The Oval is close to the heart of India's cricket history

Namaste England

Lord's may well be the Mecca of cricket (though modernists contend that it is now Eden Gardens), but the Oval boasts of deeper, more fascinating history, including some poignant moments for India.

Located in the less snooty part of south London, the area around the Oval has a high proportion of inhabitants from various Asian and Caribbean countries. "This used to be the home of West Indies cricket, but no more," lamented the Afro-Caribbean storekeeper, just off the Oval tube station. "Now you guys should take over." Was Rahul Dravid was within earshot?

For the uninitiated, cricket's archives readily reveal the following, which puts the Oval's importance in perspective.

a) This is the venue where the first ever Test was played in England, in September 1880. WG Grace scored a hundred on debut, and England beat Australia

b) Two years later, cricket's most famous trophy came into being after England, chasing only 85 to win, collapsed from 51 for 2 to 78 all out. The Sporting Times ran a mock obituary, giving rise to the Ashes.

c) This was the ground on which Len Hutton broke Don Bradman's record score of 334. Hutton made 364 in 1938, which stood for almost 20 years before Sobers went a run ahead.

d) Don Bradman's last innings in Test cricket played here in 1948 saw him get a duck. Had he scored 4 runs, he would have finished with an average of 100!

e) In 1976, Mike Holding took 14 wickets on a featherbed, rubbing Tony Greig's nose into the pitch as it were. Greig, captaining England, had said he would make West Indies grovel.

f) In 1979, India failed by a mere nine runs to score a record 421 in the fourth innings and win. Sunil Gavaskar made 221.

From the Indian point of view, perhaps the most significant is the 1971 Test here when Wadekar's team beat England by four wickets. This was India's first-ever Test and series win in England and sparked off untold joy back home.

Most of the members of that side, barring the recently deceased Dilip Sardesai, are still alive and, as Farokh Engineer related recently, there was a "sense of disbelief as much as there was pride in every Indian in the dressing room."

That series turned around India's stock in the game. "We surprised ourselves, but that can't be the case now," says Engineer. "The game thrives on India's support. These players have everything going for them, the talent is excellent, but they must have pride and self-belief to succeed."

And a little luck, one might add.

Why no Inzy?
Shane Warne's List of 50 Great Cricketers continues to be the talking point amongst the game's followers here. The newsagent-cum-shop owner down the road from my temporary residence on Gloucester Road, a true-blue Punjabi from Rawalpindi, is one of those who has not stopped mulling over it. Indeed, he is very, very unhappy.

"No mention at all of Inzamam-ul-Haq, yeh kaise ho sakta hai?," he cribbed. "It is also loaded against Pakistanis." I reminded him that Wasim Akram was at number 6, but this was no solace for the true-blue punju from pindi. "But how can Inzamam and Mohammed Yousuf be omitted, yeh kaise ho sakta hai?," he asked again, the incredulousness redoubled.

The punju from pindi has a point. Okay, only a fantastic surge of high scores last year got Yousuf into the big league, as it were, so we have to wait and watch how he fares from here.

But Inzy sure has been a great batsman. He made a huge contribution in Pakistan's 1992 World Cup victory, has a Test triple hundred to his credit, and has won more games off his own bat than any other Pakistani - or indeed players from any other country. 

He was also the most endearing post-match speaker, perhaps in the history of the game: self-deprecating, mixing languages, metaphors, scorn and smiles and yet managing to get his message across. For this ability alone, he would rank in my list of great modern cricketers, though Warne obviously thinks differently.  Each to his own.

Talking of spoilt brats  
If you thought India's cricketers are spoilt rich, leading flamboyant lifestyles, consider Brazilian striker Adriano, who plays for Inter Milan and West Ham.

Adriano earns 125000 pounds (Rs one crore) a week, spends one fifth of that every week for staying in a five-star hotel despite having a home on the outskirts of the city because he likes to party.

"I like going to nightclubs and discos and try to get rid of my problems through alcohol," Adriano is reported as saying in the Daily Mail.

With money like, you wonder why he should have any problems at all. But right now Adriano's problems are getting multiplied because he has been dropped from Inter's Champions League team because of his poor form.

Whether this will drive him back to the training or binge-drinking remains to be seen.

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Talking of flashy footballers, there is nobody to compare with the man who has changed his hairstyle 200 times, married a pop star, and is raking it in despite not going anywhere near a football field for the next six weeks.

Sorry, but I am not putting his name down in cold print. To know who, read my lips.