A sixty year milestone

Indentureship ended in 1917, but even as recently as the 1980’s both India and Pakistan received some measure of spectator support, especially in the sport of cricket, sometimes openly and at other times assumed.

The first Indian cricket team landed in Barbados in 1953, but players of East Indian origin had represented Trinidad and Tobago long before that. It was not before 1950 however, that the first Indo-Trinidadian, Sonny Ramadhin, made it on to the West Indies team. He appeared in 43 Test Matches gathering 158 scalps, a figure only surpassed by a Trinidadian, when Ian Bishop did so during his career. Bishop captured 161 wickets in 43 Tests.

Since then names like Daren Ganga, Denesh Ramdin, Inshan Ali, Ravi Rampaul and Sunil Narine have become well-known in West Indies and world cricket.

Interestingly, we have had a Trinidad and Tobago son, Rabindranath “Robin” Singh, represent India at cricket and an Indian Test player, Subhash Gupte, (36 Tests, 149 wkts), who was a member of the 1953 Indian team to the Caribbean, making Trinidad and Tobago his home and representing his adopted country in Regional cricket. India played its first Test match in 1932 versus England at Lords and the West Indies made its first tour to newly independent India in 1948, for a five-Test series, which West Indies won 1-0.

In 1953, India made its first tour to the West Indies, flying from Bombay to London and then via boat to Barbados, in what was described as a stormy crossing. The opening match was a two-day fixture against Trinidad East Indians, on a matting wicket, at Skinner Park, San Fernando on the 10th and 11th January 1953.

The second game was against Trinidad and Tobago at the Queens Park Oval where the First and Third Test Matches were also played, notably also on matting pitches. The Indian team, captained on tour by Vijay Hazare, lost this series 1-0, courtesy a West Indies win in Barbados. The legendary all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers made his first class debut in the Barbados vs India Territorial match, batting at no 9 and scoring 7 n.o. also picking up seven wkts in the game.

The following are the records of West Indies/India games.

Since 1953 Indian teams have been regular visitors to the Caribbean, winning their first series in 1971 under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar, in a team that included then emerging stars, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath. The Indians won that series 1-0, after defeating the West Indies in the Second Test at Queens Park Oval.

Today India is a world cricketing power far from its initial apprenticeship. The Eastern giants are now supremely respected, on and off the field.

The recently crowned Champions Trophy winners are here with us once again, 168 years after its first sons and daughters alighted from vessels on to these shores, and sixty years after skipper Vijay Hazare led his troops off the boat to begin their historical first tour of the West Indies.