Tour of England 1979          Captain: S Venkataraghaven
	Eighteenth Test tour     Ninth Test-playing tour of England by India       (May – September 1979)	Sunil Gavaskar was demoted from the captaincy and Syed Kirmani left out of the party altogether. In some quarters these facts were linked to them taking an option for the 1978-79 season with Kerry Packer, although neither of them ever played in World Series Cricket. In a World Cup year Venkataraghavan was again asked to lead the side and again failed to reach the final stages. The team then started its full tour of England. The first Test at Edgbaston was lost by an innings after England had amassed 633 runs and then let loose their fast bowlers in helpful conditions. The second Test at Lord’s would also have been lost had it not been for centuries scored by Viswanath and Vengsarkar who added 210 runs in a record third wicket partnership. But the Indians held a master card, their opening batsman Gavaskar. After being set 438 runs to win at The Oval they came desperately close to winning the fourth Test. Gavaskar played a phenomenal innings of 221 (after an opening stand of 213 with Chauhan) and India ended undefeated and only 9 runs short of their target.	Other Indian tours     Previous tour Pakistan 1978-79   Next tour Australia & New Zealand 1980-81     Next tour of England 1982
	Members of the Test tour  party  (16)     Opening batsmen  Sunil Gavaskar, Chetan Chauhan, Anshuman Gaekwad. Middle-order batsmen: Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar,  Gundappa Viswanath, Yashpal Sharma, Brijesh Patel, Yajurvindra Singh. Wicket-keepers: Surinder  Khanna, Bharat Reddy Spin bowlers: Bishan Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghaven Fast bowlers:  Kharsan Ghavri, Kapil Dev.	M B Amarnath D 28 RHB    RM   B S Bedi D 32 SLA   B S Chandrasekhar K 34 LBG   C P S Chauhan D 31 RHB  opener   A D Gaekwad Ba 26 RHB  opener   S M Gavaskar B 30 RHB  opener   K D Ghavri B 28 LHB   LFM   Kapil Dev Hy 20 RFM   S C Khanna D 23 WK   B P Patel K 26 RHB   B Reddy TN 24 reserve  WK   D B Vengsarkar B 23 RHB   S Venkataraghaven  TN 34 OB   captain   G R Viswanath K 30 RHB   vice-captain   J Yajurvindrasingh Mh 26 RHB   M Yashpal Sharma Pj 24 RHB	Representation of teams:     Ba  -  Baroda (1) B  -  Bombay  (3) D  -  Delhi (4) Hy  - Haryana (1) K  - Karnataka (3) Mh – Maharashtra (1) Pj  - Punjab (1) TN – Tamil Nadu (2)          Average age of players at time of first Test match (12 July 1979) : 27 yrs 10 months.
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Bedi 64, Chandrasekhar 57,  Viswanath 52,  Gavaskar 46,  Venkataraghaven 43,  Amarnath 23,  Patel 21,  Vengsarkar 20,  Gaekwad 19,  Chauhan 18,  Ghavri 18,  Kapil Dev 9,  Yajurvindra 2,  Khanna 0,  Reddy 0,  Yashpal 0.
	Team Officials	C D Gopinath Tour Manager G G Desai Treasurer
	Selectors	P R Umrigar (chairman),  M L Jaisimha,  V L Mehra,  C D Gopinath,  D G Phadkar.
	Selection	Venkataraghaven was appointed skipper.  Unavailable: Not included : Syed Kirmani Tour Party Announced : 8 February 1979.	Time between selection and departure from India  110 days  (8 February - 29 May)
	Travel	Gavaskar and Bedi arrived on 19 April for the Chubb World Double Wicket tournament at Wembley. The main touring party flew from Bombay to London on 29 May 1979.  Because the World Cup sponsors Prudential provided for only 14 players and hotel places were hard to find, Chandrasekhar and Chauhan who would not be taking part in the World Cup flew in later.	Time spent in England    x days (29 May - September)
	On-tour selection committee	Venkataraghaven (captain),  Viswanath (vice-captain), Gavaskar, Gopinath (manager).
	Reinforcements	None, although Amarnath fractured his skull in the Nottinghamshire match and took no further part in the tour.
	Fixtures/Results	† Scarborough World Cup warm up match   § Edgbaston West Indies (World Cup) Lost 9 w § Headingley New Zealand (World Cup) Lost 8 w § Old Trafford Sri Lanka (World Cup) Lost 47 r       Northampton Northamptonshire  Drawn Lord's M C C Drawn Southampton Hampshire  Drawn Leicester Leicestershire  Drawn EDGBASTON ENGLAND   First Test LOST inns 83 r Wellington Minor Counties  Drawn Bristol Gloucestershire  Lost 7 w Swansea Glamorgan  Won 7 w Taunton Somerset  Drawn LORD'S ENGLAND  Second Test DRAWN Derby Derbyshire  Drawn Chelmsford Essex  Drawn HEADINGLEY ENGLAND  Third Test Drawn Old Trafford Lancashire  Drawn Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire  Lost 6 w THE OVAL ENGLAND  Fourth Test DRAWN	† not first-class §  one-day international     Time spent in England before First Test:  74 days (29 April - 12 July)
	Test appearances on tour	4 -  Chauhan,  Gavaskar,  Ghavri,  Kapil Dev,  Reddy,  Vengsarkar,  Venkataraghaven,  Viswanath. 3 -  Bedi,  Yashpal Sharma. 2 -  Amarnath,  Gaekwad. 1 -  Chandrasekhar,  Yajurvindra Singh. 0 -  Khanna,  Patel.
	Highlights	•    Viswanath (78 and 51) and Gavaskar (61 and 68)  were the only ones to resist in the first Test defeat •    A stand of 210 between Vengsarkar and Viswanath saved the Second Test at Lord's •    India were set 438 to win at The Oval and the match finished with them only 9 runs short of victory, •    Gavaskar scored 221 in eight hours at The Oval, to end a series in which his scores brought 577 runs.
	Tour Summary	P W L D Aban Test Matches   4 0 1 3 - Other first-class matches 12 1 2 9 - ϯ Minor matches   1         §One-day internationals   3 0 3 0 - All Matches 20 1 6 12 -
	Return to India	The team flew from Heathrow Airport, London, to New Delhi, where Bedi, Chauhan, Kapil Dev, Khanna and Yashpal alighted; and on to Bombay, by which time the Indian Board had replaced Venkat with Gavaskar for the captaincy in the forthcoming series against Australia. Unfortunately, the plane’s pilot announced it during the flight before Venkat had been notified.	Time away from India   x days   (29 May to September 1979

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