India v Australia does not have the history of an Ashes series, nor the intensity of an India-Pakistan match, but for my generation of midnight’s children India playing Australia was always special.

When I was growing up, Australia unlike England, did not shun us. England sent B teams to India filled with players who had never played for England and did not play again on their return from India. I saw my first Test in 1952 and for that series, the first visit by an English team since independence, England was captained by Nigel Howard, who had never played for England. His Test record is extraordinary, played four Tests all in India as captain, won one. He was injured for the fifth when Vijay Hazare led India to its first ever Test victory. The result was I did not see the greats of English cricket of the 50s, when England was arguably the best team in the world. Peter May, Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Fred Trueman, Godfrey Evans, Alec Bedser, Jim Laker, Trevor Bailey, Frank Tyson, never played a Test in India. I did see Trueman bowl but that was in an exhibition match when he broke Vijay Hazare’s finger.