In the following Thread i will be writing about the Test journey of Indian cricket from 1932,all the major milestones series by series. I am not a historian or a statistician so might miss out on some important events. Please feel free to add your own anecdotes and stories.

1)1932 : First Test Ever. England at Lords.
On the very 1st morning India had reduced england to 19/3. This was the last time they held the upper hand in the game.
M Nissar became the 1st indian to pick 5 wkts,
while fellow fast bowler Amar singh hit the 1st 50.
W:0,L:1

2) 1933: First ever test in india. England. Gymkhana ground, Mumbai.
Another test, another defeat. Nissar picked up another 5wkt haul. Lala Amarnath scored the first ever test hundred for India.
W:0,L:2

3) 1934: First ever draw. England. Eden Gardens.
This was the first ever test at the Eden Gardens.
Following on, india somehow managed to hold on to their first ever draw.
Keeper Dilawar Hussain made twin 50s. Amar singh picked up 4 wkts and Captain CK Nayudu 3.
W:0,L:2

4) 1936: First ever draw in England. Manchester.
Drew the test after conceding a 368 run lead. Openers Vijay Hazare &Vijay Merchant scored 100s.
The 2nd day of the test saw 588 runs scored in a single day. Eng made 398 of those while the indian openers ended with 190/0
W:0,L:4

5)1947: First draw in Australia. Sydney
Took a 1st inn lead of 71 on a tough track. Rain ensured that the game never went to eventuality.
This was probably the closest india came to a test win yet.
W:0,L:7

6)1947: First batsman to score 100 in each innings
Although india lost easily, Vijay hazare's 116 and 145 were the standout performance of the test.
Dattu Phadkar also chipped in with a 100.
The series was overall a disappointment as india lost 4 of the 5 tests.
W:0,L:10

7)1948: First test vs WI. Drawn
1st test: High scoring draw saw 4 100s from WI,1 from India(Hemu Adhikari).
3rd test: Strongest performance yet. Chasing 431,ind were placed at 325/3. Another session and india might have pulled of a win.
W:0,L:10

8)1948: So near yet so far
Closest ind came to a test win as they fell 6 runs short. In an electrifying chase with Hazare's 122 india were 355/8 when time was up. Time wasting tactics from WI made matters worse. With this win ind could have drawn the 5 test series 1-1.
W:0,L:11

9)1951: Big lead vs Eng
A strong performance at home saw india take a big 200+ lead against england where the visitors had to fight for a draw.
Both Vijay Merchant and Vijay Hazare scored 150+.
W:0,L:11

10)1952: FIRST EVER TEST WIN. ENGLAND. Madras
India won her first ever test and also managed to draw the series 1-1. India dominated 4 of the 5 tests.
Mankad picked up 12 wkts. While Polly umrigar and Pankaj Roy made 100s
W:1,L:12

11)1952: 3-0 Thrashing in England
The series' embarrassments included - Losing top 4 for zero, bowled out twice in a day, drawing a test only because of rain.
Only performance of note were 100s from Vijay Manjrekar in the 1st test, and Vinoo Mankad(184) in the 2nd.
W:1,L:15

12)1952: Test series win vs Pak.
India won 1st & 3rd tests of the series. Mankad picked up 21 wkts in wins. Hazare & Umrigar made 100s in the 3rd test. With the last 2 tests ending in draws india clinched their first ever test rubber 2-1 against the debutants pak.
W:3,L:16

13) 1953 - Closely fought series in WI
In a reasonably well fought series india lost only one test of the 5 games.
Umrigar topped batting charts for india with 560 runs while Subhash Gupte picked up 27 wkts
W:3,L:17

14) 1955 - Boring long series vs pak
In an incredibly boring series none of the teams managed to push for a win with each test ending in a draw.
Surprisingly only 1 batsman made more than 300 runs from both sides.
Gupte picked 21 wkts
W:3,L:17

