As expected India completed an easy win over West Indies in the first Test of the ongoing series at Dominica. The margin of victory, by an innings and 141 runs, and the time taken - less than three days - shows the level of supremacy of the visitors over the hosts throughout the match. However, followers of the game in India had a bigger cause for cheer than the nature and extent of this victory. This game marked the successful debut of Yashasvi Jaiswal, the latest sensation in Indian cricket. Jaiswal marked his entry into the rarefied world of Test cricket with a century, thus becoming the 14th Indian cricketer to do so. For his efforts, he was also declared the 'Player of the Match'.
It was indeed a memorable debut for this left-handed batsman who has come up through the rungs of Indian cricket in a steady manner. Jaiswal has scored heavily in domestic first-class cricket where his average exceeds 80 and gained an enviable reputation for converting fifties into hundreds. In other words, he possesses the temperament of a batsman who is willing to stay at the wicket and build an innings, brick by brick. He has also proved his mettle in shorter duration versions of the game, especially in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he was placed fifth in the list of the top run-scorers in the last edition of the championship.
A century on debut in Test cricket is the dream of any player who aspires to play for his country. As old timers never tire of saying, Test matches are the ultimate test for the technique and temperament of batsmen, where the bowlers leave no stone unturned to find out any deficiencies that they can exploit. Though the phrase “well begun is half done” holds true in many walks of life, this is not the case in Test cricket as a good start is not a guarantee for continued success at this level. Batsmen need to develop consistency by coming up with good performances regularly through upgrading their technique, improving temperament and even improvising their strokeplay to meet the challenges thrown at them by top class blowers from around the world.
At the opposite end of the spectrum from those who had such dazzling starts to their Test career lie those who began their life at the top level in a miserable manner. Among these lot, the least fortunate are those who bagged a pair on their maiden appearance by failing to trouble the scorers in both innings. Cricket history tells us that 45 cricketers faced the ignominy of scoring ducks in their two appearances in the middle on their debut. While it is not unusual for pure bowlers, in the nature of tail enders, to fail with the bat, even frontline batsmen have tripped badly on their first exposure to Test matches and ended up with blobs against their names. Such experiences would have scarred them badly, but the important aspect is that most of them recovered in full measure and had a fairly good run in the later years.
Prominent among those who salvaged their careers after a poor start are Graham Gooch, Ken Rutherford, Marvan Atapattu, Saeed Anwar and Dean Elgar. Among the five, Gooch certainly stands out as he went on to play in 118 Tests and 125 One-Day Internationals (ODIs), scoring 8,900 runs in the former and 4,290 in the latter. He also led England in 34 Tests and played international cricket till the ripe “old” age of 42. He had a horrendous start to his career as he was dismissed without scoring in both innings on debut, which was against Australia at Edgbaston in 1975. He was caught behind off the bowling of Max Walker in the first innings after facing only three balls. In the second innings also he fell in a similar fashion except that the bowler was Jeff Thomson and he managed to survive six balls, before falling to the seventh. In the next Test at Lord’s, he fared better making 6 and 31 but was dropped by the selectors after that. He could make a comeback to the national side only three years later by which time he had decided to move up the batting order and become an opening batsman. He cemented his place in the side and was a constant presence in the England team after that till his retirement, except for the period when he was suspended for taking part in a tour to South Africa in the early 1980s.
Rutherford was unlucky in that he made his debut as an opener against the West Indies pacers at their peak. His first appearance took place at Trinidad in 1985 and he fell for a duck in the first innings, caught by Desmond Haynes off Malcolm Marshall. In the second knock he got run out without even facing a single ball. He could not fare better in the three tests that followed totaling 11 runs, failing to reach the double figure mark even once. He was dropped from the side following this and could return only after a couple of years, by which time he had shifted his position to the middle order. His Test career remained unremarkable with only 2,465 runs in 56 Tests, at an average of 27.08, with three centuries against his name. However, he led New Zealand in 18 Tests between 1992 and 1995, in what was considered as a difficult period for the Kiwis, following the retirement of Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe.
Atapattu’s Test debut took place at Chandigarh against India in 1990. He was caught by Kiran More off the bowling of left arm spin bowler Venkatapathy Raju in the first innings while in the second he was trapped in front of the stumps by Kapil Dev. His first six innings in Tests yielded a total of one run and he could justify the faith that the national selectors placed on his abilities only se\ven years later, when he hit his first ever century at this level. But he did not look back after that and struck a total of six double centuries in his Test career spread over 90 matches, that saw him score a total of 5,502 runs. Atapattu was appointed as skipper of Sri Lanka ODI side in 2003 and asked to lead in Tests one year later. He earned reputation as a firm and no nonsense captain, but testy relationship with the selectors saw him lose his captaincy by the beginning of 2006.
Anwar made his bow in Test cricket on the same day as Atapattu, on 23 November, 1990, and with similar results as well. Anwar was unfortunate in that the opposition he was playing against was the West Indies and even the placid pitch at Faisalabad could not blunt the pace and fury of Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop, Courtney Walsh and Malcolm Marshall. Anwar fell to Ambrose in the first knock and to Bishop in the second, facing a total of eight deliveries. But he recovered quickly from this setback and struck his first century in his third Test, against New Zealand. Anwar soon evolved as a top drawer opening batsman and is rated as one of the best opening batsmen to have played for Pakistan. He reserved his best for the duels against India, with his career best scores of 188 and 194 - in Test and ODIs respectively - registered against them. A personal tragedy forced him to stay away from the game for a short period in 2001. He also led Pakistan in seven Tests.
Elgar made his Test debut against Australia in 2012 at Perth as a middle order batsman, However, the Aussie fast bowler Mitchell Johnson got the better of him in both the innings. But he soon found his moorings and hit a century against New Zealand during the next series that his country played. He soon moved moved up the order and formed a formidable combination with Graeme Smith. His success as a batsman led to him being considered to lead South Africa. He led the side through trying times and stopped a downward slide in the fortunes of his team, which was taking place on account of rifts and racial tensions.
A common thread that runs along the career of these cricketers is that they not only made light of the initial setback in Test cricket, but rose to the pole position of leading their respective countries in international cricket. This shows the fortitude and tenacity to take on the rough side of life, along with the determination to fight back adversities and emerge on top. The poor start at the start of their career might have served to sharpen these traits, while simultaneously developing resilience and level headedness, which stood them in good stead during their their later years in international cricket.
Incidentally, three Indians figure in this list of 45 players who bagged a pair on their debut. They are Gulabrai Ramchand, Maninder Singh and Rashid Patel. Maninder and Patel were in the side solely for their abilities with the ball, while Ramchand was an all-rounder. Ramchand’s debut was against England at Leeds in 1952, where Fred Trueman & Co. reduced India to 0/4 in the second innings. However, Ramchand was a gutsy cricketer and did not allow Trueman to get the better of him in the next Test where he struck a crisp 42. He did not have a blazing career as his tally of 1,180 runs and 41 wickets in 33 Tests indicates. But he would be remembered forever by followers of the sport in India as the captain who led led India to victory against Australia for the first time ever at Kanpur in 1959.
(The author is a former international cricket umpire and a senior bureaucrat)