Great batting performances by Indians against England – Part I

Tags: Cricwaves Columns, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (Nawab of)

Published on: Nov 06, 2012

The 60’s were times when a draw for India was considered as good as a win. All the Tests during England’s 1964 tour of India were high-scoring draws, but the fourth Test, which marked the debut of Hanumant Singh, at the Feroz Shah Kotla...

When Tiger Pataudi regaled Kotla (February 1964)

Tiger Pataudi

The 60’s were times when a draw for India was considered as good as a win. All the Tests during England’s 1964 tour of India were high-scoring draws, but the fourth Test, which marked the debut of Hanumant Singh, at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi saw the Indian skipper Nawab of Pataudi Jr coming up with one of his finest knocks. Having made only 13 in India’s first innings score of 344, India needed a big knock from their skipper in the second innings for England had responded with an impressive 451.

Batting at number four, Tiger Pataudi flayed the England attack to all parts of the ground en route to his highest score in Test cricket. In a knock at lasted for a good 430 minutes, Pataudi slammed 23 fours and two sixes, as India responded with 463 in their second innings to draw the game rather comfortably in the end. Pataudi eventually remained unbeaten on 203. The figures of the England bowlers told a tale in itself. Fred Titmus went for 105 without picking a wicket even as Peter Parfitt was taken for 81 runs off his 19 overs. He managed to pick up just one wicket.

Other impressive performances in the Test

Pataudi apart, the Kotla Test also saw some excellent performances from batsmen from both sides. First and foremost, Hanumant Singh achieved the rare distinction of scoring a hundred on Test debut. Hanumant batted for 230 minutes for his knock of 105, which included 16 hits to the fence, the standout performance in India’s first innings. In reply, Colin Cowdrey was the star performer for England. He made a magnificent 151, a knock that included as many as 23 fours and one hit over the fence. The English innings also saw two tidy efforts by opener Brian Bolus, who contributed 58 and Peter Parfitt, who made 67. The knocks helped England overhaul India’s challenging first innings score rather easily.

Pataudi vs England

Even apart from the 203 not out at the Kotla, the Nawab of Pataudi had a highly impressive record against the Englishmen. Pataudi featured in 14 Tests against England, scoring 946 runs at a healthy average of 41.13. His best Test score was the double hundred mentioned earlier in this piece. He amassed as many as three hundreds and four fifties against the Englishmen, although he also registered three blobs. Out of the 14 games, three were played in England, in which Pataudi totalled 269 at an average of 44.83, with one hundred and one 50. In 11 Tests at home, he garnered 677 runs, averaging 39.82 with two hundreds and three half-centuries. How much Pataudi loved the England attack can be gauged from the fact that he managed only three more centuries combined against the other Test teams of his era.

--By A Cricket Analyst

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