15)1955-56 - Home win vs NZ, 2-0
Probably the 1st time ind dominated in a series.
Umrigar 200(1st test),Mankad 200(2nd test),Manjrekar 177(3rd test),Mankad 231 & Roy 173 in a WR opening partnership of 413(5th test) dominated batting.
Gupte picked up 34 wkts.
W:5,L:17

16)1956 - Thrashed at home by Oz
Lost 2-0. In the final test had to chase a modest 231 to draw the series. Collapsed from 94/2 to 136 all out.
A disappointing series with a 100 from GS Ramachand the only notable performance.
Ghulam ahmad picked 10 wkts in the final test
W:5,L:19

17)1958 - Thrashed by WI at home
Lost 3-0. Big 300+runs defeats. Ind had 4 diff captains-Umrigar,Ghulam Ahmad, Adhikari and Datta Gaekwad.
Subash Gupte picked 22 wkts at 42.
The closest game of the series was probaly the opening game!
W:5,L:22

18)1959 - Blanked in Eng
Lost 5-0. Dominated by eng in every game. Only Nari Contractor managed to avg above 30.
Seamer R Surendranath picked up 2 5wkt halls. Captain Datta Gaekwad never led india again.
W:5,L:27

19)1959-60 - Close defeat at home
India lost 2-1, but won her1st test after 4 years.
Ind levelled the series in 2nd test at kanpur with a fine come from behind win.
Jassu patel picked up 14 wkts as ind defended 225. Oz added another win in the next 3 to win the rubber!
W:6,L:29

20)1961/62-1st series win vs eng,2-0
After another snoozefest vs pak(5 draws) ind won their 1st test rubber vs eng.
Manjrekar 586,Durani 200(+23wkts),
Borde314(+16wkts),Jaisimha 399 were standout performances. Pataudi made 222 in debut series including a 100!
W:8,L:29

21)1962: 5-0 thrashing in WI
An extremely forgettable series where captain Nari Contractor had to face life threatening injury. Griffith broke his skull in a tour game and ended his test career.
Umrigar made 445 at 50(+9 wkts), Salim durani picked 17 wkts alongwith a 100
W:8,L:34

22)1964: Yet another snoozfest.5 draws vs eng
In an otherwise boring series notable efforts came from Kunderan 525(including 192), Sardesai & Jaisimha 440+, Pataudi double hundred.
Bapu nadkarni bowled an incredible spell of 32-27-5-0, with 21 consecutive maidens!!
W:8,L:34

23)1964: Tough draw vs oz
India won a thriller at mum to level the series.Oz at 246/3(225 ahead),collapsed to 274. Game seemed lost at 122/6,then 224/8,but borde held his nerves to cross the line. Final 2 days of 3rd test rained off as an interesting series ended meekly!
W:9,L:35

24)1965: Tough win vs Nz
Following on in 3rd test, thanks to 200 from Sardesai,100 from Borde ind set nz a target of 255. Nz were 80/8 when time ran out.
With time running out, ind chased down 73 in 9 overs in the 4th test to clinch the series.
W:10,L:35

25)1967-Tough loss to WI.Lost 2-0
Although WI were better,with some luck ind cud have won 2-1. In the final test,chasing 322 WI were 193/7.Sobers held on to a draw to deny ind a consolation win. The test also saw Engineer make 94* before lunch day 1.
W:10,L:37

26)1967/68: 7-0 in Eng,Oz
Pataudi's 148 at leeds,Chandra's 16wkts highlights of eng tour.
Chasing 395 at gabba,ind collapsed from 310/5 to 355. Only test they were in the game
Pataudi,Surti topped batting charts with 4 50s.
Surti also picked 15wkts, behind Prasanna's 25
W:10,L:44

27)1968:1st series win overseas NZ,3-1
Won the 1st test by chasing a tricky 200. Came back after a hammering in 2nd test to win final 2.
Wadekar's 143(3rd test) only 100 from ind. Surti(99) missed one in 4th.
Prasanna,Bedi,Nadkarni picked 54wkts among them!
W:13,L:45

