While West Indies�bowlers aren’t as feared in the Test arena as they once were, they are still quite a few exceptional talents who can blow away any opposition on their day.

Once known to be a hotbed for fierce fast bowlers who struck fear in the heart of opposition batters, scoring runs, particularly in Tests, was no mean feat against West Indies�bowlers.

Names like Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft, and Joel Garner were considered the Four Horsemen of West Indies bowling during the 1970s and 80s.

They inspired other great bowlers like Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh who carried forward the legacy of fearsome pace bowling.

Scoring runs against such bowlers was not an easy task although some players managed to do better than others when it came to run-making against the Caribbean greats.

Here, we have a look at those players who scored the most runs for India vs West Indies in Test match cricket.

Most runs for India vs West Indies in Tests

Player	Matches	Runs	Average	Hundreds	Fifties	Highest Score
Sunil Gavaskar	27	2,749	65.45	13	7	236*
Rahul Dravid	23	1,978	63.80	5	13	146
VVS Laxman	22	1,715	57.16	4	11	176*
Sachin Tendulkar	21	1,630	54.33	3	10	179
Dilip Vengsarkar	25	1,596	44.33	6	7	159
Gundappa Viswanath	18	1,455	53.88	4	7	179
Polly Umrigar	16	1,372	50.81	3	10	172*
Kapil Dev	25	1,079	30.82	3	4	126*
Mohinder Amarnath	30	1,076	38.42	3	6	117
Anshuman Gaekwad	22	1,032	27.89	1	6	102

Sunil Gavaskar | 2,749 runs in 27 matches

No player relished the challenge of squaring off against West Indies�fearsome four of Roberts, Holding, Croft, and Garner more than Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar. In an era where wearing helmets wasn’t the norm, Gavaskar used to play West Indies�fearsome pace attack without one and excelled while doing so as his 2,749 runs in 27 matches demonstrate. Gavaskar’s run tally isn’t just the most runs by an Indian batter against the Windies but also the most by any player in the history of the game. He struck 13 hundreds and seven fifties against the Windies at an average of 65.45. It often seemed that playing the Windies brought out the best in Gavaskar, whose highest score against the Men from the Caribbean is an unbeaten 236 which came in a drawn encounter. Gavaskar, in fact, boasts three double tons against West Indies in Tests.

Rahul Dravid | 1,978 runs in 23 matches

Another Indian great who thrived while battling the Windies bowlers was Rahul Dravid. Nicknamed the Wall for his outstanding defence, Dravid enjoyed playing against West Indies and totalled 1,978 runs in 23 matches at an average of 63.80 against the Men from the Caribbean. He made a highest score of 146 against them in a drawn game in 2006 and also registered five hundreds as well as 13 half-centuries versus the Windies.

VVS Laxman | 1,715 in 22 matches

Dravid’s contemporary VVS Laxman comes in third on this list of most runs for India versus West Indies in Tests. A crafty middle-order batter who made the Test arena his own, VVS Laxman scored 1,715 in 22 matches at an average of 57.16 against West Indies. He scored four hundreds and 11 fifties against the Windies, including a highest score of 176 not out against them in a winning cause at the Eden Gardens in 2011. 

Photo credit: Alamy

For decades, results of Indian cricket team matches have had a massive impact on the audience of the cricket-crazy nation.

Since their first-ever Test match win against Pakistan in 1952, the Men in Blue have pulled off some magnificent wins, both in their backyard and overseas, sometimes as underdogs while at other times, from the jaws of defeat.

Here are some of the Indian cricket team matches that united and uplifted the entire nation.

1983 World Cup Final: An odds-defying miracle

The Indian cricket team’s unlikely win at the 1983 World Cup perhaps spurred the passion for the sport to a whole new level. The solitary event had positioned the nation to start believing in themselves.  

After India had failed to go past the first round of the 1975 and 1979 World Cups, the Kapil Dev-led Indian team had entered the 1983 World Cup with the odds of 66/1 to win the competition. The squad wasn’t quite balanced eother, focussing more on youth and less on experience.

