#OTD in 1986: India registered their first-ever Test victory at Lord’s

On this day in 1986, India registered their first-ever victory in the longest format at Lord’s. In this pursuit, they chased down the target of 134 and beat England by 5 wickets in the first fixture of the 3-match Test series.

This win came after 10 Tests at Lord’s – consisting of eight defeats and two draws This was the Indian team’s only second victory in a total of 33 Tests in England. Interestingly, it was also the first victory for Kapil Dev as a captain in a red-ball format. 

Ahead of this fixture, India suffered a defeat to Duchess of Norfolk's XI, and won against Surrey, while the other two tour matches ended in a draw. Then, India and England drew the ODI series, but the visitors claimed the trophy due to the faster run-rate.

The Indian team won the toss and opted to field first in the First Test match of the series. The home team managed to score 294 on the board, with the key contributions from Graham Gooch (114) and Derek Pringle (63). The talented pacer Chetan Sharma picked a five-wicket haul, while Roger Binny had three scalps. 

Then Dilip Vengasarkar remained unbeaten on 126, and Mohinder Amarnath garnered 69 runs, as India finished on 341, and took the lead of 47 runs in the first innings. Graham Dilley was the pick of the bowlers for England with four wickets, and Pringle scalped three as well. 

In the second innings, the Indian bowling unit was terrific to dismiss England for a score of 180, with Kapil Dev taking four wickets and Maninder Singh putting an end to the innings of three batters. For England, Mike Gatting (40) and Allan Lamb (39) were the notable contributors. The Indian team needed 134 to win the match. 

Sunil Gavaskar started India’s second innings with a beautiful straight drive. However, Dilley bowled a peach of a delivery to induce an edge of Kris Srikkanth (0), which was caught at second slip by Gooch. 

Gavaskar was impeccable with his timing, but was dismissed by Dilley on 22, with four boundaries, in a loose shot, which was caught by the wicket-keeper. 

Pringle bowled an in-swinging delivery to LBW Amarnath (8), who was not looking comfortable at the crease.

Soon, Vengasarkar could not judge the ball of Phil Edmonds and was bowled after scoring 33 off 56 balls. 

Ravi Shastri and Mohammad Azharuddin were impressive to steer the team in a fine fashion, and hit odd boundaries. Azharuddin (14) was run-out in an attempt to take a third, and India at 110/5. 

Then came the captain Kapil who hit 23* off 10 balls, with four boundaries and a six. With 8 still needed, Kapil hit a four and a six on the subsequent balls to finish the chase and secure a momentous victory for the Indian team.