28)1969:Tough draw vs NZ
A series where NZ could have won all 3. 1st test,Ind defended 188 on the backs of bedi,prasanna.
In the decider having been set 268, ind were 76/7 before rain interrupted the game. Ending the series 1-1.
Ind had only 2 50s in the series.
W:14,L:46

29a)1969: Tough defeat to Oz,3-1
Having conceded a 73 run lead in the 3rd test, ind shot aus out for 107 and chase down comfortably to level the series. Bedi and Prasanna picking up 18 wkts in the game
Aus came back to win the 4th test despite Bedi's 10 for.

29b) Final test : Having given away a 95 run lead, ind reduced Oz to 24/6. But Oz recovered to 153 setting 249 for an ind win. Ind collapsed from 114/2 to 171 to lose the rubber 3-1.
Vishwanath made a debut test 100 in the series.
Prasanna,Bedi,Venkat picked 59wkts
W:15,L:49

This was the final test of the 1960s. From having 1 win vs 15 losses till 1952, india improved it's tally to 15 wins vs 49 losses by the end of 1960s.
The tales from next decades will follow soon!

Continuing with this thread,in the following passage i will write about The Watershed year of Indian cricket history. The Golden year which saw landmark wins in West indies and England. India had lost its last 13 tests in the 2 countries and had never managed to win a test!

1971. This was quite an eventful year to put it mildly.
Following a split, Indira Gandhi(INC R) re-won lok sabha elections with a thumping majority against Morarji Desai INC(O).
India liberated bangladesh following wars in both eastern and western fronts.

Movies: DevAnand's 'Hare rama Hare Krishna',Zeenat aman plays a Hippie.
Rajesh khanna's 'Haathi mere saathi' & 'Anand'. Won filmfare for the latter. In a few yrs,the supporting actor wud go on to take his golden crown and rule bollywood.
And India embarked on a tour of WI & Eng..

1)The 1960s saw England dominate test cricket. They had a win loss ration of more than 2. WI were quite a handful side as they too were slightly behind aus at he 3rd spot.
India meanwhile, had started ascendancy with wins in Nz and some home domination.

2)The Indian team saw a change in captaincy as Ajit Wadekar was given the leadership role ending Pataudi's long reign.
Wadekar wanted Tiger to travel to WI to which he replied he was definitely coming.
The next morning Tiger called him up to say he was going into politics!

3)Before the start of the series, india played 6 practice games(win 1,loss 1)/
2 openers who had yet to debut were tried. In a fierce competition for the sinlge spot the Mumbaikar made 395, while Hyderabad's Jayantilal scored 472runs. Jayantilal made his debut in 1st test!

4)1st Test Kingston.
After day 1 was washed off, Sobers won the toss and put India in. WI bowlers ceased the advantage by reducing Inda to 75/5.
Debutant opener Kenia Jayantilal scored just 5, in his ONLY test innings. None of the 1st 5 dismissed crossed 13!

5)In an incredble fightback, senior batsman Dilip Sardesai & Solkar added 137 for 6th wkt to give some credibility.
Sardesai was'nt finished yet.After adding 48 with next 2, he further added 122 for the 9th wkt with Prasanna(25) before holder dismissed him for an unforgettble 212

6)WI started well with top order chipping in with healthy contributions. On day 4, 184-3 WI were comfortably placed to draw the game.
Then, in an outstanding spell of bowling, the spin trio of Prasanna, Venkat and Bedi shot WI to 217.
India lead by 170 runs!

7)'Hey Garry, you have to follow on'
With a lead of 170 runs in a now 4 day game and not much time remaining in the game to force a result, Wadekar wanted to gain psychological advantage and asked WI to follow on.
The 1st time ever India enforced follow on over WI!

