The best of India-England rivalry - 10 most memorable Test matches

Over the last decade, the India-England rivalry has taken a new turn, getting more intense than ealier. The added flavour of history – the British rule of India – has always been present, but the rivalry has become more vocal in the last 10 years. Here we look at some of the most memorable matches these two teams have played in Test cricket.India played its first cricket match against England in 1932 on June 25, when they entered the field only to be thrashed within 3 days, losing by 158 runs at Lord’s in their first ever outing.Mohammad Nissar was the first Indian bowler to take a five-for and his bowling partner Amar Singh, surprisingly, the first Indian batsman to cross the 50-run mark against England.Since then, these two teams have played 107 matches against each other. India emerged victorious in 20 encounters while England have got the better of India 40 times. In 52 matches away from home, India have won just 5 and lost 27. With India already in England for its next Test series, let us have a look at some of the most memorable matches involving these two teams.Special mentions:1952, Lord’s – Vinoo Mankad’s Incredible Test match: 72, 184 and 5-196, 0-35; England won by 8 Wickets;1952, Manchester – India bowled out for 58 and 82; England won by an innings and 207 runs;1985, Chennai – Graeme Fowler and Mike Gatting double tons sink India who fought hard as a whole;2006, Mohali – India bounced back after a big loss in previous match with Anil Kumble (9 Wickets) and other bowlers helping India to a 9 wicket win.P.S. – This is a list of 10 memorable matches, and not a ranking of top 10.

#1 1952, Madras (Chennai)

Why it was memorable?

India’s first win over England in a Test match and it helped in drawing the five match home series.

Day 1 – A normal beginning: England batted first to reach 224 by the end of Day 1, Vinoo Mankad picked up 3 wickets with his left-arm spin.

Day 2 – Mankad’s burst and Pankaj Roy’s ton: Mankad scalped all remaining England wickets on Day 2 to end up with 8 for 55, reducing England to just 266. As many as 3 batsmen were Stumped in second day – 4 in the innings. Pankaj Roy batted his way to his hundred before getting out and India ended the day at 206, just 60 runs behind the visiting team.

Day 3 – Polly Umrigar’s unbeaten hundred: The Maharashtra batsmen’s knock and Dattu Phadkar’s 61 allowed India to declare their innings with a lead of 191 and England managed to escape through the day at 12 for no loss.

Day 4 – Spin magic: There was no stopping the Indian spinners as they spun venom at the batsmen eventually bowling England out for 183 with off-spinner Ghulam Ahmed picking up 4 wickets. Vinoo Mankad who cleared up the tail also ended with 4 scalps, taking his match tally to 12. Robertson’s back-to-back half centuries were not enough for England to stop India from winning their first match against them.

Brief Scores:

Toss: England chose to bat first.

England: 266 (Jack Robertson 77, Vinoo Mankad 8-55) & 183 (Jack Robertson 56, Vinoo Mankad 4-53, Ghulam Ahmed 4-77)

India: 457/9 dec (Polly Umrigar 130, Donald Carr 2-84, Roy Tattersall 2-94, Malcolm Hilton 2-100)

India won by an innings and 8 runs and Series was Drawn 1-1

#2 2007, Trent Bridge

Why it was memorable?

India’s battled it out for a hard fought win to get 1-0 up that enabled them to their first Test series win in England since 1986 – after 21 years under Rahul Dravid.

Day 1 – Seamers give India early break-throughs: After Dravid elected to bowl first in overcast conditions, India made full use of the oppourtunity to knock England onto the back foot by picking up 7 wickets on the rain shortened day.

Day 2 – Batsmen continued the good work: After clearing out the tail quickly for 198, Indian batsmen put forward a high class batting display with openers Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer raising a 100 run stand. Even though both were dismissed quickly, Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar made sure the team ended the day with a 85 run lead.

Day 3 – A collective team effort: A typical 91 from Tendulkar and half centuries from Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman saw the visiting side end their innings with a healthy lead of 284.

The innings also involved a mild controversy when Zaheer Khan found some jelly beans on the pitch while he was batting. He was involved in a spat with Kevin Pietersen and took the issue to the umpires by claiming someone is throwing those on the pitch, as it reappeared even after his removal the first time.

England openers held their own on a tricky last hour to reach stumps at 43 for no loss.

Day 4 – Zaheer’s brilliance: England’s fightback was headed by Michael Vaughan who stood firm through two sessions and scored a fine century. Despite England losing just 3 wickets in the first two sessions, they could not resist the left arm seamer’s late burst with the second new ball, his 2 wicket over changed the course of the game. RP Singh removed Matt Prior off a beauty and Anil Kumble chipped in with late wickets.

