On this day in history, July 13, in the year 1974, India played their first ODI against England. The match was a part of the ‘India tour of England’, which consisted of three Test matches and two ODI matches. Indian team was led by Ajit Wadekar, who was the captain during the tour.
The first ODI match was played at Headingley Cricket Ground at Leeds on July 13, 1974, and India lost to England by 4 wickets. England Captain Michael Denness won the toss and chose to field. Sunil Gavaskar and Sudhir Naik opened the innings. Indian team were able to put a total of 265/10 in 53.5 overs, and Brijesh Patel and Ajit Wadekar were the lead scorer from the Indian side who scored 82 and 67 respectively.
English bowler Chris Old took 3 wickets, while Geoff Arnold, Robin Jackman and Bob Woolmer took 2 wickets each. Also, Tony Greig claimed 1 wicket. The collective efforts of English bowlers helped them to dismiss all the Indian batsmen before the end of 55 overs.
Chasing 265, England won the match quite comfortably due to commendable batting by John Edrich, who scored 90 from 97 balls. England chased the target with 6 wickets down and 23 balls to spare, thereby winning the match by 4 wickets. Tony Greig (40), Keith Fletcher and David Llyod (34) were some other contributors with the bat. Indian bowlers Eknath Solkar and Bishen Singh Bedi took 2 wickets each. John Edrich was awarded the player of the match award for his knock of 90.
It was one of the worst tour of Indian team in England as India lost all the five matches- three Tests and two ODIs. India also scored their least total in Tests during the tour, when they scored just 42 during the second innings of the second Test at Lord’s. Indian captain Ajit Wadekar retired form Test cricket after the tournament due to the disastrous performance of Indian team during the tour.