5 Memorable Test wins for India in West Indies

#3 Second Test at Port of Spain in 1971

In his debut series, Sunil Gavaskar amassed 774 runs

India for the first time enforced the follow- on against the West Indies in the first Test of the 1971 series at Kingston. However, they could not force a win due to an unbeaten 158 by Rohan Kanhai in the second innings. For India, Dilip Sardesai scored a double hundred.

Going into the second Test, the Indians were in an upbeat mood after their good show in the first Test against the mighty West Indies who had Roy Fredericks, Rohan Kanhai, Gary Sobers and Clive Lloyd in their ranks. For India, a youngster from Bombay by the name of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar was making his debut.

West Indies batted first and were restricted to 214 by the Indian spin-trio of Bishan Singh Bedi, EAS Prasanna, and Venkataraghavan. Ashok Mankad and the debutant Sunil Gavaskar had a few overs to face before the end of first day’s play which they safely negotiated.

Dilip Sardesai was the in-form batsman for India in the series apart from newcomer Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar showed his promise on the second day when he scored 65 runs in his very first Test innings. Dilip Sardesai, the in-form batsman in that series, scored another century to take India to 352. For West Indies, relatively unknown off-spinner Jack Noreiga ended up with magic figures of 9/95. After opening bowler Grayson Shillingford took India’s first wicket, Noreiga cleaned up the remaining wickets.

In the second innings, big-hitting opening batsman Roy Fredericks blasted away to 80 before being run-out but the rest of the batsmen failed against off-spinner Venkataraghavan who took 5 wickets. Salim Durani got the prized wicket of Gary Sobers for a duck.

Chasing a fourth-innings target of 124 for a historic win, the openers once again gave India a good start with a partnership of 74. Fittingly, Gavaskar, playing his first Test match, scored the winning runs for India. India won by seven wickets and Gavaskar’s contribution for the match was 65 and 67 not out. The Port of Spain venue has since then become Gavaskar’s and India’s favorite venue and from the series, Gavaskar amassed 774 runs.

The win against West Indies in Gavaskar’s debut match was India’s first Test win against the formidable West Indies team. On the back of Gavaskar’s record-breaking scores, India went one step ahead by holding on to a draw in the remaining three Test matches of that series and thereby winning the Test series for the first time in the Caribbean.