The Indian team that toured England in 1986 could be described as a ‘complete’ outfit. There was nothing like a ‘weak link,’ with the batsmen and bowlers in good nick. The fielding department was also very well-represented. We had come close to winning a Test series in Australia earlier that year, and believed that we had it in us to take another step forward. It was important to get off to a good start in the first Test at Lord’s. We had never won a Test match there, but the 1983 World Cup win was very much at the back of our minds. Every cricketer dreams of playing at Lord’s. I was no exception. There was something about that ground that brought out the best in me. There are some venues that give you ‘good vibes.’ In my case, Lord’s was one such venue. My first hundred at the venue in 1979 helped India save a Test. I scored another in 1982, but I do not recall it fondly, for we lost that game. On the eve of the 1986 game, I wanted to improve upon 1979 and 1982 by scoring a match-winning hundred. We bowled first, and England made a decent score. I felt great from the time I stepped onto the turf, with the strokes flowing, and every ball going where it was intended to. However, the lower-order failed to click, and there was at one point the possibility of incurring a first-innings deficit. Kiran More, a gutsy cricketer, batted well on his debut, and aided me in taking a lead. I was in the nineties when he fell and our last-man Maninder Singh came in. We had had a crucial partnership against Sri Lanka a year previously, wherein he had defended for more than an hour before playing an impetuous shot and leaving me stranded on 98. My priority at Lord’s was to exhort him to play straight. He followed the instructions to the letter. It is difficult to elaborate on what I felt after completing the single that gave me my third hundred at the ground. I had little time to savour the achievement, with a section of the spectators defying the Police and mobbing me in the middle. Maninder’s obduracy inspired me to get my focus back, and we strung together a useful stand. England were then pegged onto the back foot by some fine bowling. Kapil Dev, our captain, made the initial inroads, and the others took it from there. We lost five wickets before achieving the target of 134. Contrary to popular belief, the occupants of the dressing-room were not nervous. We always knew we would finish the job, with our deep batting line-up. England fancied their chances of levelling scores in the second Test at Headingley, Leeds. The scenario there was typically English; the wicket was damp and the skies crowded. It did not take us too long to figure out that every run would be priceless. Our lower-order did the country proud with its batting in this game. Chandrakant Pandit, who had been drafted in to make his debut, did well to keep the English bowlers at bay, in conditions that they knew like the back of their hands. Although he was the reserve wicketkeeper on that tour, he was playing the game as a specialist batsman, instead of the experienced Mohinder Amarnath and Sandeep Patil, both of whom were injured. Kapil essayed a breezy knock, and Binny, Madan Lal and More fought hard. They may not have contributed much in terms of ‘runs,’ but they more than compensated with their ‘spirit.’ It would be safe to say that they out-batted the English top and middle order! I ensured that I stayed side-on, and did not open my left shoulder. I concentrated on playing square of the wicket, and avoided expansive drives. This approach gave me 61 in the first innings, and 102 in the second. There was an encore when Maninder came in to bat in the second innings with me in the nineties. He negotiated five balls in an over, and thus gave me the opportunity to complete another hundred. We won the Test, and with it, the series 2-0. It was our first series win in England since 1971. I am happy to say that I was able to contribute to one of India’s most convincing series wins on foreign soil. It is important to note that we dominated the ENTIRE series, from start to finish. Note: This article appeared in FROM LEARNERS TO LEADERS, a volume brought out by the BCCI to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of Test cricket in India, in 2008.