Flashback: India’s first ODI win
India have been a force to reckon with in One Day Internationals and have several unique records in the format. The Men in Blue have won two World Cups and Champions Trophies each in this format and have also been the top-ranked ODI side on a few occasions.
While the Indian team has achieved the unachievable and done the unthinkable in the 50-overs format over the years, here’s a look at their first-ever ODI victory and what made it so special.
When India registered their maiden ODI victory
India became an established team in world cricket after their 1983 World Cup victory. However, it was over eight years before their memorable triumph that the Indian team registered their first-ever ODI victory. The date was June 11, 1975 and the opponents were East Africa. The win came under the leadership of the legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi.
The 1975 World Cup happened to be the inaugural edition of the quadrennial event and India had faced East Africa after losing their opening game against hosts England. That loss marked India’s third straight defeat in the format since they started playing it in 1974.
Coming back to the contest, East Africa decided to bat against a demoralized India after winning the toss, but they failed to make any impact and were blown away entirely by the Indian bowlers.
Their top-order was destroyed by the seam duo of Madan Lal and Syed Abid Ali who shared five scalps among themselves while Mohinder Amarnath chipped in with two wickets.
Nonetheless, it was captain Bedi who was the top performer in the contest. Bedi picked only one wicket, but he was outstanding with the ball in hand bowling eight maidens from his 12 overs and conceding only six runs. As a result, the East Africans were bowled out for just 120 runs with Jawahir Shah top-scoring with 37 runs.
In reply, India chased the target without breaking a sweat as Sunil Gavaskar and Farokh Engineer scored match-winning half-centuries. While Gavaskar remained unbeaten on 65, Engineer was not out on 54 as the Indian team registered a 10-wicket victory in the 30th over.
However, this was the only ‘silver lining in the dark cloud’ for the Indian team in that World Cup as they went on to suffer a four-wicket defeat in their next fixture against New Zealand, which ended up knocking them out of the competition.
