1971 Series saw India registering first series win over England. In the 3-test away series, India won by 1-0. Indian spin-trio won the series for India.
India Vs England 1971 Series: Records and Statistics
India Vs England 1971 Series: Test Results
India Vs England History: Test Series Result
Although not a single batsman except Captain Wadekar could score more than 200 runs, India managed to win a test and their first series against England. It must have taken a while for the English players to understand what went wrong as in batting they were ahead of Indians and even the bowlers were not far behind.
Batsmen
Only three batsmen could cross 200-mark in the series. Opener Luckhurst scored 243 with a century to be the leading scorer. Wicketkeeper Knott was the second leading scorer with 223 runs, with two half-centuries. Captain Illingworth scored 175 with a century. Edrich (180), Jameson (141) were the other two batsmen to have crossed 100-mark.
Indian captain Wadekar was the third batsman of the series to cross 200-runs. He scored 204 runs with a half-century. Wicketkeeper Engineer (172), Gavaskar (155), Solkar (150) and Sardesai (147) and Viswanath (128) were the other Indian batsmen who crossed 100-mark.
Bowlers
The spin trio ruled the series. Chandra and Venkat were the highest wicket takers with 13 wicket each, while Bedi grabbed 11 wickets. Solkar took 6 wickets and Abid Ali had 5 wickets against his name. Indian bowlers took 48 wickets in the series.
English bowlers were not far behind with 46 wickets. But none of the bowlers excelled. Gifford and J Price picked 8 wickets each. Illingworth got 7, Snow got 6, while Lever got 5.
Captains
Illingworth was the better performer with 175 runs and 7 wickets. But Wadekar who scored 204 runs had the consolation of being the first Indian captain to win a series against England, that too in away series.
Wicketkeeper
From both the teams wicketkeepers played crucial role with bat too. Knott scored 223 runs while Engineer scored 172 runs. Both were the second highest scorer of their respective teams.
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