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Tour of England
1971 Captain: Ajit Wadekar
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ThirteenthTest tour
Seventh Test-playing tour of England by India
( June - September 1971)
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India had not won a Test series in England before
but the team arrived with more optimistic than usual after gaining a series
victory over the West Indies a few months earlier. Moreover the side was
strengthened by the inclusion of Chandrasekhar and, for the Test series at
least, of Engineer. To these two players in particular India was in debt
for her victory but fitness, fielding and confidence were vital
contributing factors, too. The batsmen had the opportunity to practise and
adjust techniques to English conditions during the good weather of the
second half of the summer. Then, ironically, only rain prevented English
victories in the first two Test matches.
However, on an
Oval pitch which took spin, Chandrasekhar demolished the English batting
for a record low score. On a tense
final day the Indian batsmen edged towards their historic victory to the
jubilation of millions of Indian supporters listening to their radios at
home.
M C C’s
reciprocal tour of India and Pakistan in 1971-72 was put in doubt in June
1971 because of a cholera outbreak and then cancelled on 26 August after
the Cricket Council took government advice over the political situation in
India. The tour was postponed until 1972-73.
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Other Indian tours
Previous tour
West
Indies 1970-71
Next tour
England 1974
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Members of the Test tour
party (16)
Opening
batsmen: : Sunil Gavaskar, Kenia Jayantilal, Abbas Ali Baig
Middle-order
batsmen: Ajit Wadekar,
Ashok Mankad, Dilip Sardesai,
Gundappa Viswanath
Wicket-keepers:
Syed Kirmani, Pochiah
Krishnamurthy
Spinners: Bishan Bedi,
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna,
Srinivas Venkataraghaven
Fast
bowlers: Abid Ali, Dev Govindraj, Eknath Solkar.
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S Abid
Ali
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Hd
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29
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RFM
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A A
Baig
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Hd
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32
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RHB opener
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B S Bedi
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D
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24
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SLA
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B S Chandrasekhar
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My
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26
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LBG
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S M Gavaskar
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B
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22
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RHB opener
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D D
Govindraj
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Hd
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24
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RFM
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H K Jayantilal
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Hd
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23
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RHB opener
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S M H Kirmani
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My
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21
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WK
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P Krishnamurthy
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Hd
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24
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WK
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A V Mankad
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B
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24
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RHB
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E A S Prasanna
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My
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31
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OB
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D N Sardesai
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B
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30
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RHB
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E D Solkar
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B
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23
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LFM
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S Venkataraghaven
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Ms
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25
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OB vice-captain
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G R Viswanath
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My
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22
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RHB
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A L Wadekar
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B
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30
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RHB captain
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Representation of
teams:
B _ Bombay (5)
D - Delhi (1)
Hd -
Hyderabad (5)
Ms - Madras
(1)
My - Mysore (4)
Average
age of players at time of first Test match (22 July 1971) :
26
yrs 6 months.
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Test Appearances made before the tour
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Engineer 30, Wadekar 26, Sardesai 26,
Prasanna 25, Bedi 24, Venkataraghaven
19, Abid Ali 17, Chandrasekhar 16, Baig 10, Mankad 10, Solkar
10, Viswanath 7, Krishnamurthy 5, Gavaskar 4, Jayantilal 1, Govindraj 0, Kirmani 0.
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Team Officials
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Col Hemu
R Adhikari
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Tour Manager
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Ram Prakash Mehra
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Treasurer
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Selectors
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Selectors : V M Merchant (chairman),
H R Adhikari, H T Dani, M Dutta Ray, C D Gopinath, and A L Wadekar.
The convenor was Prof. M C Chandgadkar,
secretary of the Board. Major M M.Jagdale was convalescing in Indore. Sq-Ldr Dani,
who went to Poona because of a family bereavement, also missed the
captaincy appointment meeting on 3 June.
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Selection
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The selectors
chose 16 players (including Engineer) and said that Chandrasekhar was back
in the team (at Wadekar's urging) "as a
calculated risk". They
unsuccessfully appealed to the Board to include Mohinder
Amarnath as the 17th player.
Unavailable : The Nawab of Pataudi, having been heavily beaten in the elections,
now concentrated on his business interests rather than return to cricket.
