An Indian victory in a Test or a one-day international these daysmay not be exactly run-of-the-mill, but it does occur now andthen. Some major victories are celebrated in right royal style,while others go by barely noticed. With the passing of time, thememories of many of these wins are dimmed. However, the historicvictories are remembered fondly, and cricket fans can recall manysmall details statistical and otherwise of the match.Triumphs such as the first ever Test victory, the first rubbervictory over England, the first victory over Australia or theWest Indies, the historic triumph in England in 1971 and, when itcomes to limited-overs cricket, the World Cup victory in 1983 these cannot be erased from memory even with the march of time.
The highlight of the first day’s play was thestirring duel between Vinoo Mankad and Tom Graveney. Every timeMankad flighted the ball, Graveney would go forward to meet it inan effort to drive. Repeatedly, however, he found that the ballhad dipped and he just had to play it back along the ground.
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These thoughts come to mind on what is undoubtedly a very specialoccasion the 50th anniversary of India’s first ever Testvictory. It was achieved on February 10 1952, the opponents wereEngland, and the venue was Chepauk, Madras. At the time, it hadbeen almost 20 years since India played her first Test at Lord’sin June 1932, and since then, the country had played 24 Tests,lost 12 and drawn 12.It did seem, then, that India’s best chance of a victory wasagainst the England team that visited these shores in 1951-52. Inthe absence of Len Hutton, Peter May, Jim Laker, Denis Compton,Alec Bedser and Godfrey Evans, it was a pretty mediocre side thatcame over. But by the time the teams reached Madras for the finalTest, England were 1-0 up, with three Tests being drawn.The selectors, in a mood for drastic changes, dropped PollyUmrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, CS Nayudu, Nana Joshi and SadashivShinde. In came Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, CD Gopinath, RVDivecha and P Sen. But on the eve of the game, there was asignificant change in the announced playing eleven. A couple ofdays before the Test, Hemu Adhikari was walking on a wet pavementin Bombay when he slipped and fell. A broken wrist ruled theexperienced middle-order batsman out of the Test. Polly Umrigar,named 12th man in the original squad, found a place in the elevenat the last moment.The highlight of the first day’s play was the stirring duelbetween Vinoo Mankad and Tom Graveney. Every time Mankad flightedthe ball, Graveney would go forward to meet it in an effort todrive. Repeatedly, however, he found that the ball had dipped andhe just had to play it back along the ground. Mankad was bowlingmagnificently, but Graveney with his twinkling footwork was aworthy opponent.Ultimately however, Mankad’s experience overcame Graveney’s youthHe tossed one up, and Graveney saw an opening. He judged thateven if the ball dipped, he would be there to take it on thehalf-volley and unleash his pet cover drive. He came forward tomeet the ball, which however remained teasingly out of his reach.It pitched just out his desperate lunge and broke away to theoff. Sen grabbed the ball and, in one quick movement, whipped offthe bails. One of the finest duels in Indian cricket came to anend with the bowler – aided by alert wicket-keeping winning it.England reached 224 for five at the close of play, but Mankadbrought the innings to a swift end on the second day, February 8.The rest day had been advanced to February 7 when it wasannounced that King George VI had passed away. The teams observedtwo minutes silence before play started and wore black arm-bandsfor the rest of the match. Mankad finished with excellent figuresof 38.5-15-55-8, the best in an innings by an Indian bowler tillthat time, and England were dismissed for 266. His effort hadgiven India the opening to force a win.The match now hung on the performance of the Indian batsmen, andthey did not disappoint. For the better part of two days, theyscored runs at a handsome rate. Mushtaq Ali, playing in whatproved to be his last Test, and Pankaj Roy laid the foundationwith a first wicket partnership of 53. After Mushtaq’s departurefor 22, Roy, playing in his first series, and skipper VijayHazare (20) added 44 runs. Mankad then joined Roy and the two puton 60 runs for the third wicket before the all-rounder left for22. Joined by a fourth veteran in Amarnath, Roy proceeded to hissecond hundred of the series, and when he was fourth out at 191,he had made 111. Amarnath and Dattu Phadkar saw India through tothe close of play with the score at 206 for four.The sun was out and the ground was packed to capacity on theSaturday, February 9. Amarnath (31) left at 216, and the matchhad reached a vital point. To overcome the disadvantage ofbatting last on this wicket, India had to get a lead of at least100 runs. That seemed a long way off at this point with Umrigar,sadly out of touch, joining Phadkar, India still 50 runs behind.But the pair gradually got on top of the bowling and added 104runs for the sixth wicket before Phadkar was out for 61.Joined by local youngster Gopinath, Umrigar now turned on theheat and took heavy toll of spinners Malcolm Hilton and RoyTattersall. Gopinath helped Umrigar add 93 runs for the seventhwicket before he was out for an elegant 35, of which 28 came inboundaries. Umrigar continued batting with gay abandon, reachinghis first Test century in the process. When Hazare declared theinnings closed at 457 for nine late on the third day, thesturdily built Bombay batsman was unbeaten on 130.England were 191 runs behind, and their only hope was to hold outfor a draw, which would give them the series. At New Delhi in thefirst Test, they had faced a first-innings deficit of 215 runsbut had played out the last two days to earn a honourable draw.This time, however, there was never any chance of pulling off asimilar feat. The pitch was already starting to break, and GhulamAhmed and Mankad were ready.Sunday, February 10, dawned bright and clear. And indeed, the sundid shine on Indian cricket on that day. England lost wickets atregular intervals to the two spinners, and when Gopinath took thecatch to end the match with the clock atop the pavilion showing2:54 pm, England were all out for 183, and India had won by aninnings and eight runs. Ghulam Ahmed and Mankad took four wicketseach for 77 and 53 runs respectively. Mankad’s match figures of12 for 108 were the best ever by an Indian bowler, and in their25th attempt, India had at last broken their cricketing duck.Congratulatory cables flew thick and fast from all over,especially from President Rajendra Prasad and Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru. Although they may have been worded differently,the gist of all those messages was that it was the greatest dayin Indian cricket. It remained so for long, and even today, 50years later, the triumph has lost little of its originalsignificance, despite the many further triumphs that havefollowed since then.