India's First Test Series Win in West Indies — 1971

India had toured the West Indies twice before — in 1953 and 1962 — and had been beaten heavily on each occasion. The 1962 tour, captained by Nari Contractor, had been overshadowed by the bouncer that fractured Contractor's skull at Bridgetown. The Pataudi sides of the 1960s had reorganised Indian cricket but had never produced an away series win against a major nation.

Wadekar's appointment was contentious. Pataudi was the more glamorous figure, and the selectors' decision to choose a Bombay batsman of less obvious flair was seen by some as a regional manoeuvre. The choice was vindicated within weeks.

India's preparation was complicated by Gavaskar's whitlow on a finger of his right hand, picked up before the tour and aggravated, by his own account, through nail-biting nerves. He missed the first Test at Kingston and made his debut in the second at Port of Spain, scoring 65 and 67 not out and finishing the series with 774 runs at 154.80 — the highest debut series aggregate in Test history.

Sardesai, recalled at thirty-one after a long absence, made 212 in the first Test and 112 in the second. He was the senior batsman in a side that had no other Test centurion of his vintage.

Wadekar had been appointed captain only weeks before the tour, replacing the Nawab of Pataudi after a vote of the selectors that broke 3-2. The squad — younger, less experienced and significantly less fancied than the Pataudi-led teams of the 1960s — was given little chance against a West Indies side that, while past the peak of the early-1960s sides, still contained Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd and a young Lawrence Rowe.

The first Test at Kingston was drawn after Sardesai's 212 rescued India from 75/5. The second at Port of Spain — without Gavaskar, who would debut in the same match, and decided by Salim Durani's spell to remove Sobers and Lloyd in successive overs — saw India bowl West Indies out for 261 and 150 and chase 124 for the loss of three wickets. The remaining three Tests were drawn, including a determined West Indies effort at Port of Spain in the fifth where Gavaskar made 124 and 220 and India saved the match comfortably.

“We thought we would lose four-nil. We came back winners. That can change a country's idea of itself.”

The team returned to Bombay and were paraded through the city. Wadekar's stock rose so high that within six months he had captained India to a second historic away series win, this time in England in the late summer of 1971. Sardesai's career enjoyed a late renaissance; Gavaskar's was beginning. Solkar, the close-in fielder and lower-order batsman, became briefly one of the most productive number sevens in international cricket.

The defeat in Port of Spain accelerated changes within West Indian cricket. Sobers, in his final phase as captain, was now under pressure; the regional structure that produced fast bowlers in Roberts, Holding, Garner and Croft was already incubating a generation that would not lose at home for many years afterwards.