Cricket History - India Tour Of England 1952
Indian Cricket History By abhishek Mukherjee: India Tour Of England 1952
About two months after winning their first ever Test match, against England at Madras, Vijay Hazare's Indians arrived in England. Overall they did not do too poorly, winning 4 and losing 5 of their 29 matches. However, they lost the 4-match Test series 0-3.
In the absence of Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, and the recently retired Vijay Merchant, India were blown away by the sheer pace of 21-year-old debutant Fred Trueman, who took 29 wickets from 4 Tests at 13.31 each, while the experienced Alec Bedser took 20 wickets at 13.95.
Ahead of the tour, Vinoo Mankad signed a contract with Haslingden in the Lancashire League. He requested CK Nayudu, then Chairman of Selectors, for an assurance that he would be picked for the tour. Nayudu refused, and Mankad joined Haslingden.
India started well, scoring 293 and restricting England to 334 at Headingley. Then, in the second innings, they lost four wickets on the score of zero. When they received the news, Yorkshire Post called the ground to check whether India were 0/4 or 4/0 (four without loss).
After the defeat, the desperate Indian camp sent an SOS to Haslingden. They released Mankad only for the three Test matches. In the second Test, at Lord's, Mankad first scored 72, then bowled 73 overs to take 5/196. Then he opened batting to score 184 out of a team total of 378, and returned 24-12-35-0 in the fourth innings. India still lost.
Even worse fate awaited India at Old Trafford. After England declared on 347/9 on the third morning. India were bowled twice on the same day, for 58 and 82. They lost 20 wickets in 58.1 overs. And in the fourth Test, they were bowled out for 98 before rain saved them.