India were touring the Caribbean in 1971. The first Test at Sabina Park in Kingston ended in a draw with Dilip Sardesai recording a majestic double hundred. India had never beaten the West Indies in Test cricket in the 24 Tests they had played against them previously. The venue for the second Test was Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. A certain Sunil Gavaskar was making his Test Debut. Gary Sobers won the toss and elected to bat first.
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Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Singh Bedi returned with four and three wickets in the first innings to bowl out the home team for 214. Sunil Gavaskar and Ashok Mankad gave India a solid start putting together 68 for the opening wicket. Gavaskar scored 65 in his first Test innings but the real highlight of India’s first innings was again the magnificent hundred by the in-form Dilip Sardesai. India took a massive lead and posted 352. Right-arm off spinner, Jack Noreiga picked 9 wickets in the innings.
Roy Fredericks and Charlie Davis led the West Indian fightback in the second innings but the run out of Fredericks led to a dramatic collapse of the West Indies. From 150 for 1, they were bowled out for 261. with hardly any resistance from the middle and lower-order. Sobers was dismissed for a duck. Srinivas Venkataraghavan returned with five wickets.
India were set a target of 124 on Day 4, the 10th of March. Gavaskar and Mankad again gave the visitors a fine start with the pair adding 74 for the opening-wicket. India lost the wickets of Salim Durani and Sardesai in quick succession and were in a spot of bother at 84 for 3. But Gavaskar, on debut, maintained his composure and remained unbeaten on a fine 67 to see India through by 7 wickets.
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It was India’s first Test win against the West Indies in 25 Tests. It was a historic day for Indian cricket under the leadership of Ajit Wadekar. They had unearthed a new star - the Little Master Sunil Gavaskar.
Gavaskar went on to become one of the greatest batsmen in the history of Test cricket and is regarded by many as the finest opener in the format. He went on to amass a record 774 runs in 4 Tests in the series including four hundreds and three fifties. It remains the highest aggregate by an Indian batsman in a single Test series.
India went on to win the series 1-0 as the remaining three Tests were drawn.
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