The best of India-England rivalry - 10 most memorable Test matches
Over the last decade, the India-England rivalry has taken a new turn, getting more intense than ealier. The added flavour of history – the British rule of India – has always been present, but the rivalry has become more vocal in the last 10 years. Here we look at some of the most memorable matches these two teams have played in Test cricket.India played its first cricket match against England in 1932 on June 25, when they entered the field only to be thrashed within 3 days, losing by 158 runs at Lord’s in their first ever outing.Mohammad Nissar was the first Indian bowler to take a five-for and his bowling partner Amar Singh, surprisingly, the first Indian batsman to cross the 50-run mark against England.Since then, these two teams have played 107 matches against each other. India emerged victorious in 20 encounters while England have got the better of India 40 times. In 52 matches away from home, India have won just 5 and lost 27. With India already in England for its next Test series, let us have a look at some of the most memorable matches involving these two teams.Special mentions:1952, Lord’s – Vinoo Mankad’s Incredible Test match: 72, 184 and 5-196, 0-35; England won by 8 Wickets;1952, Manchester – India bowled out for 58 and 82; England won by an innings and 207 runs;1985, Chennai – Graeme Fowler and Mike Gatting double tons sink India who fought hard as a whole;2006, Mohali – India bounced back after a big loss in previous match with Anil Kumble (9 Wickets) and other bowlers helping India to a 9 wicket win.P.S. – This is a list of 10 memorable matches, and not a ranking of top 10.
#1 1952, Madras (Chennai)
Day 1 – A normal beginning: England batted first to reach 224 by the end of Day 1, Vinoo Mankad picked up 3 wickets with his left-arm spin.
Day 2 – Mankad’s burst and Pankaj Roy’s ton: Mankad scalped all remaining England wickets on Day 2 to end up with 8 for 55, reducing England to just 266. As many as 3 batsmen were Stumped in second day – 4 in the innings. Pankaj Roy batted his way to his hundred before getting out and India ended the day at 206, just 60 runs behind the visiting team.
Day 3 – Polly Umrigar’s unbeaten hundred: The Maharashtra batsmen’s knock and Dattu Phadkar’s 61 allowed India to declare their innings with a lead of 191 and England managed to escape through the day at 12 for no loss.
Day 4 – Spin magic: There was no stopping the Indian spinners as they spun venom at the batsmen eventually bowling England out for 183 with off-spinner Ghulam Ahmed picking up 4 wickets. Vinoo Mankad who cleared up the tail also ended with 4 scalps, taking his match tally to 12. Robertson’s back-to-back half centuries were not enough for England to stop India from winning their first match against them.
Brief Scores:
Toss: England chose to bat first.
England: 266 (Jack Robertson 77, Vinoo Mankad 8-55) & 183 (Jack Robertson 56, Vinoo Mankad 4-53, Ghulam Ahmed 4-77)
India: 457/9 dec (Polly Umrigar 130, Donald Carr 2-84, Roy Tattersall 2-94, Malcolm Hilton 2-100)
India won by an innings and 8 runs and Series was Drawn 1-1