It had been 20 years since India made its Test debut in 1932 but the dream of winning their first match was far from achieved. That wait was finally shattered in the 1951–52 season, when England arrived in India for a five-Test series. The first three matches drifted into draws, and England asserted their dominance in the fourth Test at Kanpur. But it was the final Test at Madras that carved its place into cricketing folklore, as the hosts crushed England by an innings and eight runs to claim their maiden Test win.
At the heart of this triumph stood Mulvantrai Himmatlal “Vinoo” Mankad, a name that would forever be intertwined with Indian cricket’s rise. A cunning and intelligent bowler, Mankad was a master of flight and subtle variation, forever probing the batter’s uncertainty.
In the Madras Test he took 12 wickets, orchestrating England’s downfall almost single-handedly. Over the course of the series, he collected 34 wickets and scored 223 runs, a thunderous all-round performance that confirmed his status as a world-class match-winner. Yet, even as his star blazed brightly, fate was preparing a cruel twist.
Clash with the Board and the Haslingden contract
The next challenge lay in the summer of 1952: a daunting tour of England, the land of India’s former colonizers, and a graveyard for many visiting sides. Given his exploits in the 1951–52 series and his success on the 1946 tour, Mankad’s place in the squad seemed beyond question. Or so he believed. As trial matches for the tour were being held in India, Mankad was already in England, having received a lucrative offer from Haslingden, a club in the Lancashire League.
In such circumstances, Mankad demanded an assurance from the BCCI that he would be guaranteed selection in all tests if he goes on to rescind his contract with the Haslingden. The Board offered no such promise, leaving his request unanswered.
Faced with uncertainty, Mankad signed with Haslingden. The Board and the selection committee were left furious and chose not to include Mankad in the side, decreeing that “India can produce a dozen spinners like him.” Thus began one of the most notorious chapters in the long, uneasy history of player–board conflict in Indian cricket.
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India’s disastrous start to the 1952 tour
On the field, the cost of that decision became painfully clear. Under Vijay Hazare’s captaincy, India walked into the first Test of the 1952 tour without their premier all-rounder. The fearsome new-ball pair of Alec Bedser and Fred Trueman tore through India’s batting, and in the second innings reduced them to an almost unimaginable 0 for 4.
England wrapped up the match with a seven-wicket victory, and the humiliation, compounded by injuries within the squad, forced a rethink. Captain Hazare and team manager Pankaj Gupta reached out to Haslingden, pleading for Mankad’s release for the remainder of the series.
The recall: from Lancashire League to Lord’s
Initially, the club was reluctant to let go of their prized professional. It took the intervention of Sir Herbert Merrett, a Welsh businessman and President of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, to break the deadlock. At his urging, Haslingden eventually agreed to release Mankad. He was drafted into the Indian side for the second Test at Lord’s - reportedly against the wishes of the BCCI, who now had to watch as the player they had spurned returned to the national fold on foreign soil.
“Mankad’s Test”: batting masterclass at the home of cricket
Lord’s, the game’s grandest stage, became Mankad’s personal theatre. In the first innings, he produced a gritty 72, steadying India and hinting at what was to come. In the second innings, he rose to something near mythic: a majestic 184 out of India’s total of 378, batting with a blend of defiance and authority that left spectators in awe.
With the ball, he added a five-wicket haul in the first innings, completing one of the most remarkable all-round performances the ground had ever witnessed. Such was his dominance that the match passed into history as “Mankad’s Test,” a rare instance in world cricket where a game is remembered almost entirely for one cricketer’s performance. For Vinoo Mankad, it was a moment of destiny - he had made his Test debut at the same venue six years earlier and now he owned it.
Yet even this extraordinary display could not alter India’s fate in the series. Despite Mankad’s heroics, India lost the Lord’s Test and eventually the series as well. He returned to Haslingden and continued to excel, his value to the club undiminished. But the scars of his treatment by his own Board ran deep; the lack of faith and respect from cricket’s powerbrokers left him disheartened and demoralized.
Still, Mankad refused to let bitterness define him. He continued to serve India with distinction in the years that followed, crafting a legacy that would outlast administrators and controversies alike.
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