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Kumble claimed 11 wickets that day!

For three glorious days, I forgot all about politics (or at least tried my best to do so). I had tickets for the Ferozeshah Kotla Test, and took time off to watch the second, third, and fourth days of the unforgettable match. Actually, I could have gone on the first day too, but the prime minister, the Delhi chief minister, and other VVIPs were supposed to be there, meaning that security would be hitting the migraine level.

It didn't matter anyway. From an Indian point of view the first day's play was easily the most forgettable of the lot. In fact, I think I got the better deal, since I got to see Anil Kumble's record haul of 10 wickets which none of the VVIPs did. All they saw was Saqlain Mushtaq taking the stuffing out of the Indian first innings.

By the way, before all of you rush to point out that Kumble had a predecessor in taking 10 wickets, let me say that I used the word 'record' advisedly. It was indeed the first instance of a bowler taking 10 wickets in a single innings in a single day.

In all honesty, I should add that this is a little unfair to Jim Laker; in 1956 he did take 10 wickets in a single day, but in two different innings. He got nine Australian wickets for a niggardly 37 runs in the first innings, and a single wicket in the second -- at which point the sun set on the day's play.

The next day, as all cricket fans know, Laker went on to pick up the remaining nine wickets, making nineteen in all for that Test. But be that as it may, the fact remains that Anil Kumble is the only bowler to pick up all 10 wickets of an innings in a single day. (Actually two sessions of play!)

But did I say that I did my best to forget about politics? It was a little tough to do so for two excellent reasons. First, the crowd was baying for Pakistani blood. Second, everyone was speculating on the state of the newly-relaid Kotla pitch. And both couldn't help reminding me of the one and only Bal Thackeray.

Now that the Test series is over, what is everyone's opinion of the Shiv Sena chief's initial virulent opposition to the very idea of an India-Pakistan series? Was he right in stating that he was speaking for millions of Indians? And did it have any effect at all on the cricket itself? Quite frankly, those are tough questions to answer.

The answer to the first depends on whether you think the crowds at Madras or those at Delhi were better reflections of the popular mood. Madras applauded the Pakistani effort, perhaps not as enthusiastically as they would have cheered an Indian victory, but quite warmly nonetheless. As for Delhi, well, shouts of 'Pakistan murdabad!' and 'Bhaad mein jayee Pakistan!' didn't exactly display any warmth. If you went purely by the reactions of the crowd in the Indian capital, you could be excused for thinking that Thackeray was closer to the public mood.

But the crowd was quite well-behaved on the whole. Did you see the recent one-day matches in the Carlton & United series begin played in Australia? In one of them, an England-Australia match, an angry crowd pelted the English fielders with beer bottles, as well as tennis, golf, and croquet balls. There was even an attempt, intercepted by the police, to send a remote-controlled car on the field with a stuffed duck at the wheel! Nothing that the Delhi crowd said or did was half as bad. (Reacting to the crowd's barracking, the Pakistani captain gamely noted that it wasn't anything worse than Indian cricketers would face in Lahore.)

So I suppose you could say that the powers-that-be were right in insisting on allowing the Test series to go ahead even at the cost of the BJP falling out with the Shiv Sena. Foreign Secretary Raghunath, who seemed to spend as much time analysing the crowd as on watching the cricket, seemed quite pleased. So did Sharyar Khan, now manager of the Pakistani team, but once foreign secretary of Pakistan (and incidentally Pataudi's cousin).

Ultimately, however, it wasn't the politics or the crowds that we shall remember this series for. It was the cricket, what happened on the field, that was memorable. Anil Kumble humbled the Pakistanis of course, but in the process he also beat Bal Thackeray.

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