India's first taste of victory abroad
Partab Ramchand - 10 December 2002

New Zealand visited India twice - in 1955-56 and nine years later - before India paid their first visit to that country in 1967-68. Even that trip was the second leg of a tour that had taken the Indian team first to Australia, where they lost all four Test matches. But given the weakness of New Zealand cricket then, it was taken for granted that India would maintain their supremacy and comfortably win the series. India duly accomplished that task, in the process registering their first victory in a Test abroad and subsequently their first series triumph away from home. But such was the disparity between the sides that cricket followers questioned the one loss in the four-Test series rather than recalling the three victories.

At Auckland, the Indians set the seal on their supremacy even though eight hours and 20 minutes were lost on the first two days due to rain. India's total of 252 achieved match-winning status once New Zealand were shot out for 140. Going for quick runs, India declared at 261 for five early on the final morning.

Actually the Indians, towards the end of the Australian tour, had started performing up to potential, and on the slower spin-aiding pitches in New Zealand, the visitors were more comfortable. Of course, the fact that India had always got the better of New Zealand was a major psychological boost, and the tourists did earn a lot of praise by playing cricket of the heart-warming variety. The batsmen generally scored runs at a fast clip and played bold, crisp strokes, while the spin bowlers - Bishen Singh Bedi, Bapu Nadkarni and Erapalli Prasanna - caught the eye with their mesmeric control over line and length, flight and turn. The New Zealanders, then at the bottom of the table even though no official ratings existed, were no match for the all- round excellence displayed by the Indians.

The pattern for the series was set in the first Test at Dunedin, but it took some time before India could play themselves into a winning position. The turning-point probably came very late in the Indian innings. Graham Dowling had scored 143 in New Zealand's first-innings total of 350, in reply to which India were 302 for nine midway through the third day. The last two batsmen, Bedi and Ramakant Desai, were at the crease. Shortly after he came in, Desai was hit on the face by a ball from Dick Motz, the experienced New Zealand spearhead. His jaw was fractured, but Desai continued to bat, and the two tailenders added 57 runs for the last wicket.

A first-innings lead of nine runs had been obtained, and this proved to be a big psychological advantage. New Zealand, unable to deal with Prasanna - who finished with six for 94 off 40 overs - were dismissed for 208, and India convincingly reached their modest target of 200 for the loss of five wickets early on the final morning to register their first victory abroad.

But within a week, the Indian bubble had burst. New Zealand quite unexpectedly won the second Test at Christchurch by six wickets. The hosts, asked to bat by MAK Pataudi, posted a total of 502, their highest total at home, thanks chiefly to a record-score of 239 by Dowling, who had taken over the captaincy for the rest of the series from Barry Sinclair.

The Indians thereafter were on the back foot. Faring badly against Motz (six for 63), they were all out for 288 and, following on, they came a cropper against Gary Bartlett (six for 38) and were dismissed for 301. New Zealand reached their target of 88 for the loss of four wickets shortly after lunch on the final day; it was only their fourth victory in 81 Tests and their first against India in 11 matches. Suddenly the series seemed wide open.

It did not take long for India to shut out Kiwi hopes. In the next two Tests, they simply outplayed New Zealand, winning the third Test at Wellington by eight wickets with more than a day to spare, and then the final Test at Auckland by 272 runs. Prasanna (eight) and Nadkarni (seven) shared the spoils, while Ajit Wadekar, with his anchor-like 143, played a notable part in the victory at Wellington.

Entering at 18 for one, Wadekar initially weathered the storm posed by Motz, Richard Collinge and Bruce Taylor and then went on to play an exemplary innings. When he was eighth out at 295, he had batted 372 minutes and placed India on the road to victory. Incidentally it was Wadekar's only century in his 37-match Test career.

At Auckland, the Indians set the seal on their supremacy even though eight hours and 20 minutes were lost on the first two days due to rain. India's total of 252 achieved match-winning status once New Zealand were shot out for 140. Going for quick runs, India declared at 261 for five early on the final morning. Rusi Surti, who with his all- round skills was probably the biggest success of the dual tour, made 99. Left to get 374 runs for victory in 290 minutes, New Zealand were dismissed for just 101. Prasanna (eight) and Bedi (five) caused most of the damage; the former finished with 24 wickets at an average of 18.79, while Nadkarni in his last series headed the figures with 14 wickets at 17.92 apiece. Among the batsmen, Wadekar with 328 runs and Surti with 321 were prominent in India's triumph.

From New Zealand's point of view, Dowling's batting was the main highlight, and he finished with an aggregate of 471 runs. The promise of Mark Burgess in his first series was unmistakable, but in general the batsmen came a cropper against the Indian spinners, while apart from Motz, who had a haul of 15 wickets in the series, no other bowler really troubled the Indian batsmen.

[Archive]