Javed Miandad recollected memories of Pakistan dominating the likes of Bishan Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar and Erapalli Prasanna towards a historic series win at home against India during the 1978-79 season.
Those famed spinners had played key roles in India's rare successes during the late 60s and early 70s. But when faced up against the neighbours, the three couldn't quite live up to their status, as none of them averaged below 50 runs per wickets in the three-Test series.
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Pakistan won 2-0 with Imran Khan, Sarfaraz Nawaz doing the bulk of the damage with the ball and Zaheer Abbas, Miandad topping the run-charts.
"Chandrasekhar, Bedi, Prasanna... India’s strength was this, their spinners. And they did well around the world but when they came here (Pakistan), they were taken to the cleaners. Our players robbed them for so many runs," said Miandad in his Youtube channel.
The 62-year-old, who scored 8832 runs in 124 Tests at an average of 52.57, narrated a story from the first Test in Faisalabad which explained the ease at which he and Abbas tackled the Indian spinners.
"I remember that Chandrasekhar was giving some troubles to Zaheer bhai. Toh he told me ‘Javed please tackle him for me’. I obviously said yes. Meanwhile from the other end, Zaheer bhai was taking a lot of runs off Bedi sahib, Prasanna. Then I said, ‘Zaheer bhai please allow me to take some runs too, I will also use my feet against them. I’m stuck here. I won’t take a single off the last ball.’"
"During that time players used to look after each other. If I’m having some troubles then my partner will take control and vice-versa," said Miandad.
One-sided nature of the contest aside, Miandad says the series was played in great spirits, with players showing mutual respect and enjoying each others' company.
"I remember in that tour the lunch-time used to be 12 o’clock. There used to be a giant clock and the crowd used to scream ‘Sardar ji 12 baj gaye’. Then Bedi was also very fun. He used to raise his hands as if to say ‘yes yes I know."
“Chandrasekhar was a bowler who was very difficult to play on the front foot, you can’t play him off the front foot. When I played against them I kept that in mind."
Miandad, relatively new to international cricket at the time, made 357 runs in five innings at an average of 178.50 in that series.
"When the Indian spinners were new in their spells and kept close-in fielders I used to charge down the wicket to make force them to take out the close catchers," he said. "Because I used to get restless if I didn’t score runs. It’s a different matter to stay in the crease but you have to score runs too, that is your main job."
(Inputs from HT)
