India's First Overseas Test Win!

India's first overseas Test win was recorded against New Zealand during 1968.  India went on to register its first overseas Test series win too by winning that series by an imposing margin of 3-1. 

New Zealand series winning Indian Team (1968) was led by MAK Pataudi.  The series winning performance was aided by Ajit Wadekar, Rusi Surti and Farookh Engineer (wk) who were the batting backbone. EAS Prasanna who took 24 wickets in 4 Tests was the bowling hero!  Ajit Wadekar-career's only Test century (143) scored during this series became historic by helping the team to win its first Test series overseas.

Unfortnately a picture of this victorious team is not available in the net.  I have composed the above pic by doing a bit of photo-shopping. How many of the above players you can recognize?  Please send me your answers by answering below/whatsapp/e-mail.

The only other overseas Test series victory against New Zealand came during 2009 under the captaincy of M.S.Dhoni.  Gautam Gambir (445 runs) and Harbhajan singh (16 wickets) were the star performers in that 3 Test-series which India won by 1-0.

Scoreboards of India's first ever Test and Series victory against New Zealand are as follows.

1st Test[edit]

15–20 February Scorecard

New Zealand	v	India
350 (157.3 overs) Graham Dowling 143 Syed Abid Ali 4/26 (15 overs)		359 (124 overs) Ajit Wadekar 80 Dick Motz 5/86 (34 overs)
208 (104 overs) Bruce Murray 54 EAS Prasanna 6/94 (40 overs)		200/5 (74.4 overs) Ajit Wadekar 71 Jack Alabaster 3/48 (22 overs)

India won by 5 wickets Carisbrook, Dunedin, New Zealand Umpires: Dennis Copps (NZ) and Trevor Martin (NZ)

• 18 February was a rest day.
• Test debut for Mark Burgess, Roy Harford and Bruce Murray (NZ)
• This was India's first Test win away from home.^[1]

2nd Test[edit]

22–27 February Scorecard

New Zealand	v	India
502 (186.3 overs) Graham Dowling 239 (519) Bishan Singh Bedi 6/127 (47.3 overs)		288 (92.2 overs) Rusi Surti 67 Dick Motz 6/63 (21 overs)
88/4 (40.4 overs) Bevan Congdon 61 Bishan Singh Bedi 2/21 (17 overs)		301 (98.5 overs) (following on) Farokh Engineer 63 Gary Bartlett 6/38 (16.5 overs)

New Zealand won by 6 wickets Lancaster Park, Christchurch, New Zealand Umpires: Fred Goodall (NZ) and Dick Shortt (NZ)

• Keith Thomson (NZ) made his Test debut.
• 25 February was a rest day.
• This was New Zealand's first Test victory over India.^[2]

3rd Test[edit]

29 February – 5 March Scorecard

New Zealand	v	India
186 (89.2 overs) Mark Burgess 66 EAS Prasanna 5/32 (18.2 overs)		327 (108.1 overs) Ajit Wadekar 143 Richard Collinge 3/65 (18 overs)
199 (81.2 overs) Mark Burgess 60 Bapu Nadkarni 6/43 (30 overs)		59/2 (13.3 overs) Syed Abid Ali 36 Bruce Murray 1/0 (1 over)

India won by 8 wickets Basin Reserve, Wellington, New Zealand Umpires: Dennis Copps and Trevor Martin

• 3 March was a rest day.
• India won by 8 wickets

4th Test[edit]

7–12 March Scorecard

India	v	New Zealand
252 (90.4 overs) Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi 51 Dick Motz 4/51 (26.4 overs)		140 (77.1 overs) Bevan Congdon 27 EAS Prasanna 4/44 (28.1 overs)
261/5d (96 overs) Rusi Surti 99 Bruce Taylor 2/60 (22 overs)		101 (61.4 overs) Graham Dowling 37 EAS Prasanna 4/40 (27 overs)

India won by 272 runs Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand Umpires: Dennis Copps and Trevor Martin

• 10 March was a rest day.
• India won by 272 runs.

Your comments are welcome.

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