Twice once Cricket Web

Martin Chandler | 6.44 BST 8 August 2021

Published: 2021
Pages: 248
Author: Bajaj, Sachin and Vaidya, Nishad Pai
Publisher: Notion Press
Rating: 3.5 stars

Indian cricket had a busy year in 1971 with a lot of travel. First, the country had to play a series of five tests in the Caribbean. The last time they had lost 5-0, and also in their only previous series in the West Indies, they had lost, although the result was better. After their stay in West India, the Indians were in England at the time. India had never won a test in England and had lost all but one of the last twelve. History did not suggest that the Indians had much hope for either race.

By the end of August, however, history had turned on its head. India had avoided losses in the eight tests it played, and better than it won in Port of Spain and Oval to take both sets. Indian author Sunder Rajan published modest stories about each tour and Brunell Jones from Trinidad on a trip to West India. However, that was all, so Indian writers had every reason to celebrate the 50th anniversary of such significant events this year.

And the celebration is a lot Twice once is. It’s certainly not a dry history, and it can’t be described as a tour, yet in the traditional sense. It is a collection of short essays. Between a few short introductory paragraphs and the conclusions of Indian pencil pencil books, there are as many as 71 of these short snippets. They take a chronological journey through two tours, and there’s a continuous thread, but the actual play isn’t filmed much (though this isn’t, I’m in a hurry to add criticism).

In reality, I don’t think there will be too many readers Twice Once and are not aware of the story of Indian cricket in 1971, which is as good as probably not enough material to be truly satisfying to read on this basis. But for anyone who knows the story, the book has a lot of insights and a few surprises.

Some of the stories are purely cricket. For example, Ajit Wadekar wanted all of his spinners to slow down their excess rates to be closer to the prices achieved by Western India, which were largely speed-intensive attacks. Likewise came the news that the great Garry Sobers had put Sunny Gavaskar down right at the start of his first test turn. Gavaskar then scored 65 points and of course 774 points 154.80 for the entire series, but maybe if he had had a setback in the first knock history, it could have been different? Of course not, of course, but the idea is interesting.

Many of the books tell a lot about the team spirit of the Indians, and there are a lot of smiles. Dilip Sardesais jokes for roommate Salim Duran in Trinidad got a smile on my lips. The Dominican episode, which featured a local delicacy of mountain chicken, has certainly aroused great amusement among tourists, or at least those who chose not to participate. In a slightly different sense, I was also very impressed with the attitude opened by batsman Ashok Mankad in England. Poor Mankad only made 42 runs in his six test shifts, but remained in the test team as he couldn’t stop scoring in other matches.

Material inside Twice Once comes from many books, magazines, and similar sources that have their own advantages during a global pandemic, even though it could have added depth to the end product if they had been men who won contemporary reflections in matches after half a century. Despite the fact that the book is certainly not a heavyweight series, it is absolutely entertaining to read, it has a great title, and while there may not be a photographic section that would have more than replaced the twenty caricatures with the talented Austin pen Coutinho. This is definitely worth a look.