8)With their hurt pride, WI batted again. This time with a lot more authority. Rohan kanhai made 158* and Captain Sobers 93.
The match unsurprisingly ended in a draw.
But india having dominated the game told WI that they were in for a tough ride this home season!

9)2nd Test. Port of Spain
WI won the toss & electd to bat first as they wanted to apply the scoreboard pressure.
S Abid Ali who failed as a batting opener in the first test, had a terrific start as a bowler in this as he clean bowled Roy Fredricks of the 1st ball of the test.

10) By the time Abid ali picked up his 2nd wkt,b Clive Lloyd, WI had been reduced to 62/4. This soon became 161/8 before tail got them to 214. Only 50 from Charlie Davis(71*).
Prasanna(4),Bedi(3), Venkat(1) had tremendous support from close in fielder Eknath Solkar(4 catches)

11)New openers Ashok Mankad & debutant Sunil Gavaskar added 68. When Sunny got out for 65, India were 186/3.
Wadekar failed again with a golden duck.The heroic pair of 1st test Sardesai-Solkar added 114, before ind collapsed from 300/4 to 352.
Jack Noreiga picked 9 for 95.

12)With a deficit of 138, WI began their 2nd innings on day 3.
The strong start led by Fredricks and Davis meant that WI ended day 3 at 150/1 with a lead of 12 runs.
The game was back in the balance. But a lot was about to change the next day.

13)In a freak accident in the nets before day 4,Davis was injured as a Fredricks' hit tore the net and hit him.Davis had to be immediately rushed to hospital.
This meant that Fredricks was accompanied by lloyd. Then even before a run could be scored, Fredricks was run out!

14)In an inspirational bowling change Durani picked up Llyod & Sobers to reduce WI to 169/4.
Venkat then ran through the line up picking up the next 5 to fall. Bedi ended West indian misery to dismiss them for 261.
India needed 124 runs to go 1-0 in the series.

15)The small target never troubled the indians as the openers put up yet another solid performance with a 74 runs stand.
After a mini collapse to 84/3,Gavaskar(67*) & Abid ali(21*) ensured there were no further hiccups as India won its 1st ever test in 12 attempts in WI!

16)3rd Test.Georgetown Guyana
1-0 down, WI won the toss & batted again.
WI had decent contributions from the top order but india kept chipping in reducing them to 256/8. Lewis & Gibbs added 84 for 9th wkt to get them to 363 of almost 160 overs. The innings saw 3 run outs!

17)Playing in only his 2nd test, Gavaskar reached a well compiled 100. Helpful contributions from Mankad(40),Vishy(50),Sardesai(45),Abid Ali(50*) helped in take a 13run lead in another dogged display. Batting for 167 overs india took out significant time from the game.

18) A much stronger batting performance from WI with 100s from Davis & Sobers helped them declare at 307/3(Target 295).
At 123/0 from 30 overs, there was little left in the game as both teams shook hands for a draw.
Meanwhile Gavaskar had hit his 4th successive 50+ score!

19)4th test.Bridgetown.
1-0 down with only 2 tests meant that WI had to win this.
In a remarkable batting performance led by capt Sobers(178) WI scored 501/5 in their strongest performance yet.
Ind ended day 2 at 2/1 as wonder kid Gavaskar failed for the 1st time in his career!

20) Debutant Ulton Dowe with help from Holder & sobers rocked the indian top order.
Mankad(6),Gavaskar(1),keeper Krishnamurthy(1),Wadekar(28),Vishwanath(25),Jaisimha(0).
At 70/6 with a deficit of 431 runs the test looked as good as settled. But could there be another fightback?

21) It was a case of lightning striking thrice as the pair Sardesai-Solkar joined again and thwarted WI attack, this time for 186 runs, their highest parntership yet. After Solkar(65), Sardesai added 62 with last man bedi(20) to complete yet another 150. Ind ended at 347.

