Ajit Wadekar

Only thrice has India won a Test series on English soil. The captains were Ajit Wadekar (1971), Kapil Dev (1986) and Rahul Dravid (2007). Ironically not one of the above three has ever been rated very highly as a captain in India.

Captains who lost or drew the series in England have been eulogized in the Indian media!  Cricket history reveals that the England tour is always the most difficult for Indians. Since 1932 India has played 17 Test series on English soil and lost 13 of those. Most of the Indians captains, who lost or drew, have been those who were supposed to possess exceptional cricket brains.

Yet the exceptional achievements of the three successful Indian captains in England have not received their due recognition. Superb leaders of men like Ajit Wadekar, Kapil Dev and Rahul Dravid never received any acclaim for their leadership qualities. Very strange, indeed. Very unfortunate.

Wadekar’s captaincy career has been a giant-wheel in motion. For a period of three years he was right on top, having won every series that came his way.  Then in a matter of weeks in 1974 he came crashing down. Became a villain whom everybody wanted to curse and kick.

People forgot that he had won a series against West Indies in their backyard in 1971. Repeated his success in England against a very strong England team in 1971. The following season his team beat England in India in 1972-73. Thus Wadekar won three series in succession, a feat which no other Indian captain has ever been able to replicate. He was indeed unlucky that he never had Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the opposition.

Wadekar received almost no credit for his team’s success. It was always claimed that he won with “Tiger Pataudi’s men”! Ajit till the last day of his life maintained, “If that be the issue, then why did Tiger not win with his own men?” Absolutely to the point.

But in 1974 Wadekar’s team lost all its 3 Tests in England. It was a disastrous tour for India with all the top stars available. The moment that happened, his house in Mumbai became the target of stones and bricks. Ajit Wadekar actually had almost the same players as he did in 1974. Yet the media forgot all about “Tiger Pataudi’s men” and laid all the blame on Wadekar’s captaincy!

Wadekar, disappointed and upset, retired immediately from all forms of cricket on his return from England in 1974. His whole life has been full of peculiar contradictions. May his soul finally rest in peace.

Misunderstood and misjudged, the soft-spoken, academically brilliant man always remained a soft target.