India were up and running in their chase of 73 with 10 runs in 3 overs by the sunset.

Day 5 – A memorable win: Despite losing 3 wickets including that of Tendulkar cheaply, the match was always going to be India’s and it was quite convincing in the end.

Breif Scores:

Toss: India chose to field

England: 198 (Alastair Cook 43, Zaheer Khan 4-59) & 355 (Michael Vaughan 124, Zaheer Khan 5-75);

India: 481 (Sachin Tendulkar 91, Monty Panesar 4-101) & 73/3 (Dinesh Karthik 22, Wasim Jaffer 22, Chris Tremlett 3-12)

India win by 7 Wickets and lead the Series 1-0 (Won 1-0)

Man of the Match: Zaheer Khan

#3 1971, Lord\'s

Why it was memorable?

Sunil Gavaskar was involved in a controversy with the English pacer John Snow and it spiced up the entire series after the incident took place on the final day of an equally contested Test that ended in a draw.

Day 1 – Lower order helps England: Chosing to bat first and England were struggling for runs against Indian spinners – Srinivas Venkataraghavan (off-spin), Bishan Singh Bedi (left-arm) and Bhagwath Chandrasekhar (leg-spin) before Alan Knott and pacer John Snow rescued them with their 50s.

Day 2 – Captain’s knock: After England lost their two remaining wickets at 304 and Indian openers were soon sent back to the pavillion before captain Ajit Wadekar’s patient half century revived India. At Stumps, India were at 179 for 5.

Day 3 – India gain a slender lead: Gundappa Vishwanath and Eknath Solkar’s century stand guided India well past safety and by the time Solkar fell as the last man, India were ahead by 9 runs.

Day 4 – England’s progress: They reached 145 for the loss of 5 wickets and the Indian spinners were very much in the game for the last day.

Day 5 – Controversy and Rain: England’s tail didn’t last long against Chandrasekhar and Venkataraghavan and India required 183 to win the test match. But Vinoo Mankad and captain Wadekar fell quickly leaving Gavaskar to steer the chase. A controversy burst out when Gavaskar was tackled by Snow to the ground as the batsmen was running for a quick single, while the bowler was trying to get to the ball.

Snow got up and throwed the bat to the Indian starting off a high level of anticipation among the crowd and players. Snow later apologized for his action to Gavaskar and Indian batsmen too played it down.

Norman’s Gifford’s 4 wickets off his slow left-arm spin derailed India’s chase and an exciting final day ended in anti-climax due to a rain interruption when India required 38 runs to win with 2 wickets in hand.

Brief Scores:

Toss: England chose to bat

England: 304 (John Snow 73, Bishan Singh Bedi 4-70) & 191 (John Edrich 62, Srinivas Venkataraghavan 4-52);

India: 313 (Ajit Wadekar 85, Norman Gifford 4-84) & 145/8 (Sunil Gavaskar 53, Norman Gifford 4-43)

Match Drawn, Series remained at 0-0

#4 1971, The Oval

Why it was memorable?

After two hard-fought draws, India clinched the series decider to win their first Test series in England soil –39 years after making their debut in cricket.

Day 1 – Runs on the board: England ended the first day with 355 on board losing all their 10 wickets. The each of the three spinners picked up two wickets. Alan Knott and Richard Hutton’s 103 run 7th wicket stand was crucial for England.

Day 2 – No play was possible on the second day due to rain.

Day 3 – Middle order stands up: Most of the Indian batsmen got starts but no one was able to push on a bigger one. There were two 50+ scores from Dilip Sardesai and Farokh Engineer and two 40s from the bat of Ajit Wadekar and Eknath Solkar.

Day 4 – Chandrasekhar spins it India’s way: After the English captain Ray Illingworth completed his five-wicket haul, the home side’s batsmen were sent into a spin by the leg spinner Chandrasekhar who also ran a batsmen out apart from picking up six wickets. Venkatraghavan chipped in with two wickets to bowl out the opposition for 101 and India required 173 to secure the series.

Ajit Wadekar saw India into the sheds at 76/2 after two quick wickets threatened India’s ambitions.

Day 5 – Pitch invasion and celebrations: Despite losing Wadekar early Sardesi and Gundappa Vishwanath’s innings took India close to the win. Farokh Engineer played a handy role in ensuring the win for the Indians that saw thrilled and exited fans invade the pitch.