22) With little time left and another missed opportunity, WI batsmen decided to go full tilt as they added 180/6 in 43 overs. Number of wickets didnt really matter as much as time.
With about 100+ overs left on final day, WI set india an improbable target of 335!

23) After his 1st inng failure, Gavaskar decided to put his head down and hold fort. Despite losing partners cheaply Sunny(117*) brought up his 2nd test 100(1st while chasing). Ind ended day at 221/5 with extras(28) on 2nd spot. 1-0 up & 1 to go,Ind cant lose the series now!

24)5th Test.Port of Spain(again!)
The final test was a 6 day test to give maximum opportunity for a result.
Ind batted 1st after winning the toss. Having already scored 430 in his 1st 3 tests, Gavaskar continued his glorious run, supported by crisis man Sardesai.

25) The duo were separated at 190/3. This began a collapse as ind were reduced to 247/6. But Gavaskar(124) was ably supported by Venkatraghavan who scored his maiden test 50.
WI had used up 7 bowlers before india ended their innings at 360.

26) In yet another powerful batting performance WI scored 526.Sobers,Davis made 100s. Unlucky Foster out for 99.
The trio of Bedi, Prasanna, Venkat bowled almost 175 overs to pick 8 wkts among them.
With a deficit of 166 & more than 2 days left, india had a task on their hands!

27) At 11/1, Gavaskar was joined by capt Wadekar. Wadekar finally hit his 1st 50 of the series. WI dismissed the middle order cheaply Sardesai(21),Vishy(38),Jaisimha(23),Solkar(14). Yet the score kept rollicking as the young man at the other end had reached his 200!!

28) At 377/6, When Gavaskar had finally been dismissed for 220, he had already scored 774 runs with 4 100s in the series. The most for a debutant!
Lower order managed to frustrate WI further as india batted for almost 200 overs in the 2nd innings finally folding up for 427.

29) With little more than 40 overs left on day 6, WI were left to chase 262 to level the series 1-1.
But Ind never let them get a sniff of win as Abid ali picked 3 including Sobers for a golden duck. Regular wkts meant that when the play ended at 165/8, WI was close to a 2-0 loss

30) A draw in the 5th and final test meant that India won its first ever series in WI (1-0). Their 2nd overseas series win.
Gavaskar made 774 at 154,Sardesai 642 at 80. Next best was Solkar with 224.
Venkat(22),Bedi(15),Prasanna(11),Abid Ali(11) topped bowling charts.

India began the 1970s on a high with this win. But critics questioned the quality of the opposition. Some felt it was a false dawn.
So was this win a fluke? Well this was to be answered in a few months, in England.

Having triumphed in WI, India was about to face a tougher challenge in England. Eng had been the most alien conditions for an Indian team as they had lost 15 of their 19 tests there without a single win.
English team was also the strongest side in the world in the 1960s.

England were unarguably the no.1 side in world cricket having not lost their last 24 tests,including an ashes win down under months ago.
But prior to the Indian series, Eng had a scare vs Pak as they just about managed to win the series 1-0 by winning the final test by 25 runs

Manoj Kumar's "Purab aur Pashchim(East & West)" had released in 1970. Bharat travels to Britain & is shocked to know that young Indians there are ashamed of their roots & have even westernized their names. How he gets them back to traditional roots forms the plot of the story.

"A calculated gamble"
Few changes were made to the squad that toured WI.
Veterans Jaisimha and Durani were dropped. Chandrashekhar who had been controversially omitted from WI tour was picked again in a "A calculated gamble" according to Chief selector Vijay Merchant.

Ind had a great start to the tour as they dominated the 8 county games before the 1st test, winning 5 &losing 1.
Almost all of the top order scored 100s. Vishwanath(3) at top.
The spin quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandra and Venkat had already bagged 100 wkts before the tests.

Gavaskar-Sardesai were in excellent form after their exploits in WI.Spinners like always had played a major role in the win.
Going into the first test there was no doubt that this would be a well fought series. Who will Lord over the other in the 71' summer was the question!

