On the eve of Kohli & Co-s tour game v Australia A at SCG, a recall of a similar stature game which India won thanks to Vinoo Mankad despite Don Bradman reaching his 100th first-class century in 1947.
Former Test batsman Neil Harvey, who played in the Australian XI v Indians game in 1947, poses at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday. Harvey was at the ground to commemorate 60 years of the 1960 Tied Test played between Australia and West Indies. Pic/Get
Tomorrow-s Indians versus Australia A game at the Sydney Cricket Ground SCG may not see a galaxy of Australia-s current stars, but it-s a fixture that the visiting team will treat with great importance. For, it will be played with the pink ball, just like the December 17 opening Test match at the Adelaide Oval.
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The likes of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Prithvi Shaw, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav figured in the India A v Australia A game which concluded in a draw on Tuesday, but for skipper Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav, Friday-s game at the SCG will be the only three-day tune-up for the Test.
Gone are the days when teams touring Australia played a good number of matches before the first Test. In 1947-48, India-s first series against the men from Down Under and the first after Independence, Lala Amarnath-s side played against all the five state teams Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland before the opening Test battle at Brisbane. Prior to the Queensland v Indians game, there was a four-day match-up between the Indians and an Australian XI captained by Donald Bradman. The hosts- line-up was not a complete Test XI, but they had Bill Brown who was run out by Vinoo Mankad for backing up too far in the second innings of this game, Keith Miller, teenager Neil Harvey, Sam Loxton and Bill Johnston.
Bradman-s first-class centuries count was 99 and this was a near-ideal setting to get to 100 - at his beloved SCG - where he had watched his first Test match as a 12-year-old. He returned home after watching his hero Charlie Macartney in that 1921 Ashes Test, vowing he-d never rest until he played at the SCG.
On November 14, 1947, the Indians batted first to score 326. Chandu Sarwate, who watched his fellow opener Mankad depart for three, put on 80 for the third wicket with Gul Mohomed 85 with nine fours. Player-turned-writer Jack Fingleton cringed every time Gul flicked his first ball to fine leg during the series and expressed the need for the then 26-year-old batsman to tighten up his defence. G Kishenchand, who came in at No. 8, scored 75 and with last man, wicketkeeper JK Irani 43 put on 97 for the 10th wicket. The Australians lost Brown early and Bradman strode in with the excited crowd lighting up the SCG with applause, appreciation and anticipation for his century of centuries on Day Two of the match. Bradman-s biographer Irving Rosenwater wrote: "Sydney forgot its dearer bread, the bitter struggle over the Banking Bill and that the New South Wales wheat crop was in jeopardy: all went to see Bradman."
He tackled the Indian attack with relative ease but missed getting run out with Miller as his partner, in the 90s. The opposition were overawed. They, according to their team manager Pankaj Gupta, were there to learn from him. Sarwate was kept at short midwicket when Bradman was approaching his landmark century. Ex-BCCI secretary and national selector Sanjay Jagdale, who spent a considerable amount time with Sarwate, remembers the Indore cricketer telling him how good Bradman was and that he could choose between three areas to hit one delivery.
Bradman and Miller enthralled the swelling crowd and when Bradman reached 99 with an over shy of tea, Amarnath summoned Kishenchand to bowl. Bradman later appreciated Amarnath-s tactic of getting a bowler who had not bowled on tour, in an effort to dislodge him. Indeed, Bradman was not aware of Kishenchand-s leg-spin and played him cautiously. Kishenchand-s second ball beat mid-on and Bradman took one of the most significant singles in his decorated career. He called it a "great moment" in Farewell to Cricket and elaborated: "I think of all my experiences in cricket, that was my most exhilarating moment on the field." Miller at one point had overtaken Bradman through his adventurous strokeplay but decided to hold back as The Don approached his century. Not long after the tea interval, Miller threw away his wicket, bowled by Mankad for 86.
According to RS -Dick- Whitington in Keith Miller The Golden Nugget, the charismatic all-rounder-s barber wanted to know why didn-t he go on to get his century. Miller replied: "I realised it was Don-s day; that I was stealing the show."
Bradman went on to score 172 and the Australians claimed a 54-run lead. Kishenchand was in the news again when he top-scored an unbeaten 63 before Amarnath declared at 304 for nine.
The Australians had to score 251 for a win in 150 minutes and Mankad ensured their adventure did not end up being a cheerful one. In 12 left-arm spin overs, he claimed eight for 84 as the Indians won by 47 runs; the Australians bowled out for 203 in 30 overs. Considering his run out of Brown, Mankad played a hand in every dismissal except that of tailender Morgan Herbert.
The joy of the Indians was shortlived as they lost their next game to Queensland and then the Test series 0-4. But in Bradman-s words, the Indians in this game, played with "great zest."
Doubtless, Kohli-s men will display that quality in ample measure over the next three days at the SCG, but unlike Amarnath-s team which endured pull-outs in the form of Vijay Merchant, Mushtaq Ali and Rusi Modi, they are not underdogs for the Test series.
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
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