It marked both India’s first Test win and first series win in England.

Brief Scores:

Toss: England chose to bat

England: 355 (Alan Knott 90, Srinivas Venkataraghavan 2-63, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar 2-76, Bishan Singh Bedi 2-120) & 101 (Brian Luckhurst 33, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar 6-38);

India: 284 (Farokh Engineer 59, Ray Illingworth 5-70) & 174/6 (Ajit Wadekar 45, Derek Underwood 3-72)

India won the match by 4 Wickets and Series 1-0 with an unchanged side.

#5 2008, Chennai

Why it was memorable?

The Novermber 26 Mumbai terror attacks curtailed the 7 match ODI series into 5 and the England team flew home citing security reasons. However, they returned for the two match Test series which took off in Chennai and this remains as a memorable one for India’s historic chase.

Day 1 – Andrew Strauss’s century: Kevin Pietersen chose to bat on a good batting track and England openers were rock solid in the morning session. England ended the day at 229-5 after Strauss fell caught and bowled to Amit Mishra towards to end.

Day 2 – Indian top order fails in reply: Matt Prior’s 50 helped the visitors get past 300 and India in reply were three down before Tea. MS Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh were the batsmen at the crease when the stumps were drawn at 155 for 6.

Day 3 – England steady after setbacks: A 75 run partnership from the overnight pair took India to a decent total but still England inflicted a 75 run lead over Dhoni’s men. England lost 3 quick wickets in the afternoon session and were at 67 by tea. When India sniffed a chance to blow England away Strauss found an ally in Collingwood and they stitched a 100 run stand to stretch their lead past 200.

Day 4 – Strauss’s milestone, afternoon strikes and Sehwag dynamite: The England pair batted through the morning session too. Both of them reached the three figure mark, with Strauss celebrating his second century of the test. When Harbhajan drew a mistake from Strauss, India took advantage with 4 more wickets in the second session with the pace spearhead Zaheer claiming three.

England declared soon after tea leaving India to chase 387 with 256 being the highest successful chase in India and just 155 in Chennai previously. Virender Sehwag produced some astonishing shots and India reached 100 in 18 overs. The dashing stroke-maker made 83 from 68 balls before falling to Swann towards the stumps.

Day 5 – Mighty Chase: Resuming at 131-1, India still needed 256 runs which on the last day is very difficult. Gambhir was dismissed after reaching his 50 next to Dravid’s end when Sachin Tendulkar entered the crease. VVS Laxman fell soon after Lunch with India at 224 but an iconic unbeaten century from the master batsman took India to a record breaking chase together with the company of Yuvraj Singh (85*).

Breif Scores:

Toss: England chose to bat

England: 316 (Andrew Strauss 123, Harbhajan Singh 3-96, Amit Mishra 3-99) & 311/9 dec (Andrew Strauss 108, Paul Collingwood 108, Zaheer Khan 3-40, Ishant Sharma 3-57);

India: 241 (MS Dhoni 53, Andrew Flintoff 3-49, Monty Panesar 3-65) & 387/4 (Sachin Tendulkar 103*, Graeme Swann 2-103)

India won by 6 Wickets and lead series 1-0 (Won 1-0)

Man of the Match: Virender Sehwag

#6 1967, Leeds

Why it was memorable?

India did not manage a win against England in 17 previous matches and suffered 13 losses. Pataudi’s who is widely praised for inducing confidence among the Indian cricketers for overseas win played a fine innings that had an impact among the Indians as the famous spin quartet helped India to its first win in English soil on their following tour in 1971.

Day 1 – Geoffrey Boycott’s ton: After losing his opening partner, he made sure that there was no further damage with Ken Barrington who was run out for 93. Another century stand followed with Tom Graveney who scored a half century. Boycott was on 106 when stumps were called with England firmly placed at 281 for 3.

Day 2 – The Double Century: Boycott and Basil D’Oliveira made India toil hard and when the later was dismissed for 109, the pair had put on a massive 252 runs together. England declared at 550/4, Boycott was unbeaten on 246.

India in reply was tottering at 86 for 6 by the end of play.

Day 3 – Nawab’s lonely battle: Nawab of Pataudi (Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi) waged a lone fight with his half century while the rest of the batsmen crumbled to leave India at 164 all out. Following on, it looked like were going to go down so easily after the first wicket fell early, but Farokh Engineer and Ajit Wadekar took a leaf out of Pataudi’s innings to help India reach 198 for 2.

