Lord's Ground. That historic stage of the cricket world, where Indian cricket had been dreaming of winning the Test match for almost 54 years. Team India had tried 10 times at Lord's but could not conquer its fort. India had to face defeat in 8 of those 10 tests. The Indian team had defeated England in the Test series at home but was still deprived of victory on the ground known as the Mecca of cricket and then one day the team captained by Kapil Dev arrived.
On June 5, 1986, when Kapil Dev won the toss and asked England to bat first, hardly anyone would have thought that a very special page in the history of Indian cricket would be written in the next five days. India broke the spell at Lord's by defeating England by five wickets. This was not just a victory. This was a victory for a team that was slowly learning to prove itself in foreign conditions.
Also read: When injured Kapil Dev hunted kangaroos, gave India a miraculous victory
Wengerskar's dominance at Lord's but victory far away
The Indian team had earlier given a tough fight to England in the Lord's Test in 1971 and looked close to victory but by the time of the last day, it was saved from defeat due to rain. Then India had drawn a test match for the first time on this ground. In 1979, Dilip Vengsarkar scored 103 and Gundappa Vishwanath saved Team India from defeat by scoring 113 runs. In 1982, Vengsarkar again played a brilliant inning of 157 runs but India lost the match by seven wickets. Therefore, when the Indian team reached Lord's in 1986, this ground was like an old acquaintance for Vengsarkar. He knew how to score runs on this ground but victory was still far away.
Chetan Sharma destroyed England
Kapil Dev won the toss and chose bowling. In the beginning, Indian bowlers troubled England but Graham Gooch stood like a wall. Gooch played a brilliant inning of 114 runs in 280 balls. He made the Indian bowlers wait for a long time. Along with him, Derek Pringle also scored 63 runs. England looked to be in a strong position at one time but India had Chetan Sharma. Chetan took important wickets one after the other. He sent Gooch, David Gower, Mike Gatting, Alan Lamb and Paul Downton to the pavilion and took 5 wickets for 64 runs. England's first innings was reduced to 294 runs.
Also read: When India broke the pride of the British in Headingley, century of Sachin-Dravid-Gagunli
Vengsarkar again scored a century
This score was definitely challenging for India but not scary. However, the beginning was not easy. Sunil Gavaskar was out after scoring 34 runs and Krishnamachari Srikkanth after scoring 20 runs. After this Mohinder Amarnath came to the crease. Amarnath played a patient inning of 69 runs but on the other hand, the batsman on whom Lord's had their eyes fixed was Vengsarkar. He once again scored a century. Vengsarkar scored unbeaten 126 runs off 213 balls, which included 16 fours. This was his third consecutive Test century at Lord's.
Imagine – an Indian batsman, scoring a century for the third consecutive Test, on the most prestigious ground in England. It was not just a figure. This was Vengsarkar's special relationship with Lord's and this time that relationship was also going to include victory.
Also read: The story of India's first Test win in England, when fans brought elephants into the stadium
Kapil Dev wreaked havoc in the second innings
India scored 341 runs in the first innings and took a lead of 47 runs over England. The match was now in India's control but nothing is predetermined in Test cricket. England had to make a big score in the second innings. But the Indian bowlers did not give them much chance to breathe. The entire England team was out for just 180 runs.
Kapil Dev led from the front and took 4 wickets. Maninder Singh took 3 wickets in his bag, while Chetan Sharma, Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri had 1 wicket each. The Indian bowlers restricted England's batting to such an extent that the host team could not even cross the 200 mark. India got the target of only 134 runs to win.
Also read: When the pitch of Sabina Park turned red with the blood of Indian players
Kapil Dev batted in T20 style at that time
The first win at Lord's was now in sight but the beauty of cricket is that even the seemingly easy path sometimes turns out to be difficult. While chasing the target, India lost the wicket of Srikanth for 10 runs. After some time Gavaskar also started leaving. On the total score of 31, both the openers of Team India had returned to the pavilion. The Indian team was chasing the target on the fifth day of the match. In such a situation, sounds of some untoward incident started coming.
Vengsarkar and Amarnath took control of the situation by making a partnership of 45 runs for the fourth wicket. However, both were out within a span of 2 runs. Now India's score was 78/4. 56 runs were still needed to cross the threshold of victory.
Young Mohammad Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri made a partnership of 32 runs for the fifth wicket, taking the team to 110 runs. The smell of victory was beginning to come when Azharuddin was run out. Now captain Kapil Dev came to the crease, who scored 23 runs out of the remaining 24 runs in just 10 balls. India won the match with a bang by 5 wickets.
After the charisma of Lord's, the series also got its name
That day, Kapil Dev had made the world realize that the Indian team now comes to foreign soil not just to compete but to win. Lord's victory was not an isolated miracle. India won the 1986 three-Test series 2-0. After the victory at Lord's, Team India also won the second Test, while the third Test in Birmingham was a draw. Vengsarkar's bat was at its best throughout the series. He scored 360 runs at an average of 90. Chetan Sharma wreaked havoc with the ball and took 16 wickets.