Harsh Thakor
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Today on February 19th we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Jubilee test in Mumbai where Ian Botham exhibited the greatest all-round cricketing performance in the history of test cricket.Botham traversed a peak or regions never scaled before a.He ressurected England from the grave or depths of despair to the pinnacle of glory.I doubt whether any cricketer exhibited cricketing energy at the depth Botham did on that day ,resembling a Hercules.All-round cricketing skill was simply redefined.Reminiscent to thunder and lightning arriving on the cricket field.
.England were tottering at 58-5 before Botham launched a heroic rearguard in a 169 run partnership with Bob Taylor.It enabled England to gain a 54 run 1st innnings lead.From looking dead and buried a new spirit was infused into the English team like an army rising like a phoenix from the Ashes.It was one of the most dazzling exhibitions of strokeplay combined with technical skill blending the power of a boxer with the grit of a soldier and skill of a technician.Rarely in cricket has a batsmen stitched wounds with such prowess,resembling a surgeon performing an operation.
Botham ripped through the heart of the Indian batting in the 2nd innings with an exhibition of swing bowling rarely witnessed in terms of agression or intelligence.He may not have been the quickest but few exhibited such venom or fire as if the spirits posessed him.
Even Gary Sobers who is the greatest allrounder ever,or greats like Keith Miller ,Jacques Kallis or Imran Khan have equalled Botham's feat of scoring 114 runs and capturing 13 wickets for 116 runs.Kapil Dev gave echoes at Lords in 1982 and so did Imran at Leeds later that season but none could really come within touching distance of Botham's spectacle.Botham was simply a one man army and I have rarely seen an instance when the fortunes of team depended so much on a single player.
I cannot exclude the contribution of skipper Gundappa Vishwanath,whose sportsmanship was one of the greatest victories of test cricket,when recalling Bob Taylor at 85.6.India would have ben the probable victors but Vishy took sportsmanship in the game to another height.
I wonder where it would rank with the great cricketing performances on the whole but without hesitation it could rank on par with the bests ever.India had just beaten a strong Pakistan team by a 2-0 margin,who were virtually considered invincible while England had come there just after receiving a 3-0 battering at the hands of their old foe.Australia.
Sadly even though Botham duplicated his performance in the 1981 Ashes in term of a series he lost his consistency after 1982.Still he gave shadows of his brilliance in the home 1985 Ashes and the 1986-87 Ashes tour down under ,and in the Lords tset versus the best West Indies team ever in 1984.In 1982-83 he was overshadowed overall by the like sof Kapil,Imran and Hadlee and also again Imran in 1987.He had lost his old sting with the ball,particularly the outswinger.
It may be correct to say that Botham at his best may also have surpassed Sobers as a match-winner or could have been the best replacement for Sobers.In his time I never saw a cricketer who could turn the complexion of a game as much as Ian in every department .Sadly he was never at his best against the premier team of his day,the West Indies.He also had the luck of playing against weaker opponents in WSC era.There could never be a more majestic sight in cricket than Botham in full flow.
.England were tottering at 58-5 before Botham launched a heroic rearguard in a 169 run partnership with Bob Taylor.It enabled England to gain a 54 run 1st innnings lead.From looking dead and buried a new spirit was infused into the English team like an army rising like a phoenix from the Ashes.It was one of the most dazzling exhibitions of strokeplay combined with technical skill blending the power of a boxer with the grit of a soldier and skill of a technician.Rarely in cricket has a batsmen stitched wounds with such prowess,resembling a surgeon performing an operation.
Botham ripped through the heart of the Indian batting in the 2nd innings with an exhibition of swing bowling rarely witnessed in terms of agression or intelligence.He may not have been the quickest but few exhibited such venom or fire as if the spirits posessed him.
Even Gary Sobers who is the greatest allrounder ever,or greats like Keith Miller ,Jacques Kallis or Imran Khan have equalled Botham's feat of scoring 114 runs and capturing 13 wickets for 116 runs.Kapil Dev gave echoes at Lords in 1982 and so did Imran at Leeds later that season but none could really come within touching distance of Botham's spectacle.Botham was simply a one man army and I have rarely seen an instance when the fortunes of team depended so much on a single player.
I cannot exclude the contribution of skipper Gundappa Vishwanath,whose sportsmanship was one of the greatest victories of test cricket,when recalling Bob Taylor at 85.6.India would have ben the probable victors but Vishy took sportsmanship in the game to another height.
I wonder where it would rank with the great cricketing performances on the whole but without hesitation it could rank on par with the bests ever.India had just beaten a strong Pakistan team by a 2-0 margin,who were virtually considered invincible while England had come there just after receiving a 3-0 battering at the hands of their old foe.Australia.
Sadly even though Botham duplicated his performance in the 1981 Ashes in term of a series he lost his consistency after 1982.Still he gave shadows of his brilliance in the home 1985 Ashes and the 1986-87 Ashes tour down under ,and in the Lords tset versus the best West Indies team ever in 1984.In 1982-83 he was overshadowed overall by the like sof Kapil,Imran and Hadlee and also again Imran in 1987.He had lost his old sting with the ball,particularly the outswinger.
It may be correct to say that Botham at his best may also have surpassed Sobers as a match-winner or could have been the best replacement for Sobers.In his time I never saw a cricketer who could turn the complexion of a game as much as Ian in every department .Sadly he was never at his best against the premier team of his day,the West Indies.He also had the luck of playing against weaker opponents in WSC era.There could never be a more majestic sight in cricket than Botham in full flow.
