The fourth All-India tour of England (if 1911 is
included), and the last All-India tour before partition in August 1947,
marked the resumption of official Test match cricket after the seven year gap
caused by the Second World War.
On 12 March 1946 MCC announced that they had no
objection to the Nawab of Pataudi, who had previously played Test cricket for
England
in the ‘thirties, leading the Indian team.
Although domestic cricket in India had taken place without interruption
during the War, while the English players’ development was held back for six
years, the England
team proved to be considerably stronger and won the only Test match where
rain did not prevent a result.
Vinoo Mankad was the first tourist to do "the double"
(1000 runs and 100 wickets in an English season) since Learie Constantine in
1928.
Dr P Subbaroyan (chairman), C K Nayudu and D B Deodhar were the
selectors, with A S de Mello present.
Selection
Homi
Contractor and Pankaj Gupta were competitors for the post of manager but,
with the support of northern states, Gupta was appointed.Mr K S Ranga Rao, Hon Secretary of the
Indian Board, was appointed treasurer but turned the post down (?)
Vijay
Merchant was expected to be captain after leading the Indian side to victory
against the Australian Services in 1945-46. The powerful Bombay Cricket Association
lobbied for him, while the Maharaja of Patiala used his influence on behalf
of the Nawab of Pataudi. The Indian
Board of Control cast 10 votes to 8 in favour of Pataudi, and on 26 January
it was announced that he would captain the side.
Unavailable:At first
Merchant, Modi, Mushtaq Ali and
Pataudi were all unwilling to make the tour.
Tour Party Announced:26 February 1946.
Not Selected : Fazal
Mahmood.
Time between selection and departure from India
25 days
(26 February - 23
April)
Travel
New Delhi/ KarachiQBournemouth
The manager, Mr Pankaj Gupta, arrived in England first, coming to Bournemouth
on 16 April where he was met by A E R Gilligan.He expressed anxiety about the team's
clothing and equipment not arriving in time for it had been sent by steamer
from Bombay
and he had no idea when it would arrive.Nor had he much idea when and where the team would turn up. He had to
send back 17 complementary Cup Final tickets because the tour party had not
arrived in England
in time.
Pataudi, Amarnath and Banerjee were the first players to reach
their destination. They arrived from New Delhi
at Karachi on
25 April and left next day by a BOAC York plane. They landed at Hurn Airport,
Bournemouth, at 5 pm on 27 April, having flown via Cairo.
Another batch of tourists : Mushtaq Ali, Nayudu and Sarwate left
Delhi on 24 April for Karachi and there met up with Nimbalkar and Gul
Mohammad who had flown on the same route on 23 April. This group arrived in England by
RAF Dakota on 26 April…. a 51-hour flight.
Another group, following a similar route via Cairo,
were Kardar, Sohoni and Shinde while a fourth batch (Hazare, Hindlekar,
Merchant, Mankad and Modi) had arrived in Karachi
on 25 April and left for England
the next day by flying boat.Bill Ferguson
met them at Poole.
•Vinoo Mankad achieved the double of 100
wickets and 1000 runs in the season.
•Rusi
Modi defied England in the
first innings at Lord’s with 57* as India collapsed to 200.
•
•Vijay Merchant’s
classic innings of 128 ended with him run out by Compton kicking the ball onto the stumps
Tour
Summary
P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
3
0
1
2
-
Other first-class matches
26
11
3
12
-
ϯ Minor matches
4
2
0
2
-
All Matches
33
13
4
16
-
Return
to India
LondonTBombay
‘Burma’
At the end of the tour, the Nawab of Pataudi and Nayudu were the
first to depart, in advance of the main party.Nimbalkar (an aide-de-camp of the Maharaja
of Baroda) would be staying in London with his
employer and Abdul Hafeez (now to be known as Kardar) would be going up to Oxford University to read Philosophy.
Merchant flew home on 3 October.
The main body of the tour party - the manager and eleven players
(Amarnath, Banerjee, Gul, Hazare, Hindlekar, Mankad, Modi, Mushtaq, Sarwate,
Shinde, Sohoni) sailed from the Royal Albert Docks, London, on ss 'Burma' on 1 October.
They were greeted on arrival in Bombay by Pataudi, the Board President Mr
Anthony de Mello, the organiser of the tour Mr Ranga Rao, and other officials
on 26 October.
Five matches were proposed for the coming season between the
touring team and The Rest.
Time away from India
186 days(23
April to 26 October 1936)
Finances
The tour recorded a profit of
£4 500.
Published
accounts of the tour
"Indian Summer"(1947)by John Arlott[Longmans]
"?Bruce Harris
"The Fight for the Rubber"L.N.Mathur[Publication: Lakshman Singhji Bahadar]