Team India’s historic wins at Leeds: Reliving the iconic 1986 and 2002 Test victories at Headingley
Under the new Test captain, Shubman Gill, Team India will begin the five-match red-ball series at Leeds, Headingley, without both retired veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. After a poor end in the last World Test Championship 2023-25 with successive series defeats, the two-time runners-up have another opportunity to turn the table.
It’s a chance for the tourists to aim for their first Test series win in England since 2007. In the nine red-ball fixtures at Leeds, the Blue Brigade has earned two victories at a winning percentage of 28.57. It’s not an easy ground to score runs, especially under the grey skies against the seamers.
Here are Team India’s two Test victories at Leeds in 1986 and 2002:
Dilip Vengsarkar’s masterclass at Headingley in 1986
India came into the second Leeds Test in a rare 1-0 up situation, thanks to the opening Lord’s victory. Back home, there were not many expectations from the Kapil Dev-led side to win overseas. The visitors received a major blow before the clash, with Chetan Sharma getting ruled out with injury.
Madan Lal was playing for Ashton in the Lancashire League by then. The management called him and even included the Punjab-born into the playing eleven ahead of Manoj Prabhakar.
In the absence of Mohinder Amarnath, Ravi Shastri got a promotion to number three. The top order, including openers Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth, got starts but failed to convert them into big scores. Dilip Vengsarkar top-scored with 61 to carry the visitors to 272.
Kapil threw the new ball to Madan ahead of Roger Binny. Under overcast conditions, they broke England’s back at 41/5. Later, the current BCCI president ran through the middle order for 5/40 in 13 overs as the home side felt the absence of David Gower. Things could have been ugly had the ninth-wicket stand not added 31 runs.
With a lead of 170 before the start of the second innings, India looked confident. But their joy didn’t last long. At 35/4, the drama began. However, the last five-wicket partnerships, all of them worth 30-plus, brought stability.
Vengsarkar held one end and batted composedly on a surface, which was not easy for batting. The Mumbai batter remained unbeaten on 102 runs, shouldering 10 boundaries. It’s the exact score the entire England batting line-up could manage in the first innings. India set a target of over 400 runs in the fourth innings.
The Mike Gatting-led side fell like a pack of cards in the chase. They were at a decent position of 90/3 but lost the last seven wickets for just 38 runs. The captain showed some resilience and stood on undefeated 31 runs in 124 balls. Maninder Singh picked 4/26 as India clinched the series by 2-0 thanks to the 279-run victory.
Brief Scores: India 272 (Dilip Vengsarkar 61, Kiran More 36*, Derek Pringle 3/47) & 237 (Dilip Vengsarkar 102*, Kapil Dev 31, John Lever 4/64) beat England 102 (Bill Athey 32, Roger Binny 5/40) & 128 (Mike Gatting 31*, Maninder Singh 4/26) by 279 runs.
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India’s batting powerhouse shines at Headingley in 2002
Sourav Ganguly made a good start to the Test captaincy. Their reputation away from home was still poor. In England, during the 2002 series, they lost at Lord’s and had to battle for a draw at Trent Bridge. Under ideal swinging conditions at Leeds, Ganguly backed both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
Because of the selection, he was forced to bat first after winning the toss. The decision raised questions after Virender Sehwag’s eight-run outing ended in the second slip. England’s pacers kept coming as Nasser Hussain challenged the visiting batters with an attacking field placement.
Sanjay Bangar played a fine defensive knock of 68 runs in 236 balls. Rahul Dravid batted for seven hours and carried his 148-run knock into the second morning. Sachin Tendulkar took control after Dravid’s departure. India kept batting in the gloom of the evening, knowing the conditions of the tired England bowlers.
Ganguly’s quickfire 128 runs helped them to cross the 600-run mark. The home side started well for the 67-run opening stand. However, they lost their first six wickets in a span of under 100 runs. Kumble and Harbhajan shared six wickets between them to prove Ganguly’s decision right.
The Kolkata-born enforced the follow-on with a 335-run lead on the fourth morning. Even at 148/4, thanks to Bangar’s two wickets, England were not done. Hussain celebrated a counterattacking century before getting dismissed to Kumble, who walked off with 4/66. A drawn result in the fourth Oval Test ended the series at 1-1 margin.
Brief Score: India 628/8 dec (Sachin Tendulkar 193, Rahul Dravid 148, Andy Caddick 3/150) beat England 273 (Alec Stewart 78*, Micheal Vaughan 61, Harbhajan Singh 3/40) and 309 (Nasser Hussain 110, Alec Stewart 47, Anil Kumble 4/66) by an innings and 46 runs.
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