Windies Rose while India froze

Fast bowler Franklyn Rose, the star of the West Indies v India Test at Bridgetown, Barbados, in March 1997. Pic/Getty Images

The third Test of the series was held at the Kensington Oval after drawn games at Jamaica and Trinidad. At that point in time, only England and Australia had won here across 20 years and those 16 Tests included 12 consecutive home team victories. But Tendulkar's India did well to bowl out the West Indies for 298, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul scoring 137 of those runs. Venkatesh Prasad claimed 5-82 and India's first innings response was highlighted by Rahul Dravid's 78 and Tendulkar's 92 for a 21-run lead. The duo put on 170 for the third wicket.

India bowled out West Indies for 140 in the second innings, with Abey Kuruvilla claiming his first Test fifer in his third game. After West Indies were shot out for their lowest home score against India, openers Navjot Singh Sidhu and VVS Laxman had to negotiate the West Indian quicks for six overs before bad light forced stumps on Day Three. The target was just 120, but the pitch was a terrible one to bat on.

Journalist Vijay Lokapally, who covered the Test series for The Hindu and The Sportstar, recalled to me how the locals had no doubts of a West Indies win. While he was driven to the ground in a cab on the final day, he heard Michael Holding saying on the local radio station that the hosts would win.

When Lokapally reached the ground, he was informed that Curtly Ambrose had given the Brian Lara-led team (regular captain Courtney Walsh was injured) an animated pep talk. And veteran writer Tony Becca said he couldn't see how India could win on the dreadful surface.

Play began and India lost two quick wickets. Lokapally then decided to follow the game from ground level. He was joined by Ajay Jadeja, who was not in the playing XI. The perky all-rounder too didn't sound optimistic about his team pulling it off, what with some balls flying and others keeping low.

The first three wickets were claimed by Rose. Navjot Singh Sidhu (3) fended a nasty delivery to Stuart Williams at third slip. Rahul Dravid (2) gloved one to the wicketkeeper while top-scorer Laxman (19) had his stumps rattled with a pitched-up delivery that took the off stump.

If these triple blows stunned the Indian camp, the dismissal of Tendulkar (caught brilliantly at slip by Lara off Bishop for 4) caused a deep dent. Tendulkar explained his dismissal in Playing It My Way: "In my anxiety to get a feel for the ball I got a tentative edge. I should either have left the ball alone or tried to counter-attack."

Sourav Ganguly (8) and Mohammed Azharuddin (9) were cleaned up by Ambrose; Azhar to a ball that kept low, for the scoreboard to read 51-6. Bishop sent back Anil Kumble (1) and Nayan Mongia (5). Fifteen runs later, Bishop was sprinting to the pavilion in joy having claimed his fourth victim of the innings - No. 11 Venkatesh Prasad.

The treacherous pitch notwithstanding, the Indian batsmen were accused of poor application. Ravi Shastri, writing for this newspaper from the Caribbean, reckoned India needed an opening batsman like Krishnamachari Srikkanth who could attack the bowling early on, thus taking the pressure off for the batsmen to follow. He praised Lara's captaincy and field placements.

Meanwhile, Lokapally and Tendulkar had planned, before the Test had begun, to meet for dinner after the match. The dejected captain gave him a thumbs up when Lokapally asked if their dinner appointment was still on.

Lokapally bumped into Sidhu when he arrived at the Rockley Resort, where the team were staying, and Sidhu pleaded with him not to go anywhere near Tendulkar considering the sombre mood he was in. Lokapally insisted that the captain had confirmed their meeting. When the Delhi-based writer stepped into Tendulkar's room all he felt was gloom. Lokapally explained to Tendulkar that the other players too were responsible for the loss and it shouldn't be forgotten that the poor pitch played a part in the defeat. The captain was inconsolable. "If you can't win in these situations, when can you win," he asked with tears in his eyes.

After a while he asked Lokapally what food they should order. Amidst the depressing scenario, Lokapally only called for a cup of tea and bid goodbye to Mr and Mrs Tendulkar.
The remaining two Tests at Antigua and Georgetown were drawn and West Indies won yet another series against India on home soil. Adversity for Tendulkar spilled over to the one-day series with the hosts winning 3-1, but the pain of 81 all out in Barbados refused to leave him.

In his book, Tendulkar said that the team had "batted horribly" and the string of defeats made him think of "moving away from the sport completely."

Eighty-one all out had an effect on cricket followers as well. In September 2018, journalist Siddhartha Vaidyanathan and cricket enthusiast Mahesh Sethuraman started a cricket blog called 81 allout. This led to launching a podcast by the same name in February 2019.

In February 2021, England collapsed for 81 all out in their second innings against India at Ahmedabad. But some 81 all outs have a far more lasting effect than others.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.