First Ever Test Match Between India And West Indies In 1948

India is expected to sweep the West Indies again when they meet in the second Test at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

Interestingly, this stadium hosted its very first Test match against the West Indies back in November 1948, which was also the first Test India played as an independent nation.

The lead-up to these two matches, however, is quite different.

First Test Match Against West Indies

In the first Test in Ahmedabad earlier this month, the West Indies struggled to put up any real fight against India in any aspect of the game.

Plus, they’ve only managed to win two Tests against India in the 21st century, and both of those victories were in the same series way back in 2002.

In a stark contrast, the West Indies team, led by John Goddard, toured India for five Test matches, starting with the one in New Delhi.

They came into the series after defeating England 2-0 at home. That previous series helped them discover the three W’s – Everton Weekes, Frank Worrell, and Clyde Walcott.

Two of these players, Worrell and Walcott, made the trip to India, with Walcott scoring the first of his 15 Test centuries in that match in New Delhi.

India was hosting their first match as an independent nation.

Walcott and Gomez put a stop to India’s early advances.

Match Summary

The West Indies won the toss and opted to bat first against the Indian team led by Lala Amarnath.

Amarnath’s decision to take himself off early and bring in his pacers, Commandur Rangachari, proved to be a brilliant move for India.

Rangachari took out West Indies openers Allan Rae and Jeffrey Stollmeyer, and then dismissed the legendary George Headley, leaving the visitors at 27/3.

However, India couldn’t claim any more wickets that day as Walcott and Gerry Gomez settled in.

Walcott had scored his first Test century and was on 152 at the end of the day’s play, while Gomez was just one run shy at 99.

Gomez hit that century, but India took charge early on the second day.

They first ran out Walcott at 152 and then captain Amarnath got Gomez out for 101.

Next up, West Indies had another pair of centuries. The second W, Weekes, scored 128 while Robert Chrstiani added 107.

West Indies eventually got all out for 631 runs with almost three days remaining.

India was staring down the barrel of an innings defeat in the very first Test match they hosted as an independent nation.

However, getting through the resilient Indian batting lineup turned out to be a challenge too great for the West Indies.

Hemu Adhikari was key in the rescue mission. Opener KC Ibrahim, No.3 Rusi Modi, and Amarnath at No.4 all managed to score half centuries.

Adhikari came in after Amarnath fell at 62 to Prior Jones and only left the crease when No.11 Keki Tarapore was out.

He remained unbeaten on 114, but India was all out for 454 at Stumps on Day 4.

Adhikari was still at the crease at the end of Day 5, unbeaten on 29, with Chandu Sarwate at the other end on 35.