Dilip vengsarkar records Lord’s Cricket Ground: See the list of those who make 3 or more Tests at Lord’s Cricket Ground, famous as the maize of cricket:
6 Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan (both England)
5 Kevin Peterson and Andrew Strauss (both England)
4 Ian Bell, Alastair Cook and Alan Lamb (All England)
3 Geoff Boycott, Dennis Competon, John Edrich, Jack Hobbes, Nasser Hussain, Lane Hutton, Mat Prior, Aleck Stuart and Ben Stokes (all England) and Dilip Vengsarkar (India)
Note, None of Don Bradman, Steve Smith, Brian Lara, Zaheer Abbas, Gary Sobers or our own Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. The truth is that Gavaskar never made a test 100 in Lord’s and Sachin did not even make 50.
Is one of the most different in the list above? Whose? It is not difficult to guess and this name is of Dilip Vengsarkar of India. He became not only the first foreign batsman to make three 100 in Tests at Lord’s, till date no one has been able to match his unique record. That is why he is also called ‘Lord of Lords’.
From the late 70s to the end of the 80s, he was one of the best batsmen in the world not only in India. From 1986 to 1988, in 16 Tests, he put eight 100. When the ICC started the ranking of the prepared players with the help of computers, he was the first batsman to become number 1 in it. In India, if someone equaled the great Sunil Gavaskar to score runs, he was Dilip Vengsarkar.
Wisden Cricketers ‘Almanac’, called the Bible of Cricket, wrote, ‘Vengsarkar’s most special achievement in the international level is the record for the only non-English batsman to make 100 Tests in their three Tests in Lord’s.’ Wisden chose and honored him one of the 5 cricketers of the year of the year in 1987.
Wisden wrote: ‘… and this long, beautiful batsman was at the top of his cricket in the 1986 summer. His two 100 made in Lord’s and Headingley, one of the worst Test pitches seen in a few years in England, was the top batting and helped India win the three-Test series 2–0. The series recorded an average of 90, which is the best record of any Indian batsman in England. It would be absolutely wrong to think that they made these 100 on the attack of a weak England team. Both of these 100, Vengsarkar, came to bat when the second wicket fell and when the number 11 batsman came to the crease, his 100 runs were not completed. Both of them were very high status innings. The truth is that Vengsarkar did not get the praise in India either. Let’s look at these three 100 more carefully in Lord’s:
England Tour of 1979: The tour began with Vengsarkar’s ‘Love Affair’ with Lord’s and scored 103 runs, adding 210 runs in partnership with Gundappa Vishwanath, and saved India from an almost decided defeat. When India started batting in the second innings, they were behind by 323 runs and, for India, both Vengsarkar and Vishwanath made 100. Vengsarkar batted for five and a half hours, hit 13 fours and was the man of the match.
1982 England Tour: This time, when India started playing ahead of two wickets (Dilip Vengsarkar 30*, Ravi Shastri 6*) on the fourth day, the score was 110 runs for four wickets shortly after. Now Yashpal Sharma came to support Vengsarkar. Vengsarkar scored 86 runs between lunch and tea and the stroke play the stroke, one of the best on this ground, counts it. He batted for 331 minutes, scoring 21 fours, scored 157 runs and did not let the England bowlers get involved in collaboration with Yashpal. Then Willis took 4 wickets in 4 overs while bowling amazing fast, which included 3 wickets on 9 balls and everything was over for India.
1986 England Tour: This time made its third 100 consecutive 100 in Lord’s which is a wonderful achievement for any visiting batsman till date. He made 126* with the help of 16 fours and many experts consider it to be his best batting performance in Lord’s. Rarely played any wrong shots and every movement was fantastic. Batted 326 minutes and made his 10th Test 100. Also scored 33 runs in the second innings and helped India win the Test. They both were the top scorer in the innings.
When number 10 Kiran More came to bat, Vengsarkar was at 81* and when the last batsman Maninder came to play with him, he was at 95*. Both of them then played much better than their batting reach and helped Vengsarkar to make the record of the first foreign batsman to make three 100 in Test cricket at Lord’s. Till then only Geoff Boycott, Dennis Competon, John Edrich, Jack Hobbes and Lane Hobbies from England were such records. The record of a foreign batsman who made three 100 in Lord’s is not ordinary and noted that Vengsarkar put three 100 in his first three Tests and he was the first batsman to do so.
Wisden also selected one of the five cricketers of the year of 1987 and wrote, ‘It has always been believed that the real test of batting is to score in England, where the situation can change completely with the cloud passing over the cloud and where there is a lot of change in the mood of the pitch. Even in the era of covered pitch, the batsman coming to England is very proud of success in England.
Further, it was written, ‘Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar is a player who was successful on every tour of England, who was born on 6 April 1956 in Bombay. Her name has a unique record of 100 in each of her three Tests at Lord’s. He was also the best player of the series and India won their first series in 15 years in England, thanks to 340 runs in his 6 innings.
1990 England Tour: Vengsarkar did not succeed this time in search of the fourth consecutive Test 100 at Lord’s and was dismissed for 52 runs.
