Follow Us;Resize=(820,462) "Team India Headingley Test")
Team India’s 1986 Headingley win under Kapil Dev remains iconic. Vengsarkar’s sublime batting and a relentless bowling attack powered a dominant victory, sealing a rare overseas series triumph and etching history on English soil.
Team India, led by Shubman Gill, will kick off their five-match Test series against England with the first match at Headingley in Leeds on Friday, June 20. India are touring England for the first time since the 2021/22 Test series draw, where the visitors led 2-1 before England levelled it in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston in 2022.
Team India will head into the Headingley Test without three stalwarts, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin. Rohit and Virat stepped away from the longest format of the game before the England tour, while Ashwin called time on his international career midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, after the Gabba Test in Brisbane ended in a draw.
With three superstars of the game having moved on from Tests, the spotlight now shifts to a new generation of Indian cricketers who are eager to script their own legacy, starting at a venue where India recorded one of their most iconic overseas Test wins in 1986.
Related Articles
India’s statement win in the 1986 Headingley Test
As Team India is set to play their first Test against England at Headingley, memories of their dominant win by the Kapil Dev-led side came rushing back. After taking a series lead 1-0 after winning a historic Lord’s Test, Team India headed into the second Test in Leeds brimming with confidence.
Apart from Kapil Dev, the side had Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Roger Binny, Maninder Singh, Ravi Shastri, Madan Lal, Kris Srikkanth, and young Mohammed Azharuddin. England had the likes of Graham Gooch, Allan Lamb, Derek Pringle, Chris Smith, and John Lever, but they struggled against India’s all-round dominance as the visitors outclassed them with the bat and bowl with a resounding 279-run victory.
Team India, led by Kapil Dev, was treated more as underdogs than guests by the British media and public before the Headingley Test, even though they defeated England at iconic Lord’s. The spectators at Lord’s and Headingley were disinterested in India’s performance as the team never won a Test series on English soil for 15 years, and it was least expected from Kapil Dev and his boys to rewrite history.
Following the Lord’s Test win, Team India was a bit under pressure and shouldered with expectations as the British media began to take notice, while the fans back home started hoping for a rare series triumph on English soil.
Dilip Vengsarkar's twin acts of dominance
The veteran Indian batter Dilip Vengsarkar was instrumental in laying a foundation for India’s historic Test win at Headingley. In the first innings, Team India posted a total of 272. Vengsarkar’s gritty innings of 61 off 153 balls set the tone for the visitors, anchoring the innings amid testing English conditions and a steady fall of wickets.
Vengsarkar’s partnerships with Ravi Shastri (32), Mohammed Azharuddin (15), and Chandrakant Pandit (23) helped India stabilise the innings and build a respectable total. The respectable total on the board enabled bowlers to put pressure on England's batting line-up by bundling them out for 102.
However, Dilip Vengsarkar’s second innings performance is still remembered. India's batting was disastrous compared to the first innings, as they collapsed to 70/5, succumbing to early pressure. Vengsarkar, who walked in to bat at No.4 after Kris Srikkanth’s dismissal at 9/2, held firm amidst the collapse and produced a masterclass in resilience, scoring an unbeaten 102, while spearheading the middle and lower-order batters.
Dilip Vengsarkar’s innings not only pulled the team out of the shambolic situation but also put them in complete command of the match, setting a daunting 408-run target for England to chase. This was his second century of the series after a ton at Lord’s. The two innings by the former India captain played a pivotal role in laying a foundation for India’s historic Test win at Headingley.
Indian bowlers left no reprieve for England batters
The Indian bowling attack was quite relentless, as they brilliantly exploited the seaming conditions right from the first innings of the Test. Roger Binny and Madan Lal ran into England’s batting line-up as they combined to pick eight wickets to skittle out the hosts for a mere 102.
Roger Binny led India’s bowling attack as he registered figures 5/40 at an economy rate of 3.07 in 13 overs. Madan Lal picked 3 wickets while conceding just 18 runs at an economy rate of 1.61 in 11.1 overs. Apart from Binny and Lal, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri also contributed to India’s bowling by taking a wicket each.
England had a 408-run target to chase with two days in hand, the pitch started to deteriorate, and Indian bowlers were relentless in their pursuit of sealing a rare overseas Test series victory. Kapil Dev had marshalled the troops brilliantly as Indian bowlers never allowed England to settle in. By the end of Day 3, England collapsed to 90/6, with their top and middle-order dismantled by India’s disciplined pace and spin combination, leaving Team India on the brink of a historic series defeat.
On the final day of the Headingley Test, the hosts were eventually bundled for 128 and India sealed a historic 295-run to take an unassailable 2-0 series lead. This was Team India’s first Test series win since 1971, when the Ajit Wadekar-led side stunned England 1-0 to register their maiden series triumph on English soil.
