Mohandas Menon & Roshan Paul
Australia's second visit to India, in the winter of 1959-60, was another series lost to a clearly superior team and further emphasised the quality-gap between India and the stronger teams of those days. However, the trip did see India's first ever Test match triumph against the Aussies, who were clearly the best team in the world at that time.
Richie Benaud, India's tormentor in 1956, led the Australians. The Indian team, however, was dogged with controversy even before the first ball was bowled. Pankaj Roy recalls "The suspense of who would be captain was intense. It was between Umrigar and myself. But they passed us both and gave it to Ramchand."
G.S. Ramchand was a useful seam bowler and a hard hitting lower order batsman. But this didn't go down too well with the team. "Ramchand wasn't worth his place in the team as a player; and yet he was made captain," said Roy. Over 40 years have passed, and it is clear that the slight still rankles for the Bengali batsman.
The Australians won the first Test at Delhi easily, as Benaud and Kline bowled them to a victory, based on a century from Neil Harvey, who was making his second visit to India as well. In the first innings, Benaud captured 3 wickets without giving a single run away. Pankaj Roy's battling 99 in the second innings would be the second highest individual score of the series for India.
India
1st Innings 135
NJ Contractor 41, Surendranath 24*, GS Ramchand 20
R Benaud 3/0, AK Davidson 3/22, GF Rorke 2/30
Australia
1st Innings 468
RN Harvey 114, KD Mackay 78, I Meckiff 45*
PR Umrigar 4/49, Surendranath 2/101
India
2nd Innings 206
Pankaj Roy 99, NJ Contractor 34, PR Umrigar 32
R Benaud 5/76, LF Kline 4/42
Australia won by an innings and 127 runs
Then came Kanpur and an Indian victory at long last. Inspired by Lala Amarnath, Ramchand brought in off-spinner Jasu Patel, a surprise inclusion. Patel had a quirky action quite unlike the traditional off-spinner and Amarnath felt that the newly-laid Kanpur pitch would suit him. And how!
Chasing a meagre Indian score of 152, Australia was 128/1 when Patel entered the party. He took 9/69 as the Australians lost their last nine wickets for 91 runs. Set 225 to win in their second innings on a tricky wicket, the Australians were under pressure. Patel and surprisingly, Polly Umrigar then combined forces to bowl the visitors out for 105.
India
1st Innings 152
RG Nadkarni 25, NJ Contractor 24, GS Ramchand 24 
AK Davidson 5/31, R Benaud 4/63, LF Kline 1/36
Australia
1st Innings 219
CC McDonald 53, RN Harvey 51, AK Davidson 41
JM Patel 9/69, CG Borde 1/61
India
2nd Innings 291
NJ Contractor 74, RB Kenny 51, RG Nadkarni 46
AK Davidson 7/93, RN Harvey 1/31, I Meckiff 1/37
Australia
2nd Innings 105 for 9
CC McDonald 34, RN Harvey 25, I Meckiff 14*
JM Patel 5/55, PR Umrigar 4/27
India won by 119 runs
So India won their first ever test match against the Australians. And all thanks to a surprise inclusion. Patel's match figures of 14/124 was the high point of the game, overshadowing Alan Davidson who picked up 12 wickets only to end up on the losing team. However, Patel was never able to come close to this kind of success ever again and faded away after a few more tests. In Kanpur in December 1959, Jasu Patel experienced his 15 minutes of fame.
After the drama and euphoria of Kanpur, everyone looked forward to Bombay and the third Test. However, this was largely uneventful and ended in a desultory draw. It did, however, see a wonderful century from Nari Contractor, in the days before he was tragically felled by Charlie Griffith.
India
1st Innings 289
NJ Contractor 108, AA Baig 50, CG Borde 26
AK Davidson 4/62, I Meckiff 4/79, RR Lindwall 1/56
Australia
1st Innings 387 for 8 dec
NC O'Neill 163, RN Harvey 102, CC McDonald 36
RG Nadkarni 6/105, CG Borde 2/78
India
2nd Innings 226 for 5 dec
AA Baig 58, Pankaj Roy 57, RB Kenny 55*
I Meckiff 3/67, RR Lindwall 2/56
Australia 2nd Innings 34 for 1
ATW Grout 22*, R Benaud 12*
Pankaj Roy 1/6
Match drawn
By now Australia had a point to prove and they did it in style. Despite only putting up 342 in their first innings, they routed Ramchand's men by more than an innings in the fourth Test at Madras. Richie Benaud picked up 8 wickets in the match as India failed to reach 150 in either innings.
Australia
1st Innings 342
LE Favell 101, KD Mackay 89, NC O'Neill 40
RB Desai 4/93, RG Nadkarni 3/75, JM Patel 2/84
India
1st Innings 149
BK Kunderan 71, RB Kenny 33, AG Milkha Singh 16
R Benaud 5/43, AK Davidson 3/36, KD Mackay 1/17
India
2nd Innings 138
NJ Contractor 41, BK Kunderan 33, GS Ramchand 22
R Benaud 3/43, AK Davidson 2/33, I Meckiff 2/33
Australia won by an innings and 55 runs
Like the third Test, the fifth, at Eden Gardens, was a draw. But not by much. Set 203 to win in the fourth innings in as much as 52 overs, the Aussies were content to bat out time to end at a comfortable 121/2. While this may seem highly unusual in today's era of one-day cricket and quick scoring, times were pretty different back then.
India
1st Innings 194
CD Gopinath 39, NJ Contractor 36, Pank Roy 33
AK Davidson 3/37, R Benaud 3/59, RR Lindwall 2/44
Australia
1st Innings 331
NC O'Neill 113, PJP Burge 60, ATW Grout 50
RB Desai 4/111, CG Borde 3/23, JM Patel 3/104
India
2nd Innings 339
ML Jaisimha 74, RB Kenny 62, CG Borde 50
R Benaud 4/103, KD Mackay 2/36, AK Davidson 2/76
Australia
2nd Innings 121 for 2
LE Favell 62*, RN Harvey 36, R Benaud 10*
NJ Contractor 1/9
Match drawn
Thus, a disappointing decade of Indian cricket ended appropriately with a series loss to the world's best team. However, the emergence in that series of the likes of the hard-hitting Budhi Kunderan behind the stumps, M.L. Jaisimha and Salim Durrani, as well as the success of Nari Contractor, provided hope for the 1960s.
The first Aussie tour - 1956
Photographs: Allsport