Flashback: A golden jubilee celebration of India’s first major overseas conquest

For many Indians, the year 1971 represented the zenith of the country’s glory. Under PM Indira Gandhi’s leadership, India defeated Pakistan in the war which gave birth to the new country of Bangladesh. In that same year, cricket also reached the peak of glory that it was destined. Ajit Wadekar’s Indian team managed to conquer England and the West Indies in the same year. India defeated the West Indies 1-0 in the five-match series. A couple of months later, India beat their old colonial masters England 1-0 in a memorable series.

India had already secured their first overseas success in 1968 when they defeated New Zealand. However, 1971 was different because West Indies and England were the two powers of world cricket. But, time indeed flies in cricket. This year marks the 50^th year of India’s great triumphs. The golden jubilee celebration has been muted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Conquering the Windies

The West Indies team had some great players in the form of Sir Garfield Sobers and Clive Lloyd. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi had relinquished the captaincy and the reigns were handed to Wadekar. The Indian team put up a phenomenal perfrormance led by three individuals. 

Sunil Gavaskar stepped up by scoring 774 runs in his debut series. This mark still remains the highest by an Indian on debut. He was well supported by Dilip Sardesai who smashed a century in the second Test. Srinivas Venkataraghavan ended with 22 wickets in the five-match series.

It was Sardesai’s hundred in Port of Spain and Venkat’s five-wicket haul that gave India a seven-wicket win. In the fifth Test, Gavaskar created history as he smashed 124 and 220. The Mumbai batsman had hit a century in Barbados and Georgetown as India romped home to a famous win.

Getting the better of the colonial masters

For India, beating England held a very special place. In 1952, India’s first Test win came against England. That had taken 22 years in the making after their first Test in Lord’s in 1932. However, the dream of 1952 was soon forgotten but 1971 changed all that.

After two draws in Lord’s and Old Trafford, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar put on a brilliant display of bowling at The Oval. Chandra took 6/38 and Wadekar steadied the ship in a tight fourth-innings chase. His 45 helped India secure a historic triumph in England. In his captaincy, India also beat England 2-1 in the 1972/73 series at home. 

Conquering their rivals

In a conversation with ESPNCricinfo in 2014, Wadekar had outlined the key factors behind the success. “I concentrated on catching and slip fielding and we hardly dropped any catches in the West Indies and in England. The only way is to start winning, and outside the country. I had to communicate that to the players and they took it very seriously. That is how all these good results came,” Wadekar said. 

Gavaskar became the first batsman in history to go past 10000 runs in Tests. Chandra, Venkat, Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna became the famed spin quartet.

50 years on, the glory of the Indian cricket team will live on in the minds of cricket fans. If 1983 changed Indian cricket forever, the base was laid in 1971. It is a shame that the BCCI and any other cricketing associations have not thought about felicitating the heroes.