Dilip to be honoured at Lords

Dilip to be honoured at Lords
Vaibhav Purandare

JUNE 27: ``It's a great honour to be ranked among the top ten performers at Lords,'' says Vengsarkar, ``especially as I have nine greats for company -- Don Bradman, Gary Sobers, Bob Massie, Ian Botham, Gordon Greenidge, Graham Gooch, Derek Underwood, Allan Lamb and Glenn McGrath.'' Along with these nine, Vengsarkar will walk through the Long Room at Lord's and then on to the green, while spectators savour clips of thier feats on-screen.

It was natural that the honour should come his way. Vengsarkar was always lord of all he surveyed at Lord's. He scored three consecutive Test hundreds there, in 1979, '82 and '86 respectively. Did he feel particularly confident whenever he went out to bat at Lord's? ``There are some grounds where you feel positive and are sure of getting runs. Lord's was one such ground for me,'' he notes.

The tag stuck, and Vengsarkar didn't do anything in his career that could help it come unstuck. He scored prolifically for India, totalling 6,868 runs in 116 Tests at an average of 42.13 and was acknowledged as one of India's best batsmen ever.

To have to bat at number three time when Sunil Gavaskar opened the innings and Vishwanath came in at number four brought its own pressures, of course, but it was also a motivating factor. ``I loved batting with Sunny and Vishy and had many memorable partnerships with them,'' Vengsarkar says.

Gavaskar helped the naturally attacking batsman in Vengsarkar refashion his methods to suit the demands of top-level cricket, with the result that Vengsarkar combined aggression with solid defence to give bowlers a deadly alliance to fight with. Unlike Gavaskar and other conquerers of the speedy stuff, he did not move back-and-across initially to fast bowlers. But despite being somewhat troubled by predatory pacers, he still drove his way -- through the on and off -- gloriously to the top.

He was labelled by detractors as arrogant; he didn't care. He let his bat do the talking. He was the perennial introvert who took his game very seriously. In the Ranji semi-final against Haryana in '91, he belted Kapil Dev (``I loved making runs against him and he loved getting me out'') all over the Wankhede stadium, put up a great fight and cried inconsolably when Mumbai narrowly lost the game. Similarly, once, in a Mumbai `A' division game, he ticked off autograph-seeking children furiously because he was padded up and tense over his side's loss of a quick wicket.

Popularity charts were never meant for Dilip Vengsarkar. But a big honour at Lord's for batting feats is only his.