India’s 1983 World Cup campaign inspired countless budding players to excel in cricket. Among them @sachin_rt, @SGanguly99, Rahul Dravid & @VVSLaxman281. Shows the deep impact this victory had on Indian cricket

�Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) June 25, 2020

However, Kapil’s Devils had silenced the critics early on with a 34-run win over defending champions West Indies in their opening match. This was India’s first win against Sir Clive Lloyd’s Men in Maroon. India would then go on to beat Zimbabwe (after being 78-6 at one stage), Australia and England -- the latter two finalists in the preceding two World Cups -- to book a place in the final.

India would face West Indies in the final yet again, and this time they were to steamroll the opposition. However, what no one saw coming was Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath's ambitious bowling that had silenced the 24,609 attendees at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. India went on to lift the World Cup trophy and completed their odds-defying miracle at the ‘home of cricket� 

1985 World Championship of Cricket semi-final: From underdogs to overachievers 

The 1985 World Championship of Cricket stands out as one of the most glorious campaigns in Indian cricket’s history, as they had gone unbeaten in the entire competition despite starting as underdogs.

Following their miraculous success at the 1983 World Cup, the Indian team had lost successive tours on home soil to West Indies (1983) and England (1984/85). While a defeat to the West Indies were expected, going down against an inexperienced English side had seen their chances at the World Championship of Cricket plummet.

However, Sunil Gavaskar, in his last assignment as the Indian cricket team captain, withstood the test of time to put out confident performances against hosts Australia, New Zealand, England and eventual finalists Pakistan. After Mohammad Azharuddin’s unbeaten 93 against Pakistan had kicked off India’s campaign on a high, he found support in Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who registered the joint-highest individual score in the competition (93*) against Australia and would later finish the tournament as the leading run-getter with 238 runs.

One of the Greatest Victory of the Indian Cricket Team, the World Championship of Cricket Trophy in Australia, 1985. Here the Team Parading on the Wheels in Melbourne. So proud to be sharing the Cup with the Sunny Bhai who was leading India in World Cricket Championship. pic.twitter.com/auhEP0bdV7

�Chetan Sharma (@chetans1987) August 5, 2020

While India’s victory over Pakistan in the final put them on a pedestal, it was their semi-final win against New Zealand that had instilled belief in Indian fans back at home.

Batting first, New Zealand rode high on John Reid’s influential knock of 55 before Madan Lal’s tournament-defying spell of 4/37 had limited the Black Caps to a competitive total of 206. India batsmen’s slow start to the chase needed a catalyst to reignite their intent and they found that in Kapil Dev, who smashed an unbeaten 54 off just 37 balls to win the match with six overs to spare.

Ravi Shastri had returned home with the Man of the Series award for his 182 runs and eight wickets. His three-wicket haul in the semi-finals against New Zealand is fondly remembered even today.

India vs Australia Test, 2001, Kolkata: The indomitable VVS Laxman

The odds were in complete favour of Australia ahead of the second Test match of the 2001 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Steve Waugh’s men were in supreme form with an 18-match unbeaten run and had just registered an emphatic 10-wicket victory over India in the first Test match in Mumbai.

Australia started strongly at the Eden Gardens piling up a first innings score of 445 before hosts India were bowled out for 172 runs to concede a follow-on. The Kangaroos were on the verge of sealing the series and India needed a miracle.

And they found it on day four of the historic Test match. After the third day ended with India at 232/4 with 42 more runs needed to make Australia bat again, the crowd at Eden witnessed VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid stitching up an extraordinary 376-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

 

 

VVS Laxman made a mammoth 281 as India declared at 657/7. Australia failed to chase down the target of 384 as they were bowled out for 212 with Harbhajan Singh claiming 13 wickets at the end of the Test. 

Not only had India ended Australia’s 16-game winning streak but Steve Waugh had become just the third captain in Test history to lose a match after enforcing a follow-on.

2007 T20 World Cup final: Start of the Dhoni era  

India’s humiliating exit from the group stages of the 2007 Cricket World Cup was the nadir of Indian cricket and called for an immediate change in personnel. With the 2007 T20I World Cup coming up, the trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly had opted for young talent to lead the team in the new format. MS Dhoni was made captain of the T20I team. 

The changes paid off. India lifted their first piece of ICC silverware in limited-overs cricket in 24 years.

 

Following the Indian cricket team’s 2007 World Cup exit, no one had expected them to reach the knockout stages of the T20I World Cup. However, from Yuvraj Singh’s six sixes in a row against England to RP Singh’s 4/13 against hosts South Africa, India produced some brilliant individual performances in the 2007 T20I World Cup.

