Ritesh Misra, Surat, 11 June 2024
It is the dream of every Test player to play a Test match at Lord’s, the Mecca of cricket. It is also the dream of every Test player to score a Test hundred. When both the dreams combine and a Test player hits a Test ton at Lord’s, it becomes something extra special.
Three of India’s greatest batsmen in history, namely Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag do not have a Test century at Lord’s. While all three do not have even one, another great batsman of India has three Test hundreds to his name at this venerated venue. Coincidentally, two other Test greats, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting, do not also have centuries at Lord’s.
It is pertinent to point out here that while Sunny Gavaskar did not have a Test ton for India at Lord’s, he did score a century there for the Rest of the World XI versus the MCC XI in the MCC Bicentenary First Class match in August, 1987.
Let us now talk about the extraordinary Icon of India who has three Test tons at Lord’s. It is none other than Dilip Vengsarkar (referred to as Dilip Bhai in this article as he is like an elder brother to me). Let us have a look at how these hundreds were scored and in what circumstances. In fact, Dilip Bhai is the only non-Englishman to have three centuries at Lord’s. Interestingly, the three tons had contrasting results for India. The 1st earned century India a draw, the 2nd could not prevent a loss while the 3rd got India a win.
Dilip Bhai’s 1st ton at Lord’s came during the 1979 series. The Indian team was in a difficult situation as they were shot out for 96 in the first knock and the English attack with Lever, Botham, and Hendrick was quite menacing. However, the genius of the two Vs took India to safety. India batted 150 overs to score 318/4 with Dilip Bhai scoring 103 in 295 balls and Gundappa Vishwanath scoring 113 in 337 balls. India were 323 behind. Dilip Bhai came in at 79/1 and was 3rd out at 309/3. He was awarded the Man of the Match award.
Dilip Bhai’s 2nd ton was during the 1982 series. It was a spectacular effort in a losing cause. England had piled up 433 and India were shot out for 128, with only Sunny Gavaskar (48) and Kapil Dev (41) reaching double figures. Following on, India could avoid the innings defeat mainly due to Dilip Bhai and Kapil Dev, who incidentally are great friends. Dilip Bhai scored 157 in 264 balls with 21 boundaries, mostly through crisp drives and savage pulls. Kapil Dev hit a brutal 89 in just 55 balls with 13 boundaries and 3 sixes. England, however, needed only 67 to win the Test and had a comfortable 7 wicket win.
Dilip Bhai’s 3rd ton at Lord’s resulted in a win for India. This was India’s first win at the Mecca of cricket and gave us a one nil lead in the 1986 series. Chetan Sharma’s 5/64 helped India restrict England to 294. In response, India, at one stage were 264/8. However, with debutant Kiran More chipping in with 25, Dilip Bhai and More took India to 303/9. When Maninder Singh walked in, Dilip Bhai was on 95. Maninder survived and Dilip Bhai not only got a ton, but a match-winning 126 not out which gave India an invaluable 47 run lead. Kapil Dev and Maninder combined to get England all out for 180 and India scored the 134 required to win by 5 wickets. Incidentally, this famous win was accomplished on 10th June, 1986 exactly 38 years ago as I pen this today on 10th June, 2024!
India won the next test of the 1986 series too to take the series 2 nil. Coincidentally, Dilip Bhai once again scored a century when Maninder came in to bat. This time he was 99 not out when the left-arm spinner walked in. This was amongst India’s finest test series win abroad and the Lord of Lord’s was declared the Man of the Series.
Overall Dilip Bhai played 116 Test matches in which he scored almost 7000 Test runs with 17 hundreds. He has captained the Indian Test team. He has been conferred the Padma Shri and has been awarded the Arjuna Award and the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award by the BCCI.
Coincidentally, Dilip Bhai is called Colonel after Colonel CK Nayudu. Once in Mumbai, in an Odia Association meeting, we had invited him to be the chief guest and I asked him why he was called Colonel. Modestly, he replied that in an Irani Trophy match, coming in at 98/2, he decided to attack and had hit 110 with 7 sixes and 11 fours and all the sixes were against Bedi and Prasanna. Seeing his batting, Lala Amarnath, who was the commentator, said that the batting and aerial shots reminded him of Colonel CK Nayudu. This was published in the newspapers and the nickname struck.
In the same function, I asked Dilip Bhai about his famous innings of 166 at Cuttack and whether he lost his temper on hearing that he was not chosen for the Man of the Match award and Kapil got it. Dilip Bhai replied that it was a terrible pitch and his 166 was more than what Sri Lanka scored in both innings. He said that the entire team told him that it was one of his best knocks on a minefield. However, the adjudicators thought it is better to give him the Man of the Series award and Kapil the Man of the Match award since he had taken his 300th Test wicket in that match. He said it was a momentary anger for which he has always regretted and he was very proud of Kapil who had captained him, was one of his best friends, and who he also considered as his family member.
Dilip Bhai has been one of the best Chairmen of Selectors, and his best decision was to recall Virendra Sehwag for a tough Australian series when in Ranji Trophy he had scored just 70 runs in 5 innings. Dilip Bhai’s rationale was that a great cricketer like Sehwag can’t be motivated with Ranji Trophy and he proved vindicated as Sehwag roared back to form versus the Aussies who had an attack comprising Mcgrath, Lee, Gillespie, and Warne, which is one of the best attacks in history.
Interestingly, my childhood coach, Kishore Mania Sir, had the exact thought that how can Sehwag be motivated to score against ordinary bowlers and so his lack of form should not be seen as an obstacle in his recall.
Dilip Bhai runs three cricket academies in Mumbai and Pune and is very passionate about identifying new talent. He has been an excellent cricket administrator as well. He is currently writing his memoirs and I am sure it will be a bestseller.
Dilip Vengsarkar Bhai, you are an outstanding icon of India. Warmest regards.
