The Luck Dilemma

India's tour of the West Indies in 1971 is a landmark event for more reasons than one. While India scripted their maiden test series victory in the Caribbean, a young and dynamic Sunil Gavaskar amassed 774 runs, a record for the most runs scored by a batsman in their debut series, which stands unbroken till date. This record was aided by the Windies who were generous to Gavaskar on the field. It's fair to say that Gavaskar had luck shining on him during that eventful tour that established him as India's premier batsman in years to come. 

After missing out on the first match of the series due to a whitlow, Gavaskar made his international debut in the second test at Port of Spain. He was dropped while attempting a drive on 12 by Windies skipper Garfield Sobers and went on to score a delightful 65. He followed it with another half-century in the second innings.

In the third test, Gavaskar was in scintillating form and was plundering the Windies bowlers. However, the nervousness got to him and he popped up a ball off Jack Noreiga, only to be saved by a fielding change just before that ball. The little master ended up registering his maiden test century, aided by a dash of luck.

Sobers had a routine of greeting players from the opposite team before the match and used to visit the Indian dressing room quite often. Since Sobers was going through a lean patch, he went to Gavaskar and touched him expecting to share some of his luck. As fate would have it, the magic worked as Sobers ended up scoring three consecutive centuries. 

With India going 1-0 in the final test, Windies required 262 on the final day to win the test and level the series. Sobers as usual went for a greeting session to the India dressing room. However, the Indian skipper Ajit Wadekar locked Sunil Gavaskar in the washroom as he was apprehensive that Sobers would get lucky by touching Gavaskar and end up scoring a century.

Gavaskar protested but Wadekar was adamant. Sobers could not meet Gavaskar that morning in the dressing room and was dismissed for a duck first ball by Abid Ali. Wadekar was elated as was the whole of India as the Indian team had scripted a miracle.

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