When Pakistan Test team left the ground leaving Gavaskar stranded at 86 | Cricket News

New Delhi: The Stokes-Jadeja controversy in direction of the finish of the fourth Test at Manchester has led to a fierce on-line debate. But far worse occurred in the 1983 Bangalore Test in opposition to Pakistan when skipper Zaheer Abbas had arbitrarily left the area along with his team on the final day leaving opener Sunil Gavaskar stranded on 86.The TOI reported that play was interrupted for 27 minutes whereas Sandeep Patil wrote in his autobiography, ‘Sandy Storm’, that “half an hour” was wasted. Gavaskar, who was affected by “bronchial infection” for the earlier two days, his opening accomplice Anshuman Gaekwad and the two umpires, Madhav Gothoskar and Swaroop Kishen, stayed on the ground throughout this era.

In his e 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 stated.

Sunil Gavaskar

Interestingly, the report additionally stated that the umpires had clearly defined the legislation to Zaheer, fondly referred to as 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 stated. The newspaper added, “a potentially explosive situation was thus defused.“Despite the lack of appreciable time, the mild was ok for the sport to renew. “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 twenty eighth Test ton, leaving him one in need of Don Bradman’s file 29 centuries. Gavaskar ended with 34 Test centuries.All-rounder Madan Lal, who was awarded MoM in that sport, advised TOI over telephone that it was the proper determination and inside the guidelines to name the Pakistan team again. “A batsman works hard to reach a century. Why shouldn’t he be allowed to complete it?,” he requested.Not everybody in the Pakistan team condoned Zaheer’s motion. “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 stated. For the file, the Test resulted in a tame draw.