Ajit Wadekar

Mumbai: Former India captain Ajit Wadekar hopes the Brabourne Stadium will be lucky for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men who are one win away from capturing the No.1 spot in Test rankings.

“I think, India will become the No.1 Test team. They have the right balance... And they are full of confidence. I am sure they will win (the third and final Test against Sri Lanka),” Wadekar told reporters at the Cricket Club of India, which houses the historic venue, on Monday.

India, who have a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series, need to beat Sri Lanka in the decider, starting Wednesday, to become the top-ranked side in the world.

Wadekar, who captained the Indian side against Tony Lewis’ England in the last Test held at the Brabourne 36 years ago, hoped Sachin Tendulkar would get a century in the upcoming Test.

“I hope he gets it. It would be like scoring a hundred at Lord’s,” Wadekar said.

“CCI is the only ground that is similar to Lord’s … players from England, Australia and South Africa, all love to play here.”

The 1972-73 Test at the CCI ended in a draw, with both the teams posting first innings totals in excess of 400 each, but Wadekar recalled it with great joy, and not without reason.

“We had taken a 2-1 lead in the series and it was the last match. We needed to draw the game and it gave us our third series win (following victories in the West Indies and England) on the trot,” said the 68-year-old.

But memories of Brabourne stretched even further back for Wadekar. “In 1956, I watched (Australian batsman) Neil Harvey stepping out to (late leg-spinner) Subhash Gupte from the East stand,” he reminisced.

“That’s when I got completely hooked to cricket. I was in school then, and I told myself that I could also step out to spinners. Harvey was my idol.”

Wadekar was aware that the match against Lanka could well be a one-off Test at the Brabourne since the action would shift back to the Wankhede once its renovation was completed.

“I hope they continue to use this ground for some form of the game, whether it’s the ODIs or T20s. This ground cannot go unutilised,” he said.

Wadekar also said India were playing fewer matches in the longer version of the game. “We should have at least two full, proper series in a season. Seven ODIs (against Australia) was a bit too much. Maybe five would have been ideal and there could have been one or two Tests,” he said.