Kapil Dev’s Indian team was on a high when it arrived in the city of Leeds for the second Test of the 1986 series against England. The visitors had taken a lead in the three-Test tussle, with a comprehensive five-wicket win in the first game at Lord’s. The chief architects of that triumph, India’s first in a Test at the celebrated venue, were Dilip Vengsarkar, who became the first non-Englishman to score three Test centuries at Lord’s, skipper Kapil Dev, who sparkled with bat and ball, and Chetan Sharma, who took five wickets in the first innings. The Indians suffered a setback on the eve of the second Test when Sharma was ruled out due to injury. He was joined on the bench by Mohinder Amarnath, who had scored 69 in the first innings at Lord’s. The team management decided to fill Amarnath’s slot in the playing XI with Chandrakant Pandit, the reserve wicketkeeper, who had also batted well in the matches against the Counties. For the other slot, Kapil Dev decided to cast his net wider. He requested the BCCI to induct the veteran Madanlal, who was not in the touring party, but was very much in England, playing in the Leagues, into the squad for the Test. The Indian captain believed that Madanlal, who had toured England twice with the Indian team and had been part of the team that had won the 1983 World Cup in the same country, possessed the experience and expertise to exploit the ‘seaming and swinging’ conditions that were known to be prevalent at Headingley, the venue of the second Test. The Board agreed. Accompanying Kapil Dev for the toss at Headingley was debutant skipper Mike Gatting, with David Gower’s stint as England captain having been terminated after the loss at Lord’s. Kapil Dev called correctly and the Indians proceeded to put up 272, a fighting total, given the conditions that the English seamers knew like the back of their respective hands. The top individual contributor was the in-form Vengsarkar, who scored 61. England’s response with the bat was disastrous. The Indian seamers outbowled their English counterparts to bowl the opposition out for 102. Roger Binny took five wickets, Kapil Dev one, and Madanlal justified his captain’s faith with three strikes. Ravi Shastri, one of India’s two left-arm spinners in the game, took a solitary wicket. The hosts came back strongly, reducing India to 70-5. Holding one end up was Dilip Vengsarkar. Even as his partners struggled, Vengsarkar displayed exemplary technique and application against the moving ball, to keep the scoreboard ticking. But he needed support. The Indian lower order provided him with just that. Kiran More, who had made his Test debut at Lord’s and acquitted himself creditably on both sides of the stumps in both his first game and the first innings at Leeds, was promoted to no. 7. He helped Vengsarkar add a crucial 32. Kapil Dev went on the attack to score a run-a-ball 31, and Madanlal scored 22. Roger Binny, a genuine all-rounder who had opened the batting for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, was pushed back to number ten. The ‘demotion’ paid off, with him scoring 26 priceless runs. All these individuals, including Maninder Singh, the no. 11, boosted Vengsarkar and India’s assurance, with their obduracy and determination. The Indian dressing-room and supporters erupted when the ‘Colonel’ stole a single to complete a century, his second of the series. The Indian innings ended at 237, with Vengsarkar unbeaten on 102. Given that the entire England team had scored in its first innings what Vengsarkar himself had scored in India’s second, the result seemed a foregone conclusion. The probability of India taking ten wickets was a lot more than that of England achieving a target of 408. For the second time in the game, the Indian bowling distinguished itself, and the hosts were bowled out for 128, thus giving India victory by a handsome 279 runs. India’s best bowler this time around was Maninder Singh, who took 4-26 with his left-arm spin. The third and final Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham, was drawn, and as a result, India took the series 2-0. It remains one of India’s most comprehensive series wins on foreign soil. Brief scores: England v India, 2nd Test, Headingley, Leeds (19 June – 23 June 1986) India: 272 (Vengsarkar 61, Kiran More 36*, Sunil Gavaskar 35, Graham Dilley 3-54) & 237 (Vengsarkar 102*, Kapil Dev 31, John Lever 4-64) beat England 102 (Roger Binny 5-40, Madanlal 3-18) and 128 (Mike Gatting 31*, Maninder Singh 4-26) by 279 runs.