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India at Lord's: A sojourn in the past

Roshan Paul

England and the West Indies met at Lords in the 1503rd test match but, more importantly, in the 100th test match at that venue. The home ground of Middlesex County is the first cricket ground in the world to reach that milestone and has, obviously, seen a great deal of history. Bob Massie's spectacular debut in 1972, during which he took eight wickets in each innings to destroy England and Sir Colin Cowdrey batting with a broken hand against the West Indies in 1963 to save England are just two of the memorable test matches that spectators at this ground have witnessed.

Known as the Mecca of cricket, it's atmosphere of history and tradition makes it the one ground that every aspiring cricketer would like to play at, more than any other. It is also a strange ground and has its own idiosyncrasies such as the pronounced slope at one end of the ground and the peculiar ridge along the middle of the pitch.

Among the various functions to commemorate the occasion, the MCC is felicitating a bunch of cricketers who have excelled at this ground. The list includes such names as Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Gary Sobers, Ian Botham and Glenn McGrath. However, Dilip Vengsarkar is the sole Asian on the list. This brings up an interesting question for amateur statisticians. Historically, how have India fared on these hallowed grounds? Is Vengsarkar really the only Indian to distinguish himself at the 'home of cricket'?

Of course, India's greatest moment in international cricket, the World Cup win in 1983, was at this ground. But this occasion is about test matches; so that's what I will look at now.

India played its first test match at lords on 27th June 1932. Since then, it has played 13 games, winning one and losing nine. The lowest score ever made at this ground was also made by us in 1974 when Chris Old and Geoff Arnold dismissed Ajit Wadekar's team for 42. Thus, not traditionally a happy hunting ground for Indians. However, there have been some great individual performances down the years…

On the 1952 tour of England, Vinoo Mankad was omitted from the team for political reasons. He was hastily recalled to the side for the Lords test to shore up the team. Opening the batting, he scored 72 and 184 in a lost cause. He also took 5 wickets in England's first innings of 537 in which Len Hutton and Godfrey Evans hit centuries. England won by eight wickets but it will always be remembered as Mankad's Test.

Cut to 1979. After twenty-seven years of forgettable Lords test matches, this one was a great display of the fighting skills that we sorely need but rarely see today. India was bowled out for 96 as an inspired Botham ran through the side in the first innings. England replied with 419. Trailing by 323 runs, all seemed lost. But after Gavaskar laid the foundation with a half century, G.R. Vishwanath and Dilip Vengsarkar scored centuries to take India to 318/4 and an improbable draw. This was the first of Vengsarkar's centuries, which are the reason for his felicitation today.

In 1982, Vengsarkar made another fighting second innings century. Unfortunately, his 157 was in vain as England won by seven wickets. Bob Willis took nine wickets in the match and "that man" Botham scored 67 and took 5 wickets in India's first innings to remain India's bugbear at Lords. For India, Kapil Dev exhibited his all-round prowess by taking 8 wickets in the match and scoring 41 and 89.

June 5th, 1986 was the date of India's first (and only) victory at Lords. It was its 11th test there and Kapil's Devils were taking on an English side led by David Gower. England made 294 in the first innings with Chetan Sharma taking 5 wickets. Graham Gooch scored a century and took over from Ian Botham as India's nemesis at Lords. Vengsarkar hit his third consecutive Lords century in a reply of 341 with Mohinder Amarnath supporting him with 69. In the second innings, England succumbed to Kapil and Maninder Singh, setting us a target of 136. At 78/4 there were some nervous moments but Kapil and Ravi Shastri kept their heads to take the team to a historic five-wicket triumph.

The next battle at Lords took place in 1990. And it was one Indian fans would be keen to forget. Dropped early on in his innings, Gooch went on to score 333. Alan Lamb and Robin Smith too made centuries and Azharuddin's decision to field first became a controversial and much-debated one. India replied to England's 653 with 454; Shastri and Azharuddin scoring centuries. However, when the ninth wicket fell, the score was only 430, still 24 runs short of avoiding a follow on. Narendra Hirwani joined Kapil, who was batting on 53. Taking matters into his own hand, Kapil proceeded to hit off-spinner Eddie Hemmings for four consecutive sixes, taking India past the follow on. Despite all these heroics, Angus Fraser proved too good on the day and India eventually lost by 247 runs.

As the years went by and one-day cricket became the staple, India's Lords appearances became fewer and further between. It would be six years before India toured England again. It was an acrimonious tour that began with Navjot Sidhu walking off the team and India losing the first test fairly easily.

The second test at Lords was a memorable one for it saw the debuts of two young batsmen who would, in the future, relieve Sachin Tendulkar of some of the huge burden he bore. Saurav Ganguly scored a classy 131 on debut and Rahul Dravid made a stylish 95. The match was drawn and though Venkatesh Prasad took his first five-wicket haul in international cricket, the game will be remembered with fondness by cricket fans. For the remaining members of the class of 1973 had finally graduated!

The first match at Lords was played in 1884. 116 years down the line, the MCC prepares to host its 100th game. A lot of water has passed under its bridge since then and, for test cricket's sake, lets hope the river never runs dry. As for India, well, let's hope there are brighter days ahead.