India are the only side to have been bowled out twice in the same day?
(19 July 2002)

Coming into Manchester - home to the great Cardus - in 1952, India had lost both previous Tests and needed to win the next two to just draw the series. A win at Old Trafford would have ensured the team a place in the glorious annals of Indian cricket. As it turned out, the team got into the record-books all right, but for reasons wholly unexpected.

Len Hutton, winning the toss, was quick to put his team in, but England were not as quick in scoring their runs. At the close of the first day, England were just on 153 for two, with Hutton unbeaten on 85. The English skipper went on to complete his century the following day, and Godfrey Evans held the lower-order together with a resolute 71 so that England finally declared on 347 for nine on the third day.

It was a steep mountain to climb, but in Vinoo Mankad, Pankaj Roy, Polly Umrigar and Vijay Manjrekar, India certainly had the mountaineers to scale it. But fiery Fred Trueman had other ideas. Taking eight wickets for 31 runs, Trueman ran through the side virtually single-handed, leaving them shellshocked and bundled out for a paltry 58. As Trueman put it in his autobiography, "I really strafed those Indianwallahs in 1952. By the time I had finished with them, I had their curly hair standing up like spikes."

The follow-on inevitably was enforced, but "Black Saturday," as it came to be called, had a few more surprises in store for the Indians. Alec Bedser and debutant Tony Lock got into the act this time, picking five and four wickets respectively to blow away the Indians for just 82 well before the scheduled close of play. The Indians thus suffered the ignominy of being the only side to be bowled out twice within the same day - a dubious and unique distinction that remains with India till date.

For more details on all the above facts check out [ StatsGuru ]

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