I MUST BE one of the few lucky survivors who watched the first-ever Test match to be played on Indian soil – India v England, December 15–18, 1933, Bombay Gymkhana.

The opposing teams were led by men of towering personality, C. K. Nayudu and D. R. Jardine. For Jardine it was like a homecoming, for Bombay was his birth-place. Until the very end he retained a soft spot for India and Indians. Whatever the Australians may think of him – and perhaps they have justification for disliking him – Indians of my time will always retain happy memories of Jardine's visit.

When the MCC team to tour India was announced there was much criticism and disappointment at the composition of the team. All the big names – Sutcliffe, Hammond, Leyland, Paynter, Voce, Bowes, Ames and Duckworth– were missing. The only members of the 1932–33`Bodyline' squad included in the team to tour India were Jardine and Verity. Nonetheless, the team was powerful enough to subdue India.

There were five changes from the inaugural India team which had played at Lord's in June 1932. Naoomal, Palia, Nazir Ali, Jahangir Khan and Lall singh were replaced by Jai, Amaranth, Merchant, Jamshedji and Ramji. Jamshedji, at 41, became the oldest Indian cricketer to make his debut in Test cricket. The Indian team was selected by Dr H. D. Kanga, A. L. Hosie and A. E. West. I do not recall any adverse public comments about the selection, but in retrospect it would seem that insufficient emphasis was placed on fielding.

There was tremendous enthusiasm among Bombayites, and a capacity crowd of 25,000 watched the match daily for four days. Some publications state the number as 50,000, but I doubt if the Bombay Gymkhana could have accommodated so many people in temporary tents and shamianas erected specially for the match. For the first time a Test match was played on a Sunday.

The team for India's first home Test, against England in 1933–34: (l-r) R. J. D. Jamshedji, S. Wazir Ali, V. M. Merchant, C. S. Nayudu (sub for injured S. H. M. Colah), L. Amar Singh, L. P. Jai, C. K. Nayudu (capt), L. Ramji, J. G. Navle ( wicketkeeper), L. A. Marnath, Mahomed Nissar

Frank Tarrant, an Australian, and Bill Hitch, an Englishman, were the two umpires. Although six (seven according to the Wisden Book of Test Cricket) Indian batsmen were declared out lbw in the match, I do not remember anyone complaining about the standard of umpiring.

 India were all out for 219 by tea on the first day. Nayudu, in his knock of 28, hit Verity for a leg-side six. Young Amarnath, who was 22 and new to the Bombay audience, was top-scorer, playing an attractive innings of 38, Nichols (pace), Verity and Langridge (left-arm spin) each had a bag of three wickets.

 England scored exactly double the number of runs. The team's three amateurs were the principal rungetters – Bryan Valentine, making his debut in Test cricket, scored a quick century, C. F. Walters an elegant but not chanceless 78, and Jardine a stodgy 60 before Nissar uprooted his stump. But for two dropped catches England would not have been so comfortable. Jamshedji, never a smart fielder, took two excellent catches off his own bowling. Nissar repeated his performance in the previous Test at Lord's by once more taking five wickets (5 for 90), three of them bowled. Ramji, as fast as Nissar but not so accurate, failed to get a wicket and was censured for fielding in the slips with his hands on his hips. Amar Singh, Ramji's younger brother, took a solitary wicket at a cost of 119 runs and was criticised for bowling in tennis shoes.

 India's second innings belonged to Lala Amarnath. After the fall of two wickets for 21, Nayudu joined Amarnath and raised the score to 207, the best partnership of the match. Amarnath played an innings the like of which one does not see often in a lifetime. From the start he attacked the bowling, and hitting all round the wicket reached his fifty in as many minutes with 11 fours. At the close of play he was unbeaten with 102. The next morning he began again in great form but with his score at 118 he was most brilliantly caught at short leg by Nichols. He had batted faultlessly for a little over three hours and had hit 21 fours.

 Nayudu, handicapped by a bruised left hand, was eclipsed by Amarnath's dazzling performance and played the supporting role. His 67 was a disciplined but sedate innings. To quote S. K. Gurunathan: At one end the batting was governed by thought and experience; at the other it was the exuberance of a gifted youth. When Amarnath reached his hundred some spectators rushed on to the ground to garland him, and Nayudu, forgetting that the ball was not yet dead, walked up to them to shoo them off the field. Elliott, the wicket-keeper, was about to run Nayudu out when Jardine signalled to him not to do so.

Frank Tarrant, who had watched Amarnath's innings from close quarters, is reported to have said that for him Amarnath's batting brought back memories of the great Victor Trumper. E. H. D. Sewell, reporting the match in the Times of India, compared Amarnath with Duleepsinhji.

On hearing the news of the great Amarnath- Nayudu partnership, many cricket fans travelled overnight from Pune and Ahmedabad to Bombay to share the excitement. But they were disappointed as India collapsed and were all out for 258, leaving an easy target for victory. After Mitchell was out l. b. w. to Amar Singh, Barnett stepped in and wound up the match with two glorious sixes off Nissar's bowling. India lost the match by nine wickets. Pacemen Nichols and Clark were the most successful bowlers.

Watched by an attentive crowd at the Bombay Gymkhana, Indian opener Navle is dropped by England's captain, Douglas Jardine, in the gully

For Jai, Jamshedji and Ramji this was their first and last Test. Colah and Navle too went out of Test cricket for good. Vijay Merchant, though his scores were moderate, faced the English attack with confidence and created a good impression as an up-and-coming young cricketer. Jardine described him as the soundest batsman in India.

 Jardine predicted that India would soon be challenging England on equal terms, Jack Hobbs, who came as a Pressman, was also impressed with India's potential, but felt that the Indians needed to take their cricket more seriously and not play in a happy-go-lucky kind of picnic air.

 Stan Nichols traps Ramji l. b. w. to end India's second innings. The Essex fast bowler took eight wickets in the match

The Bombay crowd enjoyed every minute of the match and their behaviour throughout the four days was impeccable. There were no barriers or barbed wires separating the spectators from the players, and except for garlanding Amarnath, at no time was there any encroachment on the field. Though there was applause, cheering and appreciation of good play, there was none of the rowdyism one sees these days. The rates of season tickets varied from Rs10 to Rs50.

By becoming the first Indian to score a Test century (and on his debut, too), Amarnath established a record that can never be broken. Ironically he played 23 more Tests but failed to score another hundred. Of the 22 players who took part in this historic Test only Amarnath (now 82) is living today. The last year or so has taken toll of Walters, Townsend and Barnett, leaving no survivor from the England team.

FIRST TEST MATCH

BOMBAY (Gymkhana): India 219 ( S. Wazir Ali 36, L. A. Marnath 38, S. H. M. Colah 31, M. S. Nichols 3 for 53, H. Verity 3 for 44, J. Langridge 3 for 42) and 258 ( L. A. Marnath 118, C. K. Nayudu 67, V. M. Merchant 30, M. S. Nichols 5 for 55, E. W. Clark 3 for 69); England 438 ( C. F. Walters 78, C. J. Barnett 33, J. Langridge 31, D. R. Jardine 60, B. H. Valentine 136, H. Elliott 37*, Mahomed Nissar 5 for 90, R. J. D. Jamshedji 3 for 137) and 40 for 1.

 England WON BY 9 WICKETS.

 Jardine atones for his earlier error by catching Jai off Nichols for a duck in the second innings

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