1st Test,Lords, 22 July 1971
Ray Illingworth won the toss & elected to bat.Decision seemed to have backfired as eng were reduced to 71/5 as Chandra-Bedi wrecked havoc.
Meanwhile Sir Geoff Boycott found it difficult to negotiate the opening spell of Abid Ali and Eknath Solkar.

Eng required some repair work & which was provided in a 110 run partnership between Illingworth(33) & ever reliable Knott(67) for 6th wkt. Following Knott's dismissal India kept chipping with wkts and soon reduced Eng to 223/8.
Eng ended day 1 at 252/8 with honors even now.

Fast bowler Jon Snow had already frustrated India the previous evening by completing a half century. He ended with 73 as Eng were finally bowled out for a respectable 304.
The spin trio of Venkat, Chandra and Bedi picked up 9 wkts in 125 overs.

The Indian pair of Mankad & Gavaskar were soon dismissed leaving the visitors in a spot of bother at 29/2.
Capt Wadekar played a solid knock of 85 laced with 11 4s. He was ably supported by Vishwanath(68),Solkar(67) batted for 4.5 hrs marathon each at a strike rate of just 25.

The lower order did not offer much resistance as India lost the last 5 wkts for just 46 runs, whereas bulk of English total was built up by the lower order.
When India ended their 1st innings at 313 at stumps on day 3 they had batted out 165 overs & were 9 runs ahead.

The English top order gave a slightly better performance 2nd time around. Edrich made a well compiled 62, supported by 30s from boycott & Oliveira. But on day 4 stumps,& Eng at 145/5 the game was heading for a draw unless either team had a magic trick up their sleeves.

The English lower order did not put much resistance this time as Chandra and Venkat ran through them as Eng folded up for 191.Thus set India a target of a very achievable 183. If successful this would be India's first ever win in England.

"Come on now, we can't have any of that."-Umpire David Constant.
At 21/2 Ind were in a hole. Gavaskar & Engineer had eased the tensions with a solid partnership, when just before lunch Gavaskar collided with Snow while taking a quick single. Snow,then tossed the bat to Sunny.

Snow apologized to Sunny later in the day but the uproar was such that he was banned for the next test.
"..Snow picked it up &handed it to me. But at the time, many papers wrote that Snow had flung the bat at me. It all depends on what you are trying to portray" - Gavaskar.

Ind were 87/3 when Engineer was dismissed for a brisk 35 off 40. A batting collapse followed & ind were found reeling at 142/8. Solkar now had only Bedi & Chandra for support.
Unfortunately the thriller cud not reach finality as rain washed off remainder of play.

2nd Test,Manchester,Aug 5 1971
Illingworth won the toss & opted to bat.Just like the thriller in the previous test the decision seemed to have backfired. At 41-4, Abid Ali had dismantled the top order with all 4 wkts!
Luckhurst(78) & Knott(41) repaired the inngs to an extent.

At 187/7, Peter Lever joined his captain Illingworth who then stitched a remarkable 168 run partnership. Illingworth(107) and Lever(88*) helped eng post 386, a score that was probably beyond India given the conditions. The lower order proved to be India's achilles heel again!

On a cold 3rd day morning Gavaskar battled the pitch, conditions & John Price to score a precious 57,he considers 'turning point of his life'.
"I reckon he [John Price] was the fastest I played at the time. That was one of the fastest spells I had faced before Thommo & Holding"

With little contributions from the remainging batsmen partners except Solkar(50), India folded up for a paltry 212. A big deficit of 174.
Wrecker in chief was Lever with 5 wkts. With 2 full days remaining the test looked like getting a result this time!

Eng quickly seized the initiative on Day 4 by hammering almost 250 runs at just under 4 an over. When Luckhurst added 101 to his 78 from 1st innings. D'Oliveira spanked 2 6s before eng declared to set an improbable 420.
Ind needed some 'char so beesi' to come out of this one!!