Tour Party
Announced: 4 June 1971.
Withdrawal: Farokh
Engineer because Lancashire declined to release him at short notice, except
for the Test matches. Kirmani took his place, putting paid to Amarnath's chances.
Not
selected: S A Durani, M L Jaisimha.
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Time between selection and departure from India
14 days
(4 June - 18 June)
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Travel
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The departure was delayed
by two days because the cricket kit was not ready (Prasanna writes about
astrological portents being the reason).
The delay allowed more time for practice at the nets in Bombay,
where six Ranji Trophy medium-paced bowlers
including Ghavri and Mohul,
gave assistance.
The team flew out of Bombay
in the early hours of 18 June 1971, via Kuwait, to Heathrow Airport,
London.
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Time spent in England
x days
(18 June - depart Host)
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On-tour selection committee
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Ajit Wadekar
(captain), Srinivas Venkataraghaven (vice-captain), Hemu Adhikari (manager).
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Reinforcements
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Farokh Engineer (B), 33, was called up from Lancashire CCC to play
in the three Test matches.
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Fixtures/Results
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Lord's
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Middlesex
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Won 2 w
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Colchester
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Essex
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Lost 6 w
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Eastbourne
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D H Robins XI
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Drawn
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Canterbury
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Kent
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Drawn
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Leicester
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Leicestershire
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Won inns 50 r
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Edgbaston
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Warwickshire
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Won inns 3
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Cardiff
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Glamorgan
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Won 102 r
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Bournemouth
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Hampshire
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Won 5 w
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LORD'S
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ENGLAND First Test
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DRAWN
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Norwich
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Minor Counties
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Drawn
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The Oval
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Surrey
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Drawn
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OLD TRAFFORD
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ENGLAND Second Test
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DRAWN
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Headingley
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Yorkshire
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Drawn
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Trent Bridge
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Nottinghamshire
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Drawn
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THE OVAL
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ENGLAND Third Test
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WON 4 w
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Hove
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Sussex
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Drawn
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Taunton
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Somerset
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Drawn
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Worcester
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Worcestershire
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Drawn
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Scarborough
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T N Pearce’s XI
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Won 5 w
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ϯ not first-class
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Time spent in England
before First Test:
34 days
(18 June- 22 July)
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Test appearances on tour
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3 - Abid Ali, Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Engineer,
Gavaskar,
Mankad, Sardesai, Solkar, Venkataraghaven, Viswanath, Wadekar.
0 - Baig, Govindraj, Jayantilal, Kirmani, Krishnamurthy, Prasanna.
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Highlights
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• India won her first Test match in England
which was sufficient for its first series win.
• Chandrasekhar’s six wicket haul in
the second innings of the Oval Test
• Short-leg fielder Solkar was worth his place in the team for his
catching alone but his batting - scores of 67, 50 and 44 - came at vital
times in each Test.
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Tour Summary
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P
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W
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L
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D
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Aban
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Test Matches
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3
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1
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0
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2
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-
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Other first-class matches
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16
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6
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1
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9
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-
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Minor matches
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0
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-
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-
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-
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-
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All Matches
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19
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7
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1
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11
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-
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Return to India
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The victorious team flew from London Airport to
Bombay but their flight was diverted to Delhi to enable the Prime Minister,
Mrs Indira Gandhi, to greet the team immediately on arriving home. The following day
they flew to Bombay where the city Mayor and Minister for Sport received
them at Santa Cruz airport. Wildly enthusiastic crowds of more than a
million people cheered the open-top motorcade carrying the players along
the 20-km route from the airport to the Cricket Club of India.
Three matches were played in the 1971-72 between
the victorious touring team and the Rest of India.
A concrete bat structure* was built at Vijay Balla in Indore to commemorate the names of the team
that won the 1971 series against West Indies and England. The bat used to stand at Indore Zoo but
has now been shifted to Nehru Stadium.
* From Wikipedia: permission is granted to copy and
distribute this image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License, Version 1.2
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Time away from India
x days
(18 June to arrive India)
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Finances
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Published accounts of the tour
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India vs England 1971 Sundur
Rajan
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