It was a monumental day 49 years ago when a determined Indian team defeated England in their den. It was special as it was first test victory in England for India and also the first time India had two series victory in one year having defeated the might West Indies team earlier.
India had landed in England with a lot of confidence as they had won a series in West Indies earlier. It was third and final test in 1971 India tour of England at Oval. The first and second test had ended in draws. English Skipper Ray Illingworth won the toss and decided to bat. John Jameson, Alan Knott & Richard Hutton scored half-centuries as England Posted 355. Solkar was highest wicket-taker with 3/28 in 15 overs. India in reply lost openers early. Skipper Ajit Wadekar and Dilip Sardesai started the repair work with a 93 runs stand for 3rd wicket.
#OnThisDay in 1971: @BCCI beat England at the Oval.
Go back in time with our report. #FromTheArchiveshttps://t.co/YY2XlcEZE4
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After loss of 3 wickets, Solkar and Farooque Engineer again steadied the ship with 97 run partnership. With useful contributions from Venaktraghavan and Abid Ali India managed only 284. Illingworth was wrecker-in-chief with 5/70. With England already 71 ahead It looked India’s dream of first test victory will not be achieved. India’s premier spinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar had other ideas. He runs out the dangerous Jameson and then took charge to produce one of the most outstanding spells of test match bowling. He dismissed 6 batsmen, which Included Brian Luckhurst for 33, and was supported by other two spinners in Venkatraghvan and Bedi. Solkar’s catching at short leg also was a highlight and his catch to dismissed Alan Knott is still a picture in memories of all those who were part of the match.
Chandrasekhar finished with 6/38 in 19 overs. England was dismissed for 101 and Indians had to chase down 173 to win a match and a historic test series. Pitch was turning and in way of an Indian victory were two champion spinners in Illingworth and Derek Underwood, whose fastish off cutters were deadly on those wet England pitches. Openers again fell early and Wadekar-Sardesai again rescued the team from early wobble. Slowly and steadily they took total to 76.
After the fall of Wadekar, Vishwanath and Sardesai combined to stitch a 48 run partnership to take Indian team further close to the total. Sardesai and Solkar both went quickly to make the scenario more tensed. Vishwanath and Engineer then steadied the ship slowly and took India to within a touching distance of victory. With 3 runs required, Vishwanath fell but in came Abid Ali and scored the winning runs by a cut through point.
Illingworth ensured that Indian batsman had to fight for every run and every inch, it can be judged from fact that Indians took 101 overs to achieve the target and the duo of Illingworth and Underwood bowled 74 of those overs. The celebrations that followed were something to watch. Both Engineer and Abid Ali were swept up in the air by delighted Indian crowd. Wadekar was sleeping and when then England manager woke him and said: “India has won the match”.His reply was “I always knew we would win”.
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s spell was voted as Indian Bowling performance of century by Wisden in 2002 as his spell was the eventual difference between both teams. It was Ganesh Chaturthi in India on the day India won which made the historic victory more memorable.