When Gavaskar lost his wkt to Hutton,Ind at 50/3 still needed to survive 40 odd mins to end 4th day. They did that unscathed as Sardesai-Vishwanath battled out the final spell.
This was to remain the last action of the game as rain on day 5 ruined english chances of a 1-0 lead.

3rd Test,Oval,19-24th Aug
The series decider started on a similar note as Wadekar lost another toss and eng batted.
After a 100 run stand for 2nd wkt between Jameson & Edrich the English middle order suffered a collapse as they were reduced to 175/6.

And right on cue the lower order again rescued england for the 3rd time in the series. Knott narrowly missing a hundred and Hutton a well compiled 81.
Solkar was pick of the bowlers with 3/28. Eng ended on 355 as day 1 ended.
Rain ensured there would be no play on the day 2.

Just when Wadekar(48) & Sardesai(54) were about to complete a 100 run partnership, capt Illingworth broke the middle order with his off spin as the two set batsmen and Vishwanath(0) were quickly dismissed to leave India at a precarious 125/5, still 230 in deficit.

Gusty performances from Solkar(44) & Engineer(59) in a 97 run partnership for 6th wkt and then Ali(26) & Venkat(24) further helped India reduce the deficit as they ended with a more respectable 284.
Illingworth picked up 5 scalps.

With a 71 run lead Eng were in the driver's seat. Nothing less than a batting collapse would change the status quo.
Ind spin had'nt really come to the party yet in the series.
Especially Chandra who had picked up just 7 wkts yet. Was his selection, a gamble too far?

Jameson was run out for the 2nd time in this match, this time by chandra. Chandra then dismissed Edrich & Fletcher(a great grab from solkar) of consecutive balls to leave Eng 24/3.
Venkat picked the next 2,including in form Knott to another superb short leg catch by solkar. 54/5

The Eng lower order offered little resistance for the 1st time this series as Chandra was just unplayable. He ended up with 6/38 as Eng were blown away for merely 101. Venkat picked 2 and Bedi 1 in the only over he bowled.
Ind now needed 173 to clinch its 1st rubber on Eng soil.

John Snow, who had been dropped after the incident with gavaskar at lords had a final laugh as he dismissed the opener cheaply for the 2nd time in the test.
When Underwood dismissed Mankad 11 (78 mins) Ind were 37/2. Wadekar-Sardesai batted with patience ending day 4 at 76/2.

The patience was missing on day 5 as Wadekar was run out before a run was made. Runs came at a snail's pace as Underwood & Illingworth applied immense pressure on the indians.
When Sardesai was caught brilliantly by knott Ind were 124/4. Less than 50 away the tension was rising

Solkar had been the cornerstone of the WI series as well as the one in eng.167 runs(at 55) with bat,6 wkts(at 22) & some brilliant catches , Solkar had an outstanding series. Unfortunately nerves probably got the better of him as he got out for just 1. Ind 134/5. Still 39 away.

Vishwanath, who had scored 3 100s in the county games before the series had a pretty ordinary run in the tests. With just 95 runs(HS 68) he was determined to do away with natural instinct and guide his team to a win. He was dismissed for a patient 33 of 171 balls. 170/6. 3 away.

Engineer(28*) was at not striker's end when Abid Ali hit the winning runs of Luckhurst. Engineer had been India's 2nd best batsman after captain Wadekar.
The win meant that india finally won its 1st test as well as series on English soil after multiple attempts in 40 years.

Wadekar scored most for Ind with 205 runs. Despite only 1 fifty he had handy contributions especially in the final chase. Engineer(172),Solkar(168),Sardesai(147) & Gavaskar(144) all provided support in a low scoring series.
Venkat(13),Chandra(13),Bedi(11) topped bowling charts.

Eng lost a home series for the 1st time in 5 years.
India under Wadekar won their 2nd consecutive overseas series.
And probably for the 1st time ever an English summer was Indian!