Day 4 – Nawab all the way: Nawab of Pataudi once again batted India out of difficulty by guiding India’s aggregate over the home side’s with Hanumant Singh’s (73) support. India survived the day, courtesy, the right-hander who was unbeaten on 129.

Day 5 – The inevitable: India lost its remaining two wickets for 35 runs and England with almost a complete day batted calmly to reach the target of 125 despite losing 4 wickets against some spirited bowling display by the Indians.

Brief Scores:

Toss: England chose to bat

England: 550/4 dec (Geoffrey Boycott 246*, Bahgwath Chandrasekhar 2-121) & 126/4 (Ken Barrington 46, Bahgwath Chandrasekhar 3-50);

India: 164 (Nawab of Pataudi 64, Robin Hobbs 3-45, Ray Illingworth 3-31) & 510 (Nawab of Pataudi 148, Ray Illingworth 4-100)

England won by 4 Wickets and Lead the Series 1-0

#7 1993, Bombay (Mumbai) (Wankhade)

Why it was memorable?

India completed its first ever whitewash against England, winning all three matches of the series.

Day 1 – Graeme Hick took England to safety: Batting first England found it hard to get going against the disciplined Indian bowlers. Graeme Hick’s 99* on the day and his 93 run 7th wicket stand carried England to the safer zone.

Day 2 – Hick goes past 150 and strong Indian reply: The right-hander in the company of tail added valuable runs to the total and England made 347 for the loss of 10 wickets. India began strongly with Navjot Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar adding a 109 runs for the opening wicket. India ended the day at 144 for 1.

Day 3 – Vinod Kambli bats and bats: Resuming the day, Vinod Kambli lost his partner early in the day and along with Sachin Tendulkar he added 194 runs. When the little master fell for 78, his friend batted through the day to remain unbeaten on 164* and India comfortably placed at 397 for 3.

Day 4 – Kambli creates record: Kambli carried on for a double hundred and went past Gundappa Vishwanath as the highest individual run scorer against England in an innings with his 224. England in reply were 108 for 3. Manoj Prabhakar removed the English first three before they made some fight back.

Day 5 – History made: Resistance from Robin Smith and Mike Gatting was not able to stop India from completing the whitewash on the final day with Anil Kumble being the star of the day.

Brief Scores:

Toss: England chose to bat

England: 347 (Graeme Hick 178, Kapil Dev 3-35) & 229 (Robin Smith 62, Anil Kumble 4-70);

India: 591 (Vinod Kambli 224, Phil Tuffnel 4-142)

India won by an innings and 15 runs and the Series 3-0

Man of the series: Anil Kumble

#8 Leeds, 1986

Why it was memorable?

India’s second series win on English soil, courtest Dilip Vengsarkar’s sublime form.

Day 1 – Decent start by India: The visitors made 235 for 8 after the openers laid a decent foundation with their 30s. Vengsarkar crossed his 50 before being dismissed.

Day 2 – Wickets tumble: India were bowled out for 272 after which the English side were found wanting against the Indian seamers who operated in tandem and were dismissed for a low score of 105. Roger Binny (Stuart’s dad) claimed 5 wickets.

India, who began their second innings lost 5 wickets to reach stumps at 70 for 5 with a lead of 237. Collectively 17 Wickets fell on the day.

Day 3 – More wickets but Vengsarkar stood strong: Wickets continued to fall at the other end but the right hander seemed to be batting on a different pitch as he went on to score his second hundred of the series (He made 126 not out in the 1st innings of the first test) enabling India to set a daunting task of chasing 408 in the final innings.

England were 90 for 6 in reply as the pacers once again found the troublesome length.

Day 4 – One way traffic: The left-arm spinner Maninder Singh, who was not even needed for the first innings finished with 4 wickets to end the miseries of England batsmen at 128.

Brief Scores:

Toss: India chose to bat

India: 272 (Vengsarkar 61, Derek Pringle 3-47, Graham Dilley 3-54) & 237 (Vengsarkar 104, John Lever 4-64, Derek Pringle 4-73);

England: 102 (Bill Athey 32, Roger Binny 5-40) & 128 (Mike Gatting 31*, Maninder Singh 4-26)

India won by 279 runs and lead the series 2-0 (Won 2-0)

Man of the Match: Dilip Vengsarkar

#9 2002, Leeds

Why it was memorable?

India were trailing in the 4 match series 0-1. It was the 3rd match of the series and the team responded in a remarkable fashion.

