1971: First Chapter- History is Written 

India finally realized their dream of winning a Test series against its former rulers in 1971. India was captained by Ajit Wadekar on the three-Test tour of England.

Ajit Wadekar, Eknath Solkar, Gundappa Vishwanath, and Sunil Gavaskar starred with the bat, while Bishan Singh Bedi and S Venkataraghavan were the heroes with the ball as India drew the first Test at Lord’s.

The second Test match at Old Trafford also ended in a draw, making the third encounter at the Oval the deciding one, in which India pulled off a terrific four-wicket win.

England had the upper hand in the first innings. But Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s 6-38 bundled out the hosts for 101 in the second innings. India had a 173-run target to chase in their second innings, which they achieved easily.

Captain Wadekar scored 45, and Dilip Sardesai racked up 40 off 156 balls as India won the match by 4 wickets and pocketed their maiden Test series win in England 1-0.

Ajit Wadekar was India’s leading scorer in the series with 204 runs. Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan was the highest wicket-taker in the series, with 13 wickets.