On This Day: India defeated England for the first time in England

24th August is a historic day in Indian cricket as today marks the 52nd anniversary of India’s first win at England. A team led by Ajit Wadekar created history as they defeated England in England for the very first time. In this article, we will take a look at the historic match.

England opts to bat first

After winning the toss the hosts opted to bat first at The Oval. Brian Luckhurst was dismissed for just one run by Eknath Solkar. Opener John Jameson along with John Edrich then made 100 runs plus stand for the second wicket. Once Edrich was dismissed England lost a flurry of wickets as they went from 111 for the loss of one wicket to 143 for the loss of five wickets. Wicketkeeper Alan Knott scored 90 while opener Jameson scored 82 runs and lower down the order Richard Hutton scored 81 runs which allowed England to reach a total of 355.

For India, spinners wreaked havoc as Eknath Solkar took three wickets. The trio of Bishan Bedi, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan took two wickets each. The leader of the spin attack, left-arm orthodox spinner Bedi bowled 36 overs in the first innings.

India replies in the second innings

India lost one of their best batters Sunil Gavaskar and opening partners Ashok Mankad early in the innings for a score of just 21 runs. Skipper Ajit Wadekar alongside Dilip Sardesai steadied the ship with a 93-run stand. The visitors just like the host went on to lose a flurry of wickets after a big partnership. The Ajit Wadekar-led side went from 114 runs for the loss of two wickets to 125 runs for the loss of five wickets as Gundappa Vishwanath was dismissed for a duck. Solkar after picking up three wickets in the first stitched a very important 97-run stand with wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer. Half-centuries from Sardesai and Farokh along with a couple of scores of 40+ from Wadekar and Solkar allowed India to reach 284 runs.

For England, right-arm off-spinner, Ray Illingworth took a five-wicket haul taking wickets of Wadekar, Sardesai and Gundappa. He was supported by new ball bowlers, John Snow and John Price who took the wickets of the openers. 

England takes a healthy lead

England took a lead of 71 runs as they dismissed India for the score of 284 runs. The visitors had their tasks cut out for them as they needed to restrict England for a low score in order to push for a win. The history-making nation started brilliantly as they ran out opener Jameson batting on 16. England lost their first wicket with the scoreboard reading 23 runs and lost another two wickets for just a single run. Three wickets down for 24, England needed a big partnership to get out of the hole they had dug for themselves. Unfortunately for the host, they could not manage to find a partnership as they kept on losing wickets in quick succession. Their highest partnership of 25 runs came for the fourth wicket which meant that they could just reach the total of 101 runs. Opener Luckhurst top scored for them with 33 runs. India now had the target of 173 in front of them with over one and a half days left in the game.

For India, right-arm legbreak bowler, Chandrasekhar was the leader of the attack. Chandrasekhar took 6 wickets for just 38 runs in his 18.1 overs. Bedi took 2 wickets while Venkataraghavan took a wicket too. For India, out of the 20 wickets in the two innings, 18 were taken by the spinners and two were run-outs. 

India chases a historic win

With the target of 173 in front of them, the visitors were ready to bat for a long time knowing that they have over one and a half days to chase the total. Gavaskar once again got out for a low score as he was dismissed for a 9-ball duck. Ashok Mankad scored 11 runs and batted for 74 balls. Wadekar and Sardesai once again stitched up another great partnership for the third wicket. The skipper scored 45 runs and batted for 118 balls while Sardesai scored 40 runs after facing 156 balls. Gundappa scored 33 runs in 171 balls as the Indian batters tired out the English bowlers. Farokh remained not out with a score of 28 runs as India created history by defeating England by 6 wickets in England for the very first time. 

Till today England is considered to be a tough place for the Indian team due to the conditions that favour seamers and swing bowlers. But the Indian team in 1971 on the back of their spinners triumphed at the Oval and scripted their name in the history books.

Also Read: Virat Kohli at no. 4 in ODI World Cup: What is his record?

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