Day 1 – India batted like champions: Mathew Hoggard removed Virender Sehwag early, other than that it was absolute dominance from India with the bat. Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid raised 170 runs together before the opener was dismissed for 68. India ended the day with 236-2.

Day 2 – Runs galore: Rahul Dravid walked off after a high profile 148 adding a 150-run stand with Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly each scored centuries as India’s No.3, 4 and 5 reached three figure mark helping India pile up 584 runs with 6 wickets in the bag. Ganguly’s dismissal for 128 ended a 249-run stand that shocked England.

Day 3 – India declare: Sachin was dismissed 7 runs short of his double century and India declared their innings at 628 for 8. India asked questions consistently and were rewarded with 9 wickets before the end of the day, with England at 264.

Day 4 – England Steady in Follow on: The home side was made to bat again after they lost their remaining one wicket to leave Alex Stewart stranded on 78 and they began reasonably well. Nasser Hussain took up the responsibility when three wickets fell for 116, and remained unbeaten on 90 along with Stewart (40*) helping England to 239 for 4.

Day 5 – Anil Kumble magic: The English side looked like they are going to save the test match after Hussain reached his hundred, but the leggie had other ideas. He quicky removed both the set batsmen, meanwhile, Zaheer removed Andrew Flintoff for a duck opening the gates and England were conquered fairly easily. Kumble picked up 4 of the six wickets to fall on the last day.

Brief Scores:

Toss: India chose to bat.

India: 628/8 dec (Sachin Tendulkar 193, Andrew Caddick 3-150);

England: 273 (Alex Stewart 78*, Harbhajan Singh 3-40, Anil Kumble 3-93) & 309 (Nasser Hussain 110, Anil Kumble 4-66)

India won by an innings and 46 runs and draw the series 1-1 (Series Drawn 1-1)

Man of the Match: Rahul Dravid

#10 2011, The Oval

Why it was memorable?

Team India lost all 3 matches and was hopeful of winning the last Test of the series as a consolation and to restore some lost pride as they lost their No.1 ranking in ICC standings. It produced a good contest and Rahul Dravid once again stoop up amongst the ruins, but England completed a memorable whitewash.

Day 1 – England on a batting track amidst cloudy conditions scored 75 in the first session without a fall of wicket. Rain did not permit any further play.

Day 2 – A monumental stand: Both the openers were sent back in the morning session before Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen hurt India badly with a 350-run partnership that was simply outstanding. Pietersen was finally dismissed by a casual stroke off Suresh Raina for 175 at a strike rate of 75.43. England were at 457 for 3 by stumps.

Day 3 – England declare, India explode: Ian Bell batted further to score a double ton after his overnight of 181* and his side reached Lunch at 591 for 6. Rain washed away the afternoon session that forced England to declare and Indians crumbled on the final session losing 5 to make 103. Dravid, who was once again made to open on the tour after Gautam Gambhir’s fitness concerns, remained unconquered at 57.

Day 4 – Last man standing: Dravid continued to reach his 35th Test century and third of the series. His unbeaten 146 could not see India avoid the follow-on and Cook enforced the same. Amit Mishra was the second highest scorer of the innings with 43.

In second innings, Dravid was out for 13 and India were three down for 129 when Stumps were drawn. Sachin Tendulkar was on 35*.

Day 5 – Night watchman does overtime before Swann strikes: Amit Mishra, who entered the crease on Day 4 after VVS Laxman’s late dismissal, made sure that India went through the first session without a fall of wicket. That raised hopes of a draw with 7 Wickets in hand. India was still 75 runs adrift of English score at that time.

India added 46 runs in 10.2 overs at the start of the middle session and as runs started to flow, batsmen started to relax a bit when Graeme Swann, the off-spinner added to his 2 wickets on the previous day by cleaning up Mishra. The floodgates were opened when Sachin Tendulkar fell leg-before to Tim Bresnan for 91. India’s spectacular collapse of 21 for 7 in 15.4 overs shocked every Indian fan.

Swann finished the match with six wickets that hit the final nail of the coffin as India failed to make England bat again.

Brief Scores:

Toss: England chose to bat

England: 591/6 dec (Ian Bell 235, S Sreesanth 3-123);

India: 300 (Rahul Dravid 146*, Tim Bresnan 3-54, Graeme Swann 3-102) & 283 (Sachin Tendulkar 91, Graeme Swann 6-106)

England won by an innings and 8 runs and Series by 4-0

Man of the Match: Ian Bell