History of Indian cricket - 1960s
The 1960’s was not a period that Indian cricket can be completely proud of. Despite their home series victory against England in 1961-62 and their overseas series win against New Zealand in 1968 and coming together of the famous spin quartet, there were dark clouds that surrounded Indian cricket, more off the field than on it. There were riots that broke out during the matches held at Eden Gardens and there were innumerable cases of policemen beating up the spectators.
Indians triumph against England – 1961-62
England’s tour of India in 1961-62 turned out to be sweet revenge for the home team. After the first three matches ended in a draw, the Indians won the fourth Test comprehensively by an innings and 187 runs at Kolkata.
Borde had scores of 66 and 61 to his name while Durrani took 8 wickets for 113 runs. A special mention for Vijay Mehra who was the wicket-keeper then, scored a gritty 62 runs with a broken finger and helped his team to register a win.
This was followed by another Test win at the Chepauk in Madras where the Indians beat the English by 128 runs. Durrani took 10 wickets in the match for his side while Pataudi had the crowd on their feet with his magnificent 103 in the first innings which included 16 fours and 2 sixes.
This way, the touring side lost the series 0-2 and India registered their first series victory against England.
Caribbean disaster
After performing well against England in the home series of 1961-62, the tour of West Indies turned out to be a complete disaster. It was the West Indian bowling duo of Hall and Griffith, who completely terrified the Indians.
It was only Polly Umrigar, with a brilliant 172 at Port of Spain, who managed to show some character. However, the Indians succumbed to a humiliating 0-5 defeat and lost their captain, Contractor, in the process.
Contractor was hit straight on the head by Charlie Griffith, the West Indian fast bowler who was famous for more than often chucking the ball.
This led to Tiger Pataudi taking charge of the Indian team at a very young age of 21. In due time, he went on to become one of the finest captain that India had ever produced.
Riots in Calcutta - 1967
1st January, 1967 is considered as one of the black days in Indian cricket. Rowdy crowds at the Eden Gardens became violent and the touring West Indian team almost abandoned the Test match.
There was more trouble over acquiring tickets to watch India play the Aussies at the Eden Gardens again on 16th December 1969 which left six dead and twenty two injured. These were few incidents that forever marred the glorious run of the Indian cricket team.
Victory overseas -1968
In the year 1968 India finally ended the 35-year slump of being unable to register a Test victory abroad. This feat was achieved when the Indian team, being led by Tiger Pataudi, beat New Zealand 3-1. It was again the spin-web cast by E.A.S. Prasanna, B.S. Bedi and R.G. Nadkarni, which bought India to the doors of this glory.
The first Test match at Dunedin went India’s way where all round performance by the Indians saw them register a 5 wicket win over New Zealand. Being set a target of 200 runs in the final innings, the Indians achieved it in 74.4 overs.
The second Test match at Christchurch was won by New Zealand who won the game by 6 wickets. Being set a small target of 88 runs by the Indians in the final innings, the New Zealand team achieved it in 40.4 overs.
Ajit Wadekar’s 143 in the Third Test at the Basin Reserve, Wellington saw the Indians go 2-1 up in the series. In the fourth and final Test at Eden Park, Auckland saw Indians register a 272 run victory, with 8 wickets in the match going to Erapalli Prasanna.
This saw the Indians record their first ever Test series win abroad.
