JOIN USWhen Kapil Dev and company lorded over Lord's
India, riding the brilliance of leg-spinning great B S Chandrasekhar, had registered their maiden Test series victory in England as early as 1971. It, however, took them another good 15 years to post their first Test win at Lord’s.
India had gone without a win at the so-called home of cricket in 10 previous attempts, losing a whopping eight of them. When they arrived in England for the 1986 series under Kapil Dev -- who in his previous visit to the country had led India an epochal 1983 World Cup triumph at the same venue -- not many had given them a chance of changing the script that was being played out again and again since 1932.
India landed in England in May for the three-Test series with possibly their best pace attack ever. Besides Kapil himself, it had Roger Binny, who enjoyed bowling in this part of the world, Chetan Sharma and a handy Mohinder Amarnath.
The two left-arm spinners Maninder Singh and Ravi Shastri were capable of holding their own if conditions favoured their skills. The batting was formidable with Sunil Gavaskar and K Srikkanth opening the innings. It was followed by the irrepressible Dilip Vengsarkar, an impressive Mohammad Azharuddin and a slew of all-rounders in Kapil, Shastri, Amarnath and to an extent Binny.
England’s batting, on paper at least, appeared daunting with Graham Gooch, skipper David Gower, Allan Lamb and Mike Gatting in the line-up. The bowling group was a little under-cooked with the exception of the experienced duo of John Emburey and Graham Dilley but it was potent enough in its own conditions.
While India seemingly had all their bases covered, the events preceding the series could have instilled little confidence in them though. Less than two months ago, they had suffered a morale-shattering loss in the Asian Cup final with Javed Miandad hitting a six with four needed off the last ball from Sharma in Sharjah.
Just six months prior to the England tour, they had failed to pull off what could have been their maiden Test series win in Australia, settling instead for a 0-0 scoreline. England, too, had their own issues to handle. Under Gower they had suffered five successive losses and his captaincy was under scrutiny. Kapil, on the other hand, had gone 20 Tests as captain without a win. Clearly, it was a big test for both the captains.
They needed some luck to reverse their fortunes, and the lady luck seemed to be siding with Kapil who won the crucial toss in the first of the three-Test series. It was the early summer in England and choosing to bowl first was a no-brainer.
Sharma, the villain of the piece not too long ago, set the tone for the match with a five-wicket haul (5/64) that restricted England to 294 in the first innings, despite a 114 by Gooch. Binny lived up to expectations claiming 3/55.
India’s reply was led by Vengsarkar whose third century (124) in a row at Lord’s helped the tourists post 341 all out and gain a crucial 47-run lead. England’s second innings was rocked by Kapil (4/52) who left them reeling at 35/3, a blow they barely recovered from. With Maninder producing one of the most frugal spells in Test cricket (3/9 from 20.4 overs), England folded up for 180, setting India a modest target of 134.
India appeared to make heavy weather of the small target slipping to 78/4 and then to 110/5 before Kapil settled the nerves with a breezy 10-ball-23 (4x4, 1x6) and finished off a successful chase with a six over mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Phil Edmonds.
India won the next Test at Leeds to clinch only their second of the three series wins in England to date.
Brief scores: England: 294 all out in 128.2 overs (Graham Gooch 114, Tim Robinson 35, Derek Pringle 63; Chetan Sharma 5/64, Roger Binny 3/55) and 180 all out in 96.4 overs (Mike Gatting 40, Allan Lamb 39, P R Downton 29; Kapil Dev 4-52, Maninder Singh 3-9) lt to India: 341 in 137 overs (Sunil Gavaskar 34, Mohinder Amarnath 69, Dilip Vengsarkar 126, Mohammad Azharuddin 33; Graham Dilley, 4-146, Pringle 3-58) and 136/5 in 42 overs (Vengsarkar 33, Kapil Dev 23 n.o.; Dilley 2/28).