IND vs ENG: India's Test victories against England at Leeds in Headingley
Headingley Cricket Ground will welcome England and India to their third Test of the five-match series. which the visitors lead 1-0 after two games. The first match of the ongoing 2021 tour at Trent Bridge was drawn after Day 5 was completely washed out by rain. India then won the second Test at Lord’s to take the lead.
The third match of the series is to be played at Leeds in Headingley beginning on Wednesday, August 25. India can certainly be called favorites to win this third Test match as well, owing to a better batting line-up and a settled bowling unit compared to the home side.
In the six Tests played at Headingley between these two teams, England won three, India won two and one was drawn.
Here's a look at are India’s victories in the Tests played at Headingley.
England vs India, 1986 – India won by 279 runs
India were going into the second Test of the three-match series in 1986 having already won the first match, at Lord’s, comfortably by five wickets. They were also termed favorites to win at Headingley, which they did, registering India’s second Test series victory in England. With that, they took an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series.
Having opted to bat first, India posted 272 runs on the board. The top-three batsmen all scored over 30 runs each while Dilip Vengsarkar registered a half-century, racking up 61 runs, laced with six boundaries and a six.
Indian bowlers then wreaked havoc with the ball as the hosts were bundled out for just 102, conceding a 170-run lead in the first innings. Roger Binny was the pick of the Indian bowlers, with five wickets in England's first innings.
After scoring a half-century in the first innings, Vengsarkar took it up a notch in the second with an unbeaten century (102*). It helped take India to 237 runs in the second innings and set a massive target of 408 runs.
The home team collapsed once again, scoring just 128 runs in their second innings and handing India a massive 279-run victory.
The visitors eventually went on to win the series 2-0 as the third Test was drawn.
Brief Scores: India – 272 all out (Dilip Vengsarkar – 61, Derek Pringle – 3/47) and 237 all out (Dilip Vengsarkar – 102*, John Lever – 4/64) defeated England – 102 all out (Bill Athey – 32, Roger Binny – 5/40) & 128 all out (Mike Gatting – 31, Maninder Singh – 4/26) by a margin of 279 runs.
England vs India, 2002 – India won by an innings & 46 runs
India were on a high during this tour, having won the NatWest Trophy, beating home team England in the final at the prestigious Lord’s venue. That final was remembered for many reasons, such as Kaif-Yuvi's partnership with the bat, and Sourav Ganguly’s balcony celebration, to name a few!
However, India did not make a great start to the four-match series as they lost the first Test by a mammoth 170-run margin and the second match was drawn.
India went into the third Test, at Headingley, 0-1 down. Having won the toss, India scored a mountain of runs, with centuries from Sachin Tendulkar (193 runs; 19 fours, three sixes), Rahul Dravid (148 runs; 23 fours) and Sourav Ganguly (128 runs; 14 fours, three sixes). India declared their first innings with 628 on the board and did not bat again for the rest of the match!
India enforced the follow-on after bowling out the home team for just 273 runs in their first innings. England scrounged together 309 runs in their second innings, conceding victory by a massive margin of an innings and 46 runs! Anil Kumble was the pick of the Indian bowlers, having bagged seven wickets.
Brief Scores: India – 628/8 decl (Sachin Tendulkar – 193, Andy Caddick – 3/150) defeated England – 273 all out (Alec Stewart – 78*, Harbhajan Singh – 3/40) & 309 all out (Nasser Hussain – 110, Anil Kumble – 4/66) by a margin of an innings and 46 runs