SK Flashback: Australia’s first tour of India in 1956

#2 Tired Australian players surprised everyone by winning the series 2-0

The Australian batting was destroyed by Jim Laker in the 4th Test of the Ashes

While the tour to India would have pleased the Australian Prime Minister, it was far from ideal for the Aussie players. Tired after a long tour of England in which they lost the Ashes (Jim Laker took 19 wickets in the fourth Test), the side went to Karachi only to be brutally beaten by Pakistan by nine wickets.

The players had to then visit India for a three-match series and weren’t expected do well against an Indian side that had defeated New Zealand at home earlier in the year. The retirement of Keith Miller would have lowered the morale of the visitors as they faced off against a strong Indian team.

However, the Australians were able to raise their game in the series and won 2-0, with captain Ian Johnson’s knock of 73 at number 9 in the first Test setting the foundation for the team’s successful tour.

A series victory in India will often feature as a landmark moment in the careers of the players. But the homesick players were only too glad to head back to Australia on the completion of the series, and their memoirs have negligible mention of the 1956 tour to India.