Chingleput Gopinath, the last surviving member of the first India team to win a Test match, has died at the age of 96, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) said on Thursday.
Gopinath was the second-oldest living cricketer after Australia’s Neil Harvey.
India lost all six of the series they had played until then, including the one-off Test against England that marked their debut. They had drawn matches with England, Australia and West Indies but victory eluded them for nearly two decades.
When England visited India for a five-match series in 1951-52, the first three matches were drawn, before England won the fourth Test by eight wickets.
But the hosts finally broke through in Chennai in February 1952 as they beat England by an innings and eight runs to clinch their first win in a Test match and first draw in a Test series.
Batting at number eight, Gopinath scored 35 as India declared at 457-9 after England posted 266 in their first innings. The visitors folded for 183 in the second innings as Ghulam Ahmed and Vinoo Mankad took four wickets.
Gopinath had made his Test debut earlier in the series, impressing with an unbeaten 50 in his first innings. It was the only half-century in his eight-match Test career.
“A true pioneer of Indian cricket … your legacy will forever be etched in the game’s rich history,” the TNCA said in a statement.
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