Kit Harris looks back at India’s Test tours of England.
When the ECB and BCCI announced, last week, that Test series between England and India would be played for the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy, a decades-old inconsistency was brought to an end. Since 1951, the sides had played for the Anthony de Mello Trophy – named after one of the founding administrators of the BCCI – but only in India. From 2007, the Pataudi Trophy, honouring the only man to play Tests for both teams, was introduced for series in England. This summer’s new award, to be presented at the end of India’s 20th Test tour of England, replaces both.
India’s first six ended in defeat. The inaugural Test between the teams – a one-off contest at Lord’s in 1932, England’s only game of the summer – unsurprisingly went the hosts’ way, but not without a tussle. England were bowled out for 259, thanks to five wickets from Mahomed Nissar, and established a winning position only when Douglas Jardine, their captain, scored his second half-century of the game. Four years later, the Indians were granted a three-match series, and though they lost two – Gubby Allen took ten wickets at Lord’s and eight at The Oval – they fought hard in Manchester. Facing a first-innings deficit of 368, their openers, Vijay Merchant and Mushtaq Ali, put on 203, each scoring a hundred, and the game was saved.
The teams’ sole series of the 1940s took place the year after the war ended, and this time India earned two draws after Alec Bedser had routed them at Lord’s. They were nine down when time was called at Manchester, and had wet weather to help them at The Oval.
Despite earning their first victory over England at Madras in 1951-52, India had a torrid time during their next three tours, losing 11 out of 12 Tests. Batting heroics from Vijay Manjrekar and Vinoo Mankad could not save them in 1952 – Fred Trueman reduced them to nought for four at Leeds – and only an Oval washout prevented a whitewash. England won all five in 1959, though Abbas Ali Baig and Polly Umrigar scored centuries, and seamer R. Surendranath twice bagged five wickets. And a 3–0 thrashing followed in the first half of 1967, though India occasionally excelled when the ball spun: Bhagwath Chandrasekhar’s leg-breaks claimed 16 wickets in the series, and the Nawab of Pataudi hit 64 and 148 on a turning track at Headingley.
The breakthrough finally came in 1971, when India’s three Tests were scheduled in the second half of the summer. Dry, dusty pitches were manna to Chandrasekhar, who formed a highly effective triumvirate with slow left-armer Bishan Bedi and off-spinner Srinivas Venkataraghavan. After two draws, Chandrasekhar dismantled England with six for 38 in the second innings at The Oval.
The English board learned their lesson in 1974, making sure India visited in the early summer, when conditions favoured the home seamers. Bob Willis was fast and furious at Manchester, Geoff Arnold and Chris Old rolled the visitors for 42 to seal an innings win at Lord’s, and Mike Hendrick was incisive at Birmingham.
Sunil Gavaskar dominated the 1979 series, his 542 runs helping India earn four draws after going 1–0 down at Edgbaston. England won by the same margin over three games in 1982, with Ian Botham taking five wickets in the first innings in their victory at Lord’s, then scoring 128 at Manchester and 208 at The Oval.
India finally won at Lord’s at the 11th attempt, in 1986. Gavaskar had a quiet match, but England were without Botham – banned for smoking cannabis – and succumbed tamely to spin on the fourth day. Dilip Vengsarkar, who scored an unbeaten hundred, then added another at Leeds, and the hosts capitulated in similar fashion; India had their second series triumph in England.
Two series were played in the 1990s, both of three Tests, and both won 1–0 by England. The 1990 rubber belonged to Graham Gooch, whose aggregate of 752 (333 and 123 at Lord’s, 116 and seven at Old Trafford, 85 and 88 at The Oval) remains a record for a three-match series. In 1996, there were runs in abundance from Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, but England’s seamers still did the business.
When England, having won at Lord’s, took a first-innings lead of 260 at Nottingham, few expected the summer of 2002 to go anywhere other than their way. But India – and Dravid in particular – set out on a run marathon: 424 for eight to save the Second Test (Dravid 115), 628 for eight to win the Third (Dravid 148) and 508 (Dravid 217) at The Oval, ensuring a drawn series.
It might have been a draw in 2007, too, but Steve Bucknor turned down a plumb lbw shout from Monty Panesar against Sreesanth with India nine down at Lord’s, before rain helped them avoid defeat. They then beat England with their own weapon – swing – when Zaheer Khan took nine wickets at Trent Bridge. Another mammoth total (664 at The Oval) denied the hosts a way back in, and India celebrated their third – and, to date, last – series victory on English soil.
The next three series (2011, 2014 and 2018) resulted in 11 wins for England, and only two for India, but the touring party who came in 2021 were made of stronger stuff. Widely acclaimed as India’s best ever team, they were denied a crack at victory by Nottingham rain in the First Test, before romping to wins in the Second and Fourth, either side of a thrashing at Leeds. Then came controversy. Two days before The Oval, with the coronavirus running rampant, head coach Ravi Shastri hosted a book launch in London, and went down with the bug, as did several members of the touring party. India’s players, concerned about infection – but possibly just as concerned about missing Indian Premier League matches – called off the decisive Fifth Test in Manchester, and left the country. They returned to play it the following year, in Birmingham, but by then England were beginning a resurgence of their own – and emphatically squared the series. Jonny Bairstow scored twin centuries, and was awarded the inaugural Wisden Trophy for the best Test performance of the year.
Anderson took 21 wickets across the five Tests, and ended his career with 149 against India – the most by any bowler. Tendulkar, who retired in 2013-14, scored 2,535 runs against England, the most in this series, save for Joe Root, who has 2,846. This summer, it is down to Jasprit Bumrah and Co. to stop him piling on hundreds more.
Kit Harris is Assistant Editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
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