On this day in 1983: Anshuman Gaekwad completes the then-slowest Test double century
Anshuman Gaekwad was one of Indian team’s valuable players who was in and out of the team during the 70s and 80s. While he was one of the useful batters who also made an impact with his right-arm off-break, he also holds the reputation of registering the slowest double century in Test cricket.
It was on this very day in 1983 that Gaekwad scored 200 in 652 minutes during a Test match against arch-rivals Pakistan who dominated India regularly in the bilateral series back in the time.
When Anshuman Gaekwad completed the then slowest double century
India and Pakistan locked horns in the second Test match at Jalandhar. Indian skipper Kapil Dev called it right at the toss and elected to bowl first. The visitors posted a formidable total of 337 in their first innings riding on a brilliant 125 from Wasim Raja.
However, things did not look promising for the Indian team as early dismissals of their top-order batters Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath (7) and Yashpal Sharma (7) put them in a spot of bother.
When the scorecard read 73/3, Pakistan looked in complete control, but Anshuman Gaekwad single-handedly held on from the other end bravely and was involved in small partnerships with the batters that followed. Even though wickets did keep falling from the other end, Gaekwad kept the Pakistani bowlers toil hard for breakthroughs and did not give them a chance to take his wicket by any means.
The Bombay cricketer’s grit and determination of fighting back paid off as he scored his double ton in 652 minutes and it took him 426 deliveries to get there. He was eventually dismissed for 201 runs from 436 balls that lasted for 671 minutes including 17 fours.
His superlative knock helped India overhaul Pakistan’s first innings score and finished at 374. With a deficit of only 37 runs, Pakistan looked to set a formidable total for India in the second innings. Nonetheless, that was not to be as the rain played a spoilsport from making the contest even more exciting as the visitors scored 16 runs from the nine overs they played without losing a wicket.
Gaekwad’s record was eventually shattered by the former Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batter Brendon Kuruppu, when he scored a double-century off 548 deliveries in 777 minutes against New Zealand in April 1987.
