England arrived in India for the 2005/06 without the injured Simon Jones and Ashley Giles. Captain Michael Vaughan and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick opted out as well, leaving Andrew Flintoff in charge. They gave out Test caps to Alastair Cook and Monty Panesar, both of whom would play vital roles when England would win the 2012/13 Test series in the same country.

India had their share of debutants as well. They drafted in S Sreesanth in the first Test, at Nagpur, and Piyush Chawla and Munaