Wadekar’s resiilience, Chandrasekhar’s storm: How India conquered England shores for first time in 1971

New Delhi [India], June 16 (ANI): A new-look Indian side will kickstart their five-match series against England from June 20 onwards at Leeds, aiming to seal the side’s first series win on English shores in 18 years under captaincy of newly-appointed captain Shubman Gill, following retirements of superstars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the format.

As Team India practices and sweats it hard, they will have three captains and their teams to take inspiration from: Ajit Wadekar, who won India their first series in England back in 1971, Kapil Dev, who repeated the feat in 1986 and Rahul Dravid, who brought the Pataudi Trophy back home in 2007. Ahead of the series, let us look back at India’s hard-fought 1-0 win in England 44 years back.

1st Test: After a series of solid performances against several counties in tour matches, the first Test took place at Lord’s. England opted to bat first, putting on 304 on the board, with half-centuries from Alan Knott (67) and John Snow (73) after India reduced them to 183/7. Bishan Bedi (4/70), Bhagwath Chandrasekhar (3/110) and S Venkataraghavan (2/44) shone for India with their bamboozling spin.

India secured a slender nine-run lead despite the early loss of openers Ashok Mankad and Sunil Gavaskar, with fifties coming from Ajit Wadekar (85), Gundappa Viswanath (68) and Eknath Solkar (67), who powered India to 313. In the second England innings, spin was once again dominant as other than a fifty from John Edrich (62), none of the batters could make an impact. Venkataraghavan took 4/52, reducing England to 191, and India had 183 runs to chase.

India started off shaky with scoreline at 21/2, with a 66-run stand between Gavaskar (53) and Farokh Engineer (35) putting India at the front before England struck a comeback courtesy a Norman Gifford (4/48) spell. The match ended in a draw, with India at 145/8.

2nd Test: In the second Test at Lord’s, England once again opted to bat first. Skipper Ray Illingworth (107) along with Peter Lever (88*) and Brian Luckhurst (78) proved England right as they put up 386 on the board. Syed Abid Ali (4/64) and Venkataraghavan (3/89) were the top bowlers for India.

In their first innings, India were made to suffer by Lever (5/70) as no one clicked with the bat except for fifties from Gavaskar (57) and Solkar (50). India was skittled out for 212, trailing by 174 runs.

Luckhurst (101) and Edrich (59) scored big for England, who declared on 245/3 in the second innings, setting a massive 420 to chase for India. The match ended in a stalemate, with India at 65/3.

3rd Test: The Oval Test was Indian cricket at its finest in England. A hat-trick of toss wins put England to bat first, and fifties from John Jameson (82), Knott (90) and Richard Hutton (81) took England to 355. Solkar shined with spell of 3/28, while spin trio of Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Venkatraghavan managed two each.

Resilient fifties from Dilip Sardesai (54) and Engineer (54) ,and skipper Wadekar’s (48) took India to 284, though they trailed by 71 runs. Skipper Illingworth (5/70) shone with a five-wicket haul.

In England’s second innings, Chandrasekhar (6/38) hit the hosts like a storm, bundling them out for 101 runs, setting an easy 172 to chase for India. India chased down this total with four wickets left, with Wadekar (45) and Sardesai (40) playing solid knocks in the face of hiccups endured during the chase. India registered their first-ever Test win in England and first-ever series win there as well.

Skipper Wadekar was India’s top run-getter (204 runs in three matches with a fifty in six innings), followed by Engineer (172 runs in three Tests with a fifty in five innings) and Solkar (168 runs in three Tests with two fifties in five innings).

The spin trio of Venkatraghavan (13 scalps in three matches at an average of 26.92, best figures of 4/52), Chandrasekhar (13 scalps in three matches at an average of 29.15, best figures of 6/38), and Bedi (11 wickets at an average of 29.54, with best figures of 4/29) dominated the top-three spots in the bowling charts. Solkar also took six wickets, making this series a solid all-round show for himself. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)

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