It was a long time coming but India finally broke a fifteen year oldbarren sequence outside the subcontinent by sealing a crushing 8wicket victory against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo
Sankhya Krishnan10-Jun-2001It was a long time coming but India finally broke a fifteen year oldbarren sequence outside the subcontinent by sealing a crushing 8wicket victory against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.That should offer some balm for a wounded national psyche sufferingfrom the cumulative baggage of a grim history that has yielded 15 winsin 158 overseas Tests, a success rate of only 9.4 per cent. Here is acomplete wrap-up of India’s 15 away victories:* vs New Zealand at Dunedin, 1967/68India’s first away victory came in their 105th Test and 44th outsidethe country. Making a maiden trip to New Zealand on the back of a 4-0whitewash at the hands of their Trans-Tasman neighbours, India won thefirst Test at Dunedin. It halted a gloomy run of seven consecutivedefeats. Erapalli Prasanna engineered a Kiwi second innings collapseand chasing a target of 200, the Indians held their nerve to win byfive wickets. Ajit Wadekar’s twin efforts of 80 and 71 left a hugeimpact on the final result. [Scorecard]* vs New Zealand at Wellington, 1967/68After the hosts had evened the score in the second Test, India wentahead again at the Basin Reserve. Ajit Wadekar who had fallenagonisingly for 99 in Melbourne on the Aussie leg of the tour twomonths earlier, made 143. It was his first and last Test hundred.Pursuing a meagre 59 in the fourth innings, India won by eight wicketswith more than a day and a half to spare. [Scorecard]* vs New Zealand at Auckland, 1967/68At Auckland’s Eden Park India wrapped up their first ever seriesvictory abroad, by the convincing margin of 3-1. More than eight hourswere lost to the weather on the first two days. Rusi Surti sufferedthe misfortune of being dismissed on 99; he would never make a Testcentury. Prasanna was again the chief wrecker with eight wickets totake his series tally to 24 as the Kiwis collapsed to 101 in thefourth innings. [Scorecard]* vs West Indies at Port of Spain, 1970/71Sunil Gavaskar made 65 and 67 not out (including the winning boundary)on his Test debut as India clinched a historic seven wicket triumphinside four days. Vice captain S Venkataraghavan grabbed 5/95 in thesecond innings although the decisive blows were delivered by left armspinner Salim Durrani who removed Lloyd and Sobers in the same over. [Scorecard]* vs England at the Oval, 1971Five months later Ajit Wadekar’s men completed an astonishing doubleby toppling England in the final Test at the Oval for a 1-0 serieswin. Trailing by 71 on the first innings, Chandra’s bewitching spellof 6/38 saw off the hosts for 101. Despite early hiccups, India wasnot to be denied, Abid Ali square cutting Luckhurst to the fence for the winning runs even as the crowd surged into the playing arena. [Scorecard]* vs New Zealand at Auckland, 1975/76Bishen Bedi pulled a leg muscle on the eve of the contest, leaving hisdeputy Sunil Gavaskar in charge for the first time. Sunny duly strucka century as did debutant Surinder Amarnath who emulated father Lalain the process. The deadly Prasanna ripped through the New Zealandsecond innings with pickings of 8/76 to leave India a target of just68 which they polished off for the loss of two wickets. [Scorecard]* vs West Indies at Port of Spain, 1975/76This was the apogee of India’s overseas victories as they chased downa victory target of 403 with six wickets to spare. Having outplayedIndia for three and a half days, Clive Lloyd believed that his threeman spin attack of Jumadeen, Padmore and Imtiaz Ali could bowl India outon a wearing track. He was proved horribly wrong. While Amarnath heldone end up with the tenacity of a limpet, Gavaskar and Viswanathproduced centuries as the chase heated up and finally boiled over inIndia’s favour. [Scorecard]* vs Australia at Melbourne, 1977/78Having gone 2-0 down to a depackerised Australian team led by veteranBobby Simpson, India struck back at the MCG with a 222 run victory.Sunil Gavaskar made his third successive second innings century in theseries but the win owed most to BS Chandrasekhar who did not allow themortification of making a duck in each innings (his fourth Test pair)distract him from taking identical figures of 6/52 twiceto finish with 12/104 for the match, still the best away haul by anIndian bowler. [Scorecard]* vs Australia at Sydney, 1977/78One week later India knotted up the series at 2-2 with an even moreconvincing rout at the SCG. For the first time in 23 years, Australiasuffered two successive Test defeats at home. It remains the onlyinnings victory by an Indian team in an overseas Test, but only barelyso, by an innings and two runs. [Scorecard]* vs Australia at Melbourne, 1980/81India came back from a first innings deficit of 182 to level theseries 1-1 in a thrilling climax. Defending a target of just 143 inthe fourth innings and operating with two bowlers nursing discommodinginjuries, the tourists scuppered their hosts for 83. Kapil Dev, whobowled with a pulled thigh muscle, cut through the bottom half of theAussie batting to close with 5/28. This was after skipper Gavaskar,enraged by an lbw decision against him off Dennis Lillee, cameperilously close to forfeiting the match by walking off with hisopening partner. [Scorecard]* vs England at Lord’s, 1986Kapil Dev had never won a Test as captain in 20 previous ventures,dating back to Kingston in 1983. On the final afternoon, Kapil hoisted PhilEdmonds over midwicket for six to bring up a five wicket triumph forIndia, their first ever at the game’s HQ. Dilip Vengsarkar’s thirdsuccessive Lord’s century was the meatiest effort with the bat andwhile the seamers grabbed 15 wickets between them, Maninder Singh’ssecond innings effort of 3/9 from 20.4 overs was a splendidexhibition. Incredibly it was the first time India had won a Testafter inserting their opponents following 18 failed attempts. [Scorecard]* vs England at Leeds, 1986Mike Gatting was greeted in his debut Test as captain by a 279 rundrubbing an hour and a quarter into the fourth morning. Vengsarkargave another virtuoso performance, collecting 61 and 102 not out on acapricious wicket when none of the other 21 batsmen could cross 36. [Scorecard]* vs Sri Lanka at Colombo, 1993/94Vinod Kambli made 125, following up on scores of 224 and 227 in hisprevious two innings. And Sidhu and Tendulkar struck second inningstons as India set the hosts an unreachable target of 472. There wereconcerns voiced by the visitors over the decisions of the two umpires but it was Anil Kumble who proved the most decisive figure in the game with eight wickets. [Scorecard]* vs Bangladesh at Dhaka, 2000/01The Indian team invited considerable chaff after conceding 400 in thefirst innings to Test babes Bangladesh, the second time they allowed adebutant nation the benefit of such munificence. India huffed andpuffed their way to a first innings lead but Bangladesh had alreadyreached the full extent of their defiance. They collapsed for 91 inthe second knock as India ran out nine wicket victors late on thefourth evening. [Scorecard]* vs Zimbabwe at Bulawayo, 2000/01Buoyed by the inspirational series victory over Australia at home,India went to Zimbabwe with the unfamiliar tag of favourites. Theyfully justified that appraisal with a crushing eight wicket victory atBulawayo that was harder than the margin suggests. It took a tailendassault in the first innings fashioned by Harbhajan Singh and SamirDighe to hand India a decisive advantage and although the bowlers thenmade heavy weather of dismissing their opponents a second time, afinal target of 184 was always going to be a canter, given the benignnature of the wicket. [Scorecard]