India vs New Zealand Part 1, 1955/56: World Record That Lasted Half a Century

Halfway through the 1950s, India had played England, Australia, West Indies, and Pakistan both home and away, but not New Zealand. That happened when New Zealand came over for five Test matches, in 1955/56. It remains the only five-Test series between the two sides.

India won the series 2-0, with innings win in the second Test, in Bombay, and the fifth, in Madras. They dominated the rest of the series, too. They made New Zealand follow on in the first Test, in Hyderabad. And in the fourth, in Calcutta, India conceded a first-innings lead of 204 but turned things around to set a target of 235. New Zealand finished on 75/6.

The highlight of the Test series came in Madras, when Vinoo Mankad (231) and Pankaj Roy (173) added 413 for the first wicket. This remained a world record opening stand until 2007/08, when Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie added 415 against Bangladesh.

At Hyderabad, Polly Umrigar scored 223, the first double hundred in Test cricket by an Indian. Mankad equalled that score in Bombay. Then, in Madras, Mankad scored 231. That remained the highest individual score by an Indian in Test cricket until 1983/84, when Sunil Gavaskar got 236 not out. India vs England Series Part 5: India Win Their First Test Match, 1951/52.

However, India’s greatest success of the series was Subhash Gupte, who took 34 wickets at 19.67 apiece. For perspective, the other Indian bowlers took 34 wickets combined, while the New Zealand bowlers, between them, got 37.

For the tourists, Bert Sutcliffe got 611 runs (at 87.28) and John R Reid 493 (at 70.42), but the rest were simply outclassed by Gupte. None of their bowlers got more than 10 wickets either.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 16, 2021 10:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).