The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1971 season and played 19 first-class fixtures, winning 7, losing only one and drawing 11.

Besides Wadekar and Chandrasekhar, the team included other notable players in Dilip Sardesai, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Gundappa Viswanath, Bishan Singh Bedi and the young Sunil Gavaskar.

However, under the new captain Ajit Wadekar, India defeated West Indies in an away series in early 1971.

The victory in that series was built around the batting of Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Sardesai who scored 774 and 642 runs respectively.

Chief Selector Vijay Merchant called his inclusion for the tour of England "a “calculated gamble"”.

M. L. Jaisimha, Salim Durani and Rusi Jeejeebhoy were excluded from the team that toured West Indies.

You may be too young to remember, but in 1971, during a Test match, I collided with England fast bowler John Snow and lost my bat.

Snow went for the ball and knocked him over, "I could imagine the horror on the faces of everybody watching the game from the committee room at Lord's".

The replay can be seen in the Indian episode of the BBC documentary Empire of Cricket and it certainly appears that Snow recklessly barged into the Gavaskar.

At lunch, Snow returned to the dressing room and apologised to the chairman of selectors Alec Bedser and promised to do so to Gavaskar when an enraged Billy Griffith charged in and shouted "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen on the field".

The game was rained off with India needed 38 runs to win, but England wanting only two wickets for victory.

Snow returned for the Third Test and tore off Gavaskar's chain and medallion with a bouncer that zipped under his chin and made him fall over.

[7] He bowled the Indian for 6 in the first innings and had him lbw for a duck in the second, but this was not enough to prevent India winning the Test and the series by four wickets.

Russell, dropped three times, became the third batsman – after John Jameson and Zaheer Abbas – to complete 1,000 runs for the season.

John Price took the wickets of Abbas Ali Baig and Ajit Wadekar off successive balls as India ended the first day on 41 for 3.

Price took two wickets off consecutive balls for the fourth day in a row, Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Sardesai being the batsmen this time.

This time the first five wickets fell for 79 but Eknath Solkar and Abid Ali added 56 and Bedi finished the match pulling Peter Parfitt for four.

The match was played in very English conditions – the wicket hardly differed foom the outfield, there was a near gale-force wind and it rained.

Chris Old and Kerry O'Keeffe added 71 for the ninth wicket when the innings was declared half an hour before the close.

Luckhurst was the fourth man out at 209 but Alan Knott and West Indian John Shepherd then added 96 runs quickly.

Despite a lead of 228, Denness chose to bat again and set Indians 408 to win in over a day.

Baig ran Dudleston out for 51 and Solkar took a spectacular catch at short squareleg to dismiss Brian Davison.

Wadekar once swung Jack Birkenshaw over fineleg, shattering the window panes.

Majid Khan played a fine innings of 78 with 11 fours before Bedi bowled his with an arm-ball.

Hampshire played without their regular opener Roy Marshall and fast bowler Bob Cottam.

Captain Richard Gilliat scored his second 50 of the match, batting only 135 minutes for 71 with ten fours and a six.

Surrey, who were to win the County Championship in 1971, had Geoff Arnold, who was the twelfth man in the second Test, and Bob Willis.

Cartwright completed a hundred wickets in a season for the eighth time and was awarded a silver tankard.

It was a record for the English season, improving on 301 by Phil Sharpe and Doug Padgett for Yorkshire against Glamorgan.

Roy Virgin made a stylish century (176), adding 155 with Brian Bolus for the first wicket and 146 with Keith Fletcher for the third.