Hayden - The latest in a long line to strike it rich in India

Trust the Indian cricket team to make heroes out of players who arrive here with a modest record. Matthew Lawrence Hayden is the latest in a long line of players who came to India either far from established in the side or with a mediocre record. However, by the end of the tour they either boosted their career averages or gave clear indications of emerging as superstars in the not too distant future.

Just consider this. Landing in India last month, the Queensland left hander had played 13 Tests in a career that started against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1993-94. More out than in the team over the years, Hayden had not yet cemented a permanent berth for himself in the national team. But on the sheer weight of his domestic record, it was impossible for the selectors to ignore him. After all, he had a career average of over 50 in first class cricket. This however contrasted with his Test figures which read 536 runs at an average of just over 24 from 13 Tests (22 innings). Over the years, the presence of stalwarts like Mark Taylor, Michael Slater, Greg Blewett and Matthew Elliott restricted his appearances. But then Hayden did get 149 in his maiden first-class innings and continued to hold out some promise of better things to come.

It might be a little late in his career - after all he is in his 30th year - but then as the cliche goes, better late than never. Hayden has finally struck it rich on the tour of India. His Test career has jumped to almost 40, and by Sunday evening he was within six runs of 1000 runs. His figures in the three Tests are truly Bradmanesque - 119 and 28 not out at Mumbai, 97 and 67 at Kolkata and now an unbeaten 147 at Chennai. With 458 runs at an average of 152.66 at the time of writing, Hayden has overshadowed the more illustrious batsmen in the side and has proved to be the proverbial thorn in India's flesh.

But then Hayden, as I said, is in good company. India is the place where many struggling players have come of age and gone on to great achievements. Richie Benaud was one. When he came to India in 1956 he was a struggling leg spinner having bagged just 50 wickets from 24 Tests. The 23 wickets he took in the three Test series gave a fresh kick start to his career which ended with Benaud finishing with 248 wickets from 63 Tests.

Wesley Hall was another who had a good tour of India and never looked back. He was taken to England in 1957 as a fast tearaway but nothing he did on that tour gave any hint that he was a future West Indian great. Making his Test debut in India in 1958-59, Hall took 30 wickets in five Tests at economical cost and after that there was no looking back. A decade later, he ended his career with the most number of wickets for a West Indian bowler - 192 from 48 games.

Eight years later, another West Indian youngster made his Test debut in India. Clive Hubert Lloyd had come on the tour of India only as an extra middle order batsman, unlikely to get a look in with the likes of Sobers, Kanhai, Nurse, Holford and Butcher around. On the eve of the first Test, Nurse was injured and Lloyd was chosen as a last minute replacement. He scored 82 and 78 not out, could not be replaced and this was the start of an illustrious Test career that lasted almost two decades.

Ashley Mallett was a rookie off spinner who had bagged six wickets from two Tests when he came to India in 1969-70. `Mystery man' John Gleeson was the No 1 spinner in the side and Mallett was included only because of the nature of the pitches. By the end of the five Test series, he had displaced Gleeson and finished with 28 wickets. This set him on a career that saw Mallett take his place as Australia's leading spin bowler of the seventies and he finished with a career haul of 132 wickets from 38 matches.

Keith Fletcher was struggling to establish himself in the England middle order for four years when he came to India in 1972-73. From 15 Tests he had scored just 492 runs. At Madras in the third Test, he scored a superb unbeaten 97 and followed this with knocks of 58 and 113 in the remaining two Tests. This gave his career an impetus and thereafter he never looked back. He was one of the batting bulwarks in the seventies and ended his career nearly a decade later with 3,272 runs from 59 Tests with seven centuries and an average of almost 40.

The 1974-75 West Indian team had a strong batting line up - Fredericks, Greenidge, Kallicharran, Rowe and Lloyd. A newcomer named Vivian Richards was the extra batsman in the party. But when Rowe had to go back following an eye problem, Richards was included in the team for the first Test at Bangalore. It was an unhappy debut, for unable to fathom Chandrasekhar's bowling, Richards was out for four and three. Just about keeping his place for the second Test, Richards rose to the occasion with a magnificent unbeaten 192 and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history.

He came to India in 1976-77 to supplement the established pace attack of Bob Willis, Chris Old and Mike Selvey. But given a chance on the form he had displayed in the tour games, John Lever proceeded to make it a memorable Test debut at New Delhi. Besides scoring an invaluable 53 at No 9, the left arm swing bowler took ten wickets for 70. He finished the series with 26 wickets and even though he was thereafter in and out of the England team, Lever ended his career a decade later - also against India - with the respectable figures of 73 wickets from 21 Tests at an average of 26.72.

An all time great who first made his mark in India was Allan Border. When he came to this country in 1979-80 with a side weakened by the absence of the Packer players, Border had played in only three Tests and scored 146 runs. In the first Test at Madras, the pugnacious left hander scored 162 and 50 on his way to 521 runs in the six Tests. This set him on his way to the summit of 11,174 runs from 156 Tests, some 15 years later.

Mike Gatting's would perhaps be the prime example of a player whose career really got a push following his exploits in India. Gatting had been in and out of the England team for seven years since he made his debut in 1977-78. After 30 matches (53 innings) the specialist middle order batsman had not yet got a hundred. However in the first Test of the 1984-85 series, Gatting got 136, followed it up with 207 in the fourth Test and this was the start of a particularly prolific period for him. Ultimately his career lasted till 1994-95 and he finished with 4,409 runs from 79 Tests with ten hundreds.

Despite his monumental unbeaten 405 for Worcestershire against Somerset in 1988, Graeme Hick had a struggling start to his Test career. In 11 Tests before coming to India in 1992-93, Hick had made only 307 runs at an average of 18 with 51 as his highest. In the final Test at Bombay, the enigmatic right hander hit 178, just the knock he needed to start his career afresh and become one of England's batting bulwarks of the 90s.