistan team back. “A batsman works hard to reach a century. Why shouldn’t he be allowed to complete it?,” he asked.Not everyone in the Pakistan team condoned Zaheer’s action. “The walk-off by Zaheer had left a bad taste in the mouth and later in the evening on the flight to Delhi some of his players were critical of his actions, which they felt was unnecessary and unsporting,” Gavaskar said. For the record, the Test ended in a tame draw.
