Nicknamed "Sly" or "Silvers", Clarke was subsequently selected for the West Indies' tour of India in 1978–79, taking 21 wickets at 33.85, including his Test best figures of 5/126 in the 2nd Test at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. He then toured Pakistan in 1980–81 where he took 14 Test wickets at 17.28 before gaining his first taste of controversy. During the 4th Test at Multan, Clarke was pelted with oranges and stones by spectators whilst fielding on the boundary. Enraged, he responded by picking up a nearby brick and hurling it into the crowd, badly injuring a spectator who later required emergency surgery to his head. A near crowd riot was averted only when Clarke's teammate Alvin Kallicharan got down on bended knee to apologise directly to the crowd. Reflecting wryly on the incident many years later, Phil Edmonds commented that the brick "probably swung late and viciously before hitting him on the head."