The memory of an unassuming Joginder Sharma bowling the tense final over to Misbah-ul-Haq, who would eventually gift his wicket to S. Sreesanth with a miscued shot had started MS Dhoni’s era. The tournament win was also a realization that it was time for the old guard to give way for the new ones.

2011 Cricket World Cup Final: Dhoni finishes off in style

The fact that most 2007 T20 World Cup-playing Indian players were still around in the 2011 edition meant MS Dhoni was pulling the team in the right direction. And with the tournament being held in India’s backyard, the hosts could not have gotten a better chance of winning the tournament.

Withstanding that pressure was never going to be easy and when MS Dhoni had hit that six at the Wankhede Stadium to help India win the coveted World Cup trophy after a gap of 28 years, it was the fulfilment of a dream every Indian was carrying forever.

Though not announced, many had assumed that that the 2011 edition would be the last World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar and emotions were high when the Master Blaster was carried on the shoulders of his team-mates during the victory lap. It was the only tribute befitting the legend, which made it one of the most cherished Indian cricket team matches.

 

India had lost just one fixture, against South Africa in the group stage, in the entirety of their campaign. Each knockout victory, the quarter-finals against Australia and the semi-final against Pakistan, was a perfect build-up to the final against Sri Lanka as India had reached the summit clash after eight years.

After Sri Lanka had posted a chaseable target of 275, India were supposed to reach it easily before early wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag had changed everything. Eventually, Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni’s 109-run partnership would steady the ship before Yuvraj Singh helped his captain finish “off in style.�/span>

Other notable Indian cricket team matches include Sachin Tendulkar’s Desert Storm against Australia and India’s eventual win in the 1998 Coca-Cola Trophy and India’s triumph over England in the 2002 NatWest Trophy final. These were games that wrote history for India.

Former Indian finger spinner Rameshchandra Gangaram Nadkarni, better known simply as Bapu Nadkarni passed away on Friday (January 17) in Mumbai at the age of 86. The spinner from Mumbai played 41 Tests for India in the 1950’s and 60’s, and earned a name for himself as a miserly customer who always kept the opposition run rate in check and built up the pressure.

Nadkarni had a stingy economy rate of 1.67 despite having played for the country for the better part of two decades. He also holds the record for bowling the most number of consecutive maidens in a Test match (21)- a record that has stood the test of time and is unlikely to ever be beaten.

He was also a handy lower-order batsman for Ranji side Mumbai as well as the Indian team, averaging 40.36 and 25.70 respectively. Nadkarni scored seven fifties in International cricket, and also got a solitary hundred in a Test match against England in Kanpur.

Several former and active cricketers from India have sent condolence messages to Nadkarni’s family following the sad demise, including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri and many more. “Very sad to hear about the demise of Shri Bapu Nadkarni. I grew up hearing about the record of him bowling 21 consecutive maiden overs in a Test. My condolences to his family and dear ones,�tweeted Sachin Tendulkar.

Very sad to hear about the demise of Shri Bapu Nadkarni. I grew up hearing about the record of him bowling 21 consecutive maiden overs in a Test. My condolences to his family and dear ones.
Rest in Peace Sir . pic.twitter.com/iXozzyPMLZ

�Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 17, 2020

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar also spoke out following the sad demise, recalling one of his fondest memories of Bapu Nadkarni.  "He came as an assistant manager for quite a number of our tours. He was very encouraging. His favourite term was chhoddo math [don’t let go]. He was a gritty cricketer, despite playing in the days when gloves and thigh pads were not very good, not much protective equipment as you would get hit. But still hang in there, as he believed in chhoddo math.

"Every time he was on a tour, he was very very helpful in terms of strategy. At lunch time or tea time, he would say try this if you were a fielding captain. He would say, bring this bowler, or ask this bowler to bowl around the wicket. He was fantastic. Indian cricket has lost a real champion," Gavaskar was quoted.

Here are some of the tweets from other eminent cricketers.

Heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Bapu Nadkarni Sir. May his Soul RIP.

�VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) January 18, 2020

Oh, just got the sad news of Bapuji's passing. Another pillar of Mumbai and Indian cricket. And like so many of his era, a lovely kind man, someone I had the privilege of knowing. #BapuNadkarni

�Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 17, 2020

My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family & friends of Bapu Nadkarni ji. One of our finest and my first team manager. RIP Sir. Om Shanti pic.twitter.com/Z17EqpO1W9

�Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) January 18, 2020

Deeply saddened to learn about the demise of Well-known cricketer and All-Rounder Bapu Nadkarni. He will be best remembered for bowling 21 consecutive maiden overs against England in a Test match in Chennai. My condolences to bereaved family members pic.twitter.com/MjYMWXt4hc

�Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) January 18, 2020

Feature image: Twitter/ @sachin_rt

Responding to the allegation of conflict of interest against him, former India batsman VVS Laxman criticised the Committee of Administrators' handling of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), of which he is a part, and blamed complete lack of communication from the Vinod Rai-led panel for the confusion.

AFP/ Dibyangshu Sarkar

Laxman said the CoA had been using the CAC only for the selection of senior national coaches, rather having chalked out a broader role for the body originally, a PTI report states.

Laxman, in his official response to Justice (Retd) DK Jain, the BCCI's ombudsman-cum-ethics officer, rebutted the allegations of conflict of interest and stated that he was ready to "recuse" himself if found to be in a position of Conflict.

"On December 7, 2018, we had written to the Committee of Administrators requesting them to clarify the scope of our role and responsibilities. To this date, there has been no reply. Since no tenure had been mentioned in the letter of intent issued in 2015, it was only reasonable to expect some communication on whether the CAC was still in existence. Unfortunately, that hasn't been forthcoming," Laxman wrote in his affidavit, which was filed through his lawyer.

Laxman, along with Sachin Tendulkar, have now replied to notices served by the Ombudsman following a complaint by Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association life member Sanjeev Gupta against their dual roles as mentors in IPL franchises and members of the CAC.

"It will be worthwhile to note that the reason I agreed to be a member was because of the various inputs we were originally tasked with contributing towards the sustained growth of Indian cricket. The opportunity to be involved meaningfully in India's climb towards becoming a cricketing superpower Post retirement was privilege enough for me to turn down the offer of remuneration of being a part of CAC," Laxman wrote in Point 3 (c) of his affidavit.

"The allegation of the complainant is baseless as we are in no manner selectors of either players or coaches, and CAC is not a permanent body."

The pertinent points of his affidavit were 3 (d) and (e), where he criticised the CoA, saying that the body was never really forthcoming on the scope and role of the CAC.

Laxman said the roles of the CAC, as told to him in 2015, including focusing on improving performances of the national team overseas, creating a pathway to track young cricketers' careers from the Under-19 level to India A to the national team, managing Workload for fast bowlers, means to improve the quality of Indian spinners, and education and life-skills for young cricketers.

Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman has voiced his disappointment over the snub of Ambati Rayudu for World Cup squad by saying that he has consistently performed for the team over the years.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on April 15, announced their 15-man squad for the World Cup, to be held in England and Wales, and while there were some obvious inclusions, the likes of Ambati Rayudu and Rishabh Pant were left in place of Vijay Shankar and Dinesh Karthik respectively.

The two, however, have been included as the standbys along with the bowler Navdeep Saini in the squad.

Laxman, on his part, spoke about Rayudu and compared the batsman’s situation to his. Back during the 2003 World Cup, Dinesh Mongia got the nod ahead of Laxam, hence the pain is well and truly relatable.

"It will be very disappointing for Rayudu because I felt he had done everything possible to be in that squad. Since the West Indies series (Oct 2018), where he was asked to bat at No 4, he has consistently performed in that position,�Laxman was quoted by Hindustan Times.

"He was the highest run-getter in the series, so I was a little surprised they didn’t go with the experience of Rayudu even after performing. It will be very, very painful. I have experienced that in 2003. But as an international sportsperson, it is important to bounce back strongly, and I hope Rayudu does that.�/p>

Asked about his option of the squad, Laxman said that Indian will be travelling with a balanced team. “The top order batsmen have done really well. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have been instrumental in winning a lot of matches and in the last three-four years, and they have been very consistent. Virat Kohli is the best batsman in the world,�Laxman added.

"Overall, we have a balanced, experienced side. It’s about them going there and playing to potential. I don’t think we are a genuine batsman short. There are a lot of options. There is KL Rahul, he is a class player. You have Dinesh Karthik, who is again very experienced. There is a lot of depth in batting.�/p>