When Australia registered an unexpected triumph
India first toured Australia in 1947-48 but it was not until 1956 that Australia made their maiden visit to India
Partab Ramchand
14-Feb-2001
India first toured Australia in 1947-48 but it was not until 1956 that
Australia made their maiden visit to India. The visitors were on their
way back from England. They had been `Lakerised' during the summer and
on their way to India, they stopped by in Pakistan for an one off Test
only to be beaten by nine wickets with Fazal Mahmood taking 13
wickets.
The Australians then could not have been in a very confident frame of
mind when they landed for the three Test series (there were to be no
other games on the tour, lasting just about three weeks). The Indians
on the other hand were cock-a-hoop. Only the previous season, they had
scored a comfortable series victory over New Zealand. They seemed to
have the nucleus of a good side. In Subash Gupte they had the best leg
spinner in the world, they had two other fine spin bowlers in Vinoo
Mankad and Ghulam Ahmed, they had discovered an attacking captain in
Polly Umrigar and with Pankaj Roy, Umrigar, Mankad, Manjrekar,
Ramchand, Kripal Singh and Hemu Adhikari around, the batting was in
capable hands.
The Australians did not have a bad team but doubts remained about
their confidence level following their defeats in England and
Pakistan. The retirement of Keith Miller on the eve of the tour was a
severe blow but Ray Lindwall was still around, though he seemed to be
well past his best. He was a shadow of the once great bowler in the
series against England. The spin bowling support in the form of Richie
Benaud and skipper Ian Johnson seemed to hold no terrors for the
Indians. The batting however in the hands of Colin McDonald, Jim
Burke, Neil Harvey, Ian Craig, Peter Burge and Ken Mackay seemed to be
at least as strong as India's.
However when the series was over, Australia had emerged unexpected
winners and by a clear cut 2-0 margin. They won the first Test at the
Corporation (later the Nehru) stadium by an innings and five runs and
the third Test at Calcutta by 94 runs (both with a day to spare). Even
in the drawn second Test at Bombay, Australia had the better of the
game.
How did this result come about? To put it simply, the Australians
raised the level of their game while the home team floundered. The
batting crumbled before the pace of Lindwall and the leg spin of
Benaud while the bowling of Gupte and Mankad, the two principal
bowlers, was mastered, notably by Harvey who repeatedly came down the
wicket, as if on roller skates. Benaud gained an ascendency over the
Indian batting from the first morning of the series and this continued
till the last day of the contest. He finished with 23 wickets.
Lindwall, thought to be past his best, summoned up the stamina and
skill to take seven for 43 in the second innings as India tumbled to
defeat. Harvey played a cameo innings of 37 at Madras and a fighting
69 on a difficult wicket at Calcutta and in between hammered 140 in
just over four hours at Bombay out of a second wicket partnership of
204 runs with Jim Burke, who compiled a monumental 161 in 504 minutes.
And yet the Indians did seem to be on level terms with the visitors at
least till midway through the third day of the first Test. After being
bowled out for 161, India did well in taking eight Australian wickets
for 200. But Ian Johnson at No 9 scored 73 and along with the last two
batsman Pat Crawford and Gil Langley stretched the total to 319 and
suddenly the Indians were staring at a deficit of 158 runs.
Psychologically, the Indians never recovered from this setback.
Indeed there was very little the Indians had to offer in the series.
There was some good spin bowling in the first Test. In the second
Test, Ramchand came up with a fighting 109 while Roy (79) and Umrigar
who batted six hours for 78 spearheaded the rearguard action in the
second innings. In the final Test, Ghulam Ahmed's bowling (7 for 49
and three for 81) was the one crumb of comfort. The series in fact
heralded a turning point in the fortunes of the Australians while for
India, it marked the start of a particularly depressing period.