The year of 1952 is really a memorable year in the history of Indian cricket, as the Indian team saw some great successes and also faced some embarrassing moments in the same year. It was the year when India got both the first ever Test victory and also the fist ever Test series win in its history. After India beat the England team at Chepauk in 1952, it went for its fourth tour to England in the same year. The tour is remembered to be one of the most embarrassing tours in the history of Indian cricket, as India lost the Test series by 0-4 against England, including the humiliation of 0 for 4 in the first Test at Headingley.
India faced the great humiliation in the first innings of the first Test against England in the tour in the hand of the fiery English pace bowler, Freddie Trueman. The Indian top four batsmen got out in front of the wonderful pace bowling of Trueman, without scoring even a single run. However, when everyone assumed that India was going to be all out below 100 runs, the two great Indian batsmen, Vinoo Mankad and Vijay Hazare started to rebuild their team`s innings. Both of them kept their heads cool and started to play their own shots to put the pressure back on the English bowlers. With the help of Mankad`s 72 runs and Hazare`s 69 runs, India eventually scored 235 runs in their first innings.
After scoring 72 runs with the bat, Mankad excelled with the ball as well, as he took 5 wickets in England`s first innings, where England scored a huge total of 537 runs. The Indian batsmen started their second innings in a better note than the first innings and Mankad once again became the star for India, as he scored a brilliant 184 runs in the second innings. Hazare too played well in the innings and scored 49 runs. Mankad`s innings in the match is still considered to be one of the bravest innings in the history of Indian cricket, as he did not let any of the English bowlers to get rid of his hammerings. India scored 378 runs in the second innings and set an easy target of 77 runs to win for England. England achieved the target after losing only 2 wickets. However, India`s poor run as a team continued in the series and the team lost the Test series by 0-4, against England.
