1971 is a landmark year in Indian cricket. After defeating the mighty West Indies in their backyard for the first time, Wadekar's men set off to lock horns with England and scripted their maiden test win as well as test series victory in England. It was an euphoric feat, achieved almost 40 years after achieving Test status, anchored by the spin wizard Bhagwat Chandrashekhar.
Chandra's journey as a cricketer is a remarkable one. After having suffered an attack of poliomyelitis (polio) at the age of five, his right hand was rendered weak and underdeveloped. It was difficult to imagine him playing a competitive sport, let alone excelling in it. But Chandra was one of his kind. He turned his disability into his strength. He was aggressive, quick like a medium pacer and had a variety of spinning options at his disposal, with the skidding top spin being the most lethal.
Back to the 1971 tour. India had lost 3-0 in 1967 and 5-0 in 1959 in their previous tours to England. Though India had started winning overseas by then, England was always going to be a tough proposition. The first two tests ended in a draw with rain constantly playing the spoil sport. The spin triumvirate of Chandra, Bishan Bedi and Venkatraghvan were playing their part to perfection with able support from Sunil Gavaskar, Farokh Engineer and Dilip Sardesai in the batting department.
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The action moved on to the Oval for the third and fateful test. The home team piled up 355 in the first innings and bowled India out for 284, gaining a sizeable first innings lead of 71 runs. They were in total control of the match. It looked like India didn't stand a chance. But Chandrashekhar didn’t think the same way. He started off by cleaning up John Edrich with a quicker one, followed by Keith Fletcher on the very next ball as Eknath Solkar completed a stunning low diving catch at short leg (Solkar's close-in fielding heroics deserve a separate article of its own).
Chandra weaved his magic by dismissing the skipper Ray Illingworth and John Snow caught and bowled off his own bowling. He then got rid of Brian Luckhurst, one which should be attributed to the marvelous take by Venkatraghavan in slips. His final victim was John Prince who was trapped in front and adjudged leg before wicket.
Before we know it, England were all out for 101 as Chandrashekar returned with figures of 6 for 38. The entire English batting order had collapsed like a pack of cards. Wadekar later termed Chandra's spell as his best where he hypnotized the batsmen.
India successfully chased the target and registered their first ever test win on English soil. It was also their first series win in England. The jubilant crowd at the Trent Bridge rushed onto the field and carried their favourite cricketers on their shoulders. The Indian team was even given a red carpet welcome at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay. Chandra's miraculous spell was termed as the spell of the century by Wisden in 2002.
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