The A to Z of Leeds

Ajit Shrugging off his first innings duck Ajit Wadekar scored 91 as India went about improving on their first innings show during the 1967 Test Alas in vainBoycott Who scores a double hundred and gets dropped for the next Test It can happen to a few like Geoff Boycott punished for slow scoring in the 1967 TestC lose The England captain in the summer of 1967 Brian Close started the India series with a win and went on to play a big hand in the hostsrsquo 30 series winDravid His hundred on Day One of the 2002 Test was a great knock considering the conditions Rahul Dravidrsquos 148 helped India level the series after the loss at Lordrsquos and draw at Trent BridgeEngineer Fortytwo and 87 in 1967 by Farokh Engineer not only thrilled the Headingley crowd but also as John Woodcock wrote in The Cricketer magazine ldquowas enough to reassure faint heartsrdquoFrench Two stumpers made their debut in the 1986 Test Indiarsquos Chandu Pandit although Kiran More kept wickets and Englandrsquos Bruce French who replaced Paul Downton Nottinghamshirersquos French reportedly indulged in mountaineeringGill No man in the current India squad will attract a bigger focus of attention than captain Shubman Gill He hasnrsquot captained India in Test cricket before but who is to say he wonrsquot lead by exampleHazare Indiarsquos captain in the 1952 Test may have suffered a big defeat then to Len Huttonrsquos team but Vijay Hazarersquos scores of 89 and 56 were applause worthyIllingworth Yorkshireman Ray Ilingworthrsquos offspin claimed four Indians who got starts in the second innings at the 1967 Test mdash Wadekar 91 Borde 33 Hanumant Singh 73 and Pataudi 148Jasprit The man with a question mark against his name How many Tests among the five will Jasprit Bumrah be fit to play is the question on everyonersquos lipsKohli Like him or hate him India will miss him and also those who will flock the grounds No Indian batsman has done so much for Test cricket in recent years as Virat Kohli the pundits sayLever Englandrsquos resources were so thin that they had to recall John Lever the then 37yearold leftarm fast bowler after four and a half years He got six wickets in this comeback Test in 1986 but that was his final game for his countryManjrekar After making his debut in the home series against England in 195152 Vijay Manjrekar was on the boat to England in 1952 He made an immediate impression on English soil by carving a hundred in his very first Test innings there mdash 133 out of 293Nair Comeback man Karun Nair is expected to prove why it was a mistake to keep him out of international cricket only three Tests after he scored his triple century against England in 201617Overcast These are conditions which pace bowlers will look to exploit The moving ball can trouble the best and cloudy weather will not be a great sight for batsmenPataudi Indiarsquos captain on the 1967 tour had to endure a 03 loss It all started at Leeds but then he also delighted his fans through his 64 and 148 ldquoIt was the batting of Pataudi that provided the Indians with the example they neededrdquo said The Cricketer magazineQ uality India may have a touring side without Kohli and Rohit Sharma but inexperience does not mean a dearth of quality Gill amp Co have that If at all their temperament will be tested at LeedsRoot Veteran Joe Root loves his home ground He also is known to score heavily against India He got a matchwinning hundred against Kohlirsquos team at Leeds in 2021 Now Gill has to watch outSachin Having played for Yorkshire in 1992 Sachin Tendulkar knew a lot about Leeds when he played his first Test there on the 2002 tour He came up with 193 his then best score in overseas Tests It contributed in no small measure to Indiarsquos innings victoryT for Trueman Fast bowling great Fred Trueman loved Leeds as much as he liked smoking his pipe and telling stories He made his debut for England there in 1952 under fellow Yorkshireman Len Hutton at 21Umrigar The man who once boasted of several individual batting records in Indian cricket just couldnrsquot get going in England He didnrsquot do well in 1952 and in the Leeds Test of 1959 offered some resistance before England romped to victory on the third day Polly Umrigar 39 and Chandu Borde 41 put on 69 runs for the fourth wicket but when they got out India collapsedVengsarkar A lion at Lordrsquos can roar at Leeds too Thatrsquos what Dilip Vengsarkar proved as he smashed a matchwinning hundred for the second time on the bounce in the 1986 series After his 61 in the first innings he scored an imperious unbeaten 102 in the secondWillis England pace spearhead Bob Willis dismissed Chetan Chauhan and Mohinder Amarnath for a duck in the 1979 Test His best effort for the venue came two summers later when his 843 bowled England to victory in 1981Xfactor For his experience and ability to grit his way through my Xfactor pick would be KL Rahul Hersquos also proved to be a good performer in opening Tests on toursYorkshire What is Leeds without mentioning its county for whom the best of cricketers have played over the yearsZero That was Indiarsquos score as they lost four wickets in the second innings of the 1952 Test Pankaj Roy DK Gaekwad Madhav Mantri and Vijay Manjrekar were sent back before India registered their first run of the inningsmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper