The Indian men’s cricket team has registered several memorable victories in their backyard for England over the years. However, none of these victories come close to India winning their maiden Test match as well as their maiden series win in the longest format of the game on English soil. And Team India did this feat fifty years ago on this day. In January 1971, Ajit Wadekar was handed over the captaincy of the Indian team from Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Wadekar-led Team India was traveling to England in the summer of 1971, when they were confident in a 1–0 win over West Indies in a five-match Test series in the Caribbean.
Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath and Dilip Sardesai were some of the legendary batsmen during the Indian team’s three-match tour of England. However, it was the country’s spin quad – Erapalli Prasanna, Bishan Singh Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and S Venkataraghavan – that propelled India to their first win over the British team.
India dominated the first Test match of the series. However, it ended in a draw. In the second Test, rain spoiled the game at Old Trafford as the match once again ended in a draw.
With the series tied 0–0, India and England faced each other again in the decider of the tournament at The Oval.
Bowling first, India bundled out England for 355 in their first innings thanks to some brilliant bowling from Bedi and Eknath Solkar. The pair of Bedi and Eknath Solkar shared nine wickets among themselves.
In reply, England’s team, taking a lead of 71 runs, bundled India for 284 runs. In England’s second innings, Chandrasekhar took a match-winning six as India bowled out the hosts for 101 runs.
Chasing 173 to win the match, India won the match by four wickets to register their first Test victory in England. With this win, India went on to win the three-match series 1–0 to register their first ever Test series win in England.
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