Rare breed of Indian batsmen who have succeeded in England

Indian batsmen’s struggles in England continued when they were embarrassed twice at the Lord’s by the hosts who bundled them out for just 107 and 130 respectively. It was a regular story for the visitors as whenever they visited England for a Test series very few players from the team managed to be successful. Here we have a look at the rare crop of players from India who had the privilege to excel in the English conditions in the longest format of the game thus far.

Five Indian batsmen who have succeeded in the Test format in England:

5. Vijay Merchant:

Vijay Merchant travelled to England only twice across the ten years between 1936 and 1946 due to World War II. He was one of the few players who not only survived in England but also scored runs at will. Merchant and Syed Mushtaq Ali became the first set of Indians to score an away century and the first set of openers to score a century for India in Test cricket when they scored 114 and 112 respectively to save the team from an innings defeat in the 1936 Manchester Test.

Merchant, at 35, toured England in 1946 where he scored 136 in the Oval Test which unfortunately was affected by the rain. In the six Tests in the country, he has amassed 527 runs across 11 innings at an impressive average of 47.9 with two centuries and the same number of fifty-plus scores. Only four Indians have bettered his average in England scoring more than 500 runs in this format thus far.