On 8 February 1964 at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla, India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi made an unbeaten 203 against England in the fourth Test — the first double century by an Indian batsman in India and the highest individual score by an Indian Test captain at the time. Pataudi was 23 and had been playing with one effective eye for two and a half years.
Smith won the toss and asked India to bat. Sardesai and Manjrekar fell early; Pataudi walked out at 109/3 with the series 0-0 and the home crowd restless after three drawn Tests.
England, captained by Mike Smith, were on a five-Test tour. The first three Tests had all been drawn. India batted first at Delhi and were 109 for 3 when Pataudi joined Manjrekar at the crease. He was on 1 not out at lunch. By tea he had moved to 50; by stumps he was 119 not out. The Delhi crowd, sparse on the first morning, had grown to a near-capacity 25,000 by the second day's resumption.
Pataudi's technique under one eye had become a talking point of the world game. He turned his head sharply in his stance to bring his good left eye to bear, then trusted his hand-eye coordination through the rest of the shot. Against the medium pace of John Price and Ken Palmer he was untroubled. Against the off-spin of Fred Titmus he played one of his finest Test innings, sweeping repeatedly behind square and using his feet to drive over mid-off.
He reached 200 in 374 minutes, with 23 fours and two sixes. India declared at 344 for 9 with Pataudi 203 not out. England responded with 451; India batted out the final day to draw at 463 for 4. The series finished 0-0 — the only goalless five-Test series in India's history. Pataudi's 203 was the highest score by an Indian on home soil and stood as the highest by an Indian captain until Sunil Gavaskar's 205 against the West Indies in 1978.
Day 1, lunch: Pataudi on 1 not out.
Day 1, tea: 50 reached.
Day 1, stumps: 119 not out.
Day 2, afternoon: 200 reached in 374 minutes.
Day 2, evening: India declare at 344/9; Pataudi 203 not out.
Day 5: India bat out the final day; match drawn.
8 Feb 1964
Test begins; Pataudi walks out at 109/3.
9 Feb 1964
Pataudi reaches 200; India declare at 344/9.
13 Feb 1964
Match drawn; series ends 0-0.
“I batted as I had always wanted to. The eye gave me no trouble at Delhi.”
The series finished 0-0. Pataudi held the captaincy for another six years and led India to its first overseas win in New Zealand in 1968. The 203 remained his Test-best score; he never again reached 200.
Pataudi's 203 at Delhi was the innings that confirmed his place at the top of Indian batting. It was also the first authentically aggressive double century from an Indian — built on driving and sweeping rather than the accumulator's grind that had defined the 1950s.
The Delhi 203 has been used by Indian commentators ever since as the founding example of Indian aggressive batting. It also remained, until Sunil Gavaskar's 1978 innings, the highest score by an India captain.
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1932-06-16
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1933-02-14
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1934-09-25
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