Great bowling performances by Indians against England – Part I

Tags: Mulvantrai Himmatlal Mankad, England tour of India 2012-13

Published on: Nov 12, 2012

This was the fifth and final Test of 1952 series played between the two sides at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai (then Madras).

Visitors bamboozled by Vinoo Mankad (February 1952)

This was the fifth and final Test of 1952 series played between the two sides at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai (then Madras). The first three Tests were drawn, but England went into the final Test on a high, having got the better of the Indians by eight wickets at Kanpur. Vinoo Mankad, however, ensured that India had their revenge, grabbing eight wickets in England’s first innings and four in the second, to hand the visiting Englishmen a massive defeat by a margin of an innings and eight runs.

Vinoo MankadEngland won the toss and batted first, a decision they went on to regret. Dattu Phadkar sent back opener Frank Lowson early, and from there on, it was all Mankad. Dick Spooner and Tom Graveney added 68 for the second wicket, but the left-arm orthodox magic of Mankad fooled Graveney as he was stumped by Khokhan Sen for 39. Vijay Hazare then chipped in, sending back Spooner for 66 and, after that, it was all Mankad on the scoreboard as far as the bowling column was concerned.He dismissed Allan Watkins for 9 and bowled Cyril Poole for 15.

Jack Robertson and Donald Carr then added a few crucial runs, but once Mankad dismissed Robertson for 77, caught and bowled, the game spun India’s way completely. At the time of Robertson’s dismissal England had managed to progress to 244 for 6, and had hopes of touch at least 300. However, thanks to Mankad’s craft, England were undone for 266. Carr was dismissed for 40 while the last four England batsmen combined to add only eight runs. The striking feature of Mankad’s performance was that four of his eight victims were stumped out, a clear indication that the Englishmen weren’t picking his deliveries.

India replied with a highly impressive score of 457, following which Mankad was in his elements again. Although this time Ghulam Ahmed was the wrecker-in-chief, claiming the key wickets of the middle-order batsmen, Mankad contributed by sending back Watkins caught and bowled for 48 before cleaning up the England tail in a whisker. Mankad ended with impressive figures in the second innings as well –4 for 53 from 30.5 overs as England were cleaned up for 183 in their second innings, winning the clash easily by an innings and, in the process squaring the series.

Other impressive performances in the Test

There were two centurions for India in their innings – opener Pankaj Roy made 111 while Polly Umrigar remained unbeaten on 130. Ghulam Ahmed ended with figures of 4 for 77 in England second innings. For the Englishmen, Robertson contributed 77 and 56 in the two innings even as the rest struggled.

Mankad vs England

All-rounder Mankad possessed an excellent record against the Englishmen with the ball especially. In 11 games, Mankad scalped 54 wickets averaging an amazing 23.12. This included three five-wicket hauls and a best of 8 for 55.

--By A Cricket Analyst

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