A to Z of Lord’s

Azharuddin A bittersweet Lordrsquos Test in 1990 because Mohd Azharuddin won the toss and inserted the opposition Thank you very much said Graham Gooch as he and his fellow batsmen thrived Azhar responded with a splendid hundred according to him his finest at the timeBedi Cricket manager Bishan Singh Bedi was not in favour of his captain Mohd Azharuddinrsquos decision to bat first at Lordrsquos in 1990 and Bedirsquos disapproval reached the mediaCottari Two brothers with the same first name figured in the 1936 Lordrsquos Test mdash allrounder CK Nayudu and legspinner CS Nayudu CK captained India in the inaugural Test in 1932 after which Wisden described him as ldquoa man of high character and directness of purposerdquoDada A Test debut to remember for Sourav lsquoDadarsquo Ganguly in 1996 Walking in at No 3 for his first taste of Test cricket as a batsman Ganguly hit an imperious 131 Fellow debutant Rahul Dravid missed his hundred by five runs in the same innings A maiden Test century at Lordrsquos for Dravid came 15 years later in 2011Edrich Englandrsquos No3 batsman John Edrich missed his century by four runs when he was trapped LBW by Bedi in the 1974 Test Had Edrich got to his hundred he would have been the fourth centurion of the first innings after Dennis Amiss Mike Denness and Tony GreigIndiarsquos Rahul Dravid works his way to a hundred in the 2011 Lordrsquos Test PICSGETTY IMAGESFortytwo Thatrsquos all Ajit Wadekarrsquos Indian team could manage in the 1974 Test while following on It was the countryrsquos lowest Test score before Kohli amp Corsquos 36 in the Adelaide Test in 202021 Gooch Should have been walking back with 36 to his name in 1990 but wicketkeeper Kiran More dropped a regulation catch off hapless seamer Sanjeev Sharma and Graham Gooch went on to carve a careerbest 333Hutton Englandrsquos captain Len Hutton in the 1952 Test led from the front with a 150 in the first innings and a fighting unbeaten 39 in the secondIshant Inspired by what fellow pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar 682 did in the first innings Ishant Sharma demolished England in their second innings with a matchwinning 774 He tops the Indian list for the best bowling performance in an innings at LordrsquosJadeja Edgbaston witnessed two good performances with the bat but Ravindra Jadeja is short of scalps He had only three wickets to show in his two Tests at Lordrsquos in 2014 and 2021 wicketless in the last oneKapil The spiritual headquarters of cricket was kind to Indiarsquos 1983 World Cupwinning captain In the 1990 Test he hit four consecutive sixes off Eddie Hemmings to help India avoid the followonLaxman While Eden Gardens has seen five Test tons from the blade of VVS Laxman and Sydney was blessed with three Lordrsquos did not see the best of Laxman His best in the three Tests he played there was in 2002 mdash a 74 amidst a 126run partnership with centurion Ajit AgarkarMankad Pulled out of the English league to rescue his country Vinoo Mankad made the 1952 Test his own mdash 72 and 184 and 5196 in Englandrsquos first inningslsquoMankadrsquos Testrsquo the media justifiably called it although India lostNursery The Nursery End of the ground has often been brought up in commentary But the ground behind the massive media centre is a beehive of activity with fans enjoying their cricket breaks on the grassOld Yorkshireman Chris Old destroyed India with a match haul of nine wickets in 1974 John Woodcock in The Cricketer magazine said that Old was ldquofast and lethalrdquoPanesar After sending back RP Singh for two in the dying moments of the 2007 Test Monty Panesar fancied his chances of doing the same to last man S Sreesanth but a loud LBW appeal was turned down by umpire Steve Bucknor Bad weather ended the Test at 620 pmQueen Her majesty Queen Elizabeth II was a regular at Lordrsquos to meet both teams Farokh Engineer said that she informed him about the birth of his daughter after arriving during the 1967 TestRahane Wisden called the 2014 Test pitch ldquothe greenest surface served up at Lordrsquos in living memoryrdquo Yet Ajinkya Rahane scripted a century the second of his career The Mumbai man survived a vehement LBW appeal from Stuart Broad just before he could reach three figuresShami Mohd Shami proved that he could be a sticky customer with the bat in the 2014 Nottingham Test where he got 51 At Lordrsquos in 2021 his 56 played a major hand in England being set a 272run victory target A 151run win for India followedTendulkar Allan Lamb wonrsquot forget the catch Sachin Tendulkar took to dismiss him in the second innings In journalist David Frithrsquos words the amazing onehanded catch ldquodeserved isolated billingrdquoUnleash Then chief coach Ravi Shastri revealed recently that skipper Virat Kohli urged his bowlers to ldquounleash hellrdquo on England who ultimately folded for 120 in 2021Vengsarkar The Lord of Lordrsquos title sits well with Dilip Vengsarkar The only overseas player to score three consecutive Test tons at the fabled venue is a feat that will be difficult to emulate considering longevity is a rare aspect in todayrsquos cricketWait India ended their 54year wait for a Lordrsquos Test victory when Kapil Dev amp Co overwhelmed David Gowerrsquos side in 1986 Indiarsquos next Test win there came in 2014XFactor Should we expect something special from that man who answers to the name Ben StokesYardley England allrounder Norman Yardley made three Test appearances at Lordrsquos mdash all three 1947 vs South Africa 1948 vs Australia and 1950 vs West Indies as captainZaheer Who knows if India would have lost the 2011 series 04 had Zaheer Khan not suffered a hamstring injury in his 14th over of the Test He played no further part in the seriesmiddayrsquos Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper