5 fascinating contributions by players in series losses

#4 Gundappa Viswanath – 568 runs at 63.11 versus West Indies 1974-75

Viswanath almost led India to an unlikely series victory

Ask almost every major cricket fan in Karnataka or Tamil Nadu in the 1970s and he will claim that he was present in Chennai (then Madras) to witness Viswanath’s epic 97*. Obviously this cannot be true, but let us not let facts get in the way of the romance this innings managed to create for an entire generation of cricket fans. Vishy, as he was popularly known, was a lovely batsman to watch, admired for his flowing, aesthetic batsmanship.

In this series, however, Vishy did not just play a cameo knock or two but went on to single-handedly arrest the dominance of the West Indies. West Indies came to India confident of a win, given that the hosts had recently been humiliated in the summer of 1974 in England. India, it seemed, would not have an answer to the batting and bowling might of the Caribbean side which was yet to become the all-conquering unit of the late 1970s and 1980s.

By the time the first two Tests were done in Bangalore and Delhi, disaster stared India in the face. They had lost heavily in Bangalore as one of the debutants, Gordon Greenidge, scored 93 and 107. In the second Test in Delhi, the man who had a quiet debut in Bangalore, Vivian Richards, made a dominant 192 as India were thrashed again.

Only once before had a team come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a 5-match series and that was the Bradman-led Australian team in 1936-37. That did not seem anywhere close to possible or probable now.

In the absence of the injured Gavaskar, Viswanath had to take up the bulk of the batting responsibility. Facing up to the fearsome Andy Roberts, Vishy played one of his finest innings (yes, he rates it better than that 97*) and helped India force a win at Eden Gardens.

On to the fourth Test in Chennai now and it was VIshy once again who stood firm even as India crumbled against Roberts. The Antiguan quick picked up 7 for 64 on what was a very fast track but Vishy’s aggressive, unbeaten 97 took India to a fighting total of 190 from which they were able to compete and ultimately win.

With the series level at 2-2 going into the final Test in Bombay, the cricketing world awaited what they felt would be the greatest of all comebacks. The West Indian captain, Clive Lloyd, however, had other ideas. He crushed Indian hopes with a magnificent 242 and ensured a West Indian win even as Vishy scored a fighting 95.

Viswanath’s batting itself was beautiful and many of his knocks oozed class and charm. This series performance, however, demonstrated that he was capable of turning it on when his team needed him the most. None of his 14 centuries ended in a defeat but his most glorious series performance finished in a loss.

Series Performance	Innings	Runs scored	Average	Balls per dismissal	100/50	% of team runs *
Gundappa Viswanath	10	568	63.11	-	1/3	25.37
Top 5 batsmen (India)	33	886	27.68	-	1/6	39.58
Top 5 batsmen (opposition)	44	2137	53.42	-	7/7	81.47

Form analysis	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100/50
Overall Career	91	155	6080	41.93	14/35
Before the series	18	35	1162	36.31	2/7
After the series	68	110	4350	41.82	11/25