India have special history in West Indies, but this Test series unlikely to add to it

Dileep Premachandran writes that with the current diminished state of the West Indies Test side, India are not likely to register much for the memory bank on this tour.

West Indies bowler Jerome Taylor. Lakruwan Wanniarachchi / AFP

When it comes to the history of Indian cricket, 1971 has a very special place.

In July-August, the team played three Tests in England. In 19 previous matches dating back to Lord’s in 1932, they had lost 15 and won none. The summer of ’71 was a different story.

After narrowly avoiding defeat at Lord’s and Old Trafford, India won a famous victory at The Oval, with Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s quicker delivery – nicknamed Mill Reef by teammates, after the Epsom Derby winner – wreaking havoc.

At the time, England were the best team in the world, having clinched the Ashes in Australia a few months earlier. India's triumph, close on the heels of a 1-0 success in the Caribbean – another place where they had never previously won a Test – made it an annus mirabilis for the cricket team, which would soon outstrip the hockey side in the popularity stakes.

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The passage of time makes memories fuzzy, and it’s not uncommon to hear talk of how India bearded the Caribbean lions in their own den, of how Sunil Gavaskar (774 runs in his debut series) and Dilip Sardesai (642) blunted fearsome fast bowlers along the way.

The truth is rather different. India arrived in the West Indies when the team's stocks had plummeted. Sir Garfield Sobers was still around, as were Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai and Roy Fredericks, but this was a team that didn't win a Test series in seven attempts between February 1966 and July 1973.

The bowling Gavaskar and friends faced was also far from threatening. The fearsome duo of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith had retired, and in their place, West Indies had Uton Dowe, Vanburn Holder, John Shepherd and Jack Noreiga, a 35-year-old offspinner.

The intimidating pace quartet that Lloyd would assemble was still half a decade away.

By the time India next won a series in the Caribbean, in 2006, cricket in the region had once again fallen on hard times. After not losing a single home series between May 1973 and March 1995, West Indies had been unable to adequately replace some of the legends of the game. In the decade that followed, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and England all won on the islands.

You have to go back to 2012 for the last time West Indies beat one of the established Test nations, New Zealand, in a home series, and the squad picked for the opening match against India is unlikely to change that sobering statistic. Jason Holder leads it, but aside from Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo, there’s very little experience in the ranks.

Some of the region’s brightest stars are currently engaged in the Caribbean Premier League.

You’ll find Chris Gayle there, as well as Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy and Alzarri Joseph – one of the shining lights of the World Cup-winning Under-19 side.

It’s almost like the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find a side to take the park against India, who won 1-0 on their last tour five years ago.

That will continue to be the case until the various ICC committees and national boards find ways to incentivise Test cricket, instead of just mouthing empty platitudes about its primacy.

Across the Atlantic, England and Pakistan look set to play out an engrossing series.

It would be a mighty surprise if this husk of a West Indies side managed to give a full-strength Indian team a proper contest.

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