India in England: A Discovery

It was the time of Maharajas when India toured England for the first time in 1932.

8226; It was the time of Maharajas when India toured England for the first time in 1932. Although there were not many runs to write home about, it is said that the Maharaja of Porbandar collected more Rolls Royces than runs during the tour. The Maharaja, of course, was the skipper too.

8226; India were the first country to play Test cricket against England after the second World War, in 1946. And in the process became the first team to travel to England by air.

8226; The experience of the English winter was such that it forced Vijay Merchant to play in woollen underwear, besides a flannel shirt, three sweaters and a woollen muffler.

8226; In the second innings at Headingley in 1952, India lost their first four wickets without even one run on the board, the worst ever start in Tests till date.

8226; On the 1974 tour to England, Indian opener Sudhir Naik was accused of stealing a pair of socks from Marks 038; Spencer.

8226; Cotar Ramaswami, who represented India in the Davis Cup in 1922 and in 1936, made his Test debut for India aged 40 at Manchester. In 1985 he wandered out of his home in Chennai and has never been found. He is also one of only two Test cricketers to play Davis Cup tennis. The other is Ralph Legall of West Indies who represented Trinidad in the Davis Cup. In addition, Asif Karim, Kenya8217;s captain during the 1999 World Cup was also a Davis Cup player.

8226; Mushtaq Ali was the first Indian to score a Test century overseas, with 112 at Old Trafford in 1936. He beat Vijay Merchant to the mark during an opening stand of 203.

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8226; India registered their lowest ever Test total at Lords in 1974, succumbing to Geoff Arnold and Chris Old for 42 in the second innings of the Test. The result, a morale shattering defeat by an innings and 285 runs.

8226; Sandeep Patil is the only batsman in the world to hit six fours in an over of Bob Willis of England. He achieved this landmark at Old Trafford in 1982 series.

8226; Vengsarkar is the only batsman to hit three Test back-to-back centuries at Lord8217;s from 1979 to 1986 and it all started with a duck in the 1979 series.

8226; Graham Gooch scored 333 and 123 at Lord8217;s in 1990 8212;the only time in the history of first-class cricket that a batsman scored a triple century and a century in the same match. Mark Taylor of Australia came close scoring 334 and 92 vs Pakistan in 1998.

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8226; In the same Test, India needed 454 to avoid the follow-on. At 430/9 Kapil Dev took strike against Eddie Hemmings and after two dot balls hit the next four balls for six 8212; a record in Test cricket8212;to save India the ignominy. Next ball, Narendra Hirwani was dismissed by Angus Fraser.