India on tour: The champagne moments
Partab Ramchand - 5 November 2001
Part 1: India celebrate in New Zealand
The wide disparity between India's home and away record is not a new
phenomenon. It is something that goes back to the early days of Indian
Test cricket. From June 1932 to February 1968, India had played 104
Tests, of which 43 were abroad. And India had not won even one Test in
England, Australia, West Indies and Pakistan. All of India's ten
victories till then had been achieved at home.
The Indian team, after a poor start in Australia, seemed to be coming
into their own towards the end of the tour and so were not entirely
bereft of confidence when they landed in Dunedin for the first Test.
And yet it was not until the New Zealand second innings got underway
that India asserted itself and put itself on the road to victory.
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There was some hope however that India would break the ice on their
maiden trip to New Zealand in 1968, where the national team proceeded
to after their disastrous tour of Australia on which India had lost
all four Tests. Not because the Indian team was particularly strong,
but because the weakness of the New Zealand team was well known. New
Zealand were the only team below India in the Test standings of the
time, even if there were no official rating system as is prevalent
now. Moreover, on both occasions that New Zealand had visited India,
they had lost the series. If there was one country against which India
did enjoy the psychological advantage it was New Zealand. But then
India at the same time had to overcome the psychological disadvantage
in that they had not won a single Test outside their own country and
New Zealand could proudly point out that they had drawn the last two
contests played in their own country, each a three Test series against
South Africa and England.
The Indian team, after a poor start in Australia, seemed to be coming
into their own towards the end of the tour and so were not entirely
bereft of confidence when they landed in Dunedin for the first Test.
And yet it was not until the New Zealand second innings got underway
that India asserted itself and put itself on the road to victory.
Graham Dowling's 143 and his record second wicket partnership of 155
runs with Bevan Congdon (58) saw New Zealand get 350. Consistent
batting down the order saw India gain a first innings lead of nine
runs. This was one of the rare occasions when all the Indian batsmen
reached double figures and the scores ranged between 12 and 80. But it
was the last wicket stand of 57 between No 10 Ramakant Desai (32) and
No 11 Bishen Bedi (22) that really proved vital for it enabled them to
take the lead. Desai, playing in the last of his 28 Tests, put up a
brave show. Early in the innings, his jaw had been fractured by a ball
from Dick Motz. But he continued batting and put on India's best tenth
wicket stand against New Zealand. In the second innings, Erapalli
Prasanna (6 for 94) proved too strong for the home team batsmen and
restricted them to a total of 208. Left with a target of 200, India
thanks chiefly to Ajit Wadekar (71), Rusi Surti (44) and their third
wicket partnership of 103 runs, coasted home early on the final
morning. Whatever the opposition, it was a victory to rejoice for no
one could take away its historic aspect.
The Indian team however suffered a setback a week later when, against
all expectations, they lost the second Test at Christchurch by six
wickets. A mighty 239 by the new captain Dowling New Zealand's best
score in Tests saw the home team rattle up 502 and India were then
always struggling to stay in the game. The inability of any Indian
batsman to match Dowling or even come up with a century was a factor
in the ultimate defeat for in the two innings, the top scores were 67
and 63. India were all out for 288, and in the follow on hardly did
any better getting 301. New Zealand knocked up the required 88 runs
for the loss of four wickets to register their first victory over
India.
Recovering quickly, the Indians showed New Zealand that they were the
better team and in the next two weeks scored victories by eight
wickets and 272 runs to take the series by a comfortable 3-1 margin.
Prasanna (5 for 32) bowled out New Zealand for 186 in the first
innings of the third Test at Wellington and then Wadekar played the
anchor role to perfection in getting 143, his only Test century. India
obtained a first innings lead of 141 and then Nadkarni (6 for 43) ran
through the New Zealand second innings in his penultimate Test. An
inadequate total of 199 left India with only the formality of getting
59 runs to go ahead in the series again. The Indians displayed their
superiority in no uncertain terms in the final Test at Auckland. Eight
hours and 20 minutes of playing time were lost on the first two days
but the visitors took this in their stride. Though they were
restricted to 252, the Indians with Prasanna (4 for 44) again in fine
form got a stranglehold early on the fourth morning by dismissing New
Zealand for 140. Tey then consolidated their position by declaring the
second innings at 261 for five on the fifth morning. Surti, out for
99, was destined never to get a Test hundred. A victory target of 374
was purely academic and the only interest was whether New Zealand
would save the game. Prasanna (4 for 40) and Bedi (3 for 14) made sure
of a third Indian victory by dismissing the home team for 101. It not
only signaled India's maiden series win abroad, but was also the first
time that India had won three victories in any rubber. Prasanna's
bowling, which gave him 24 wickets, was the main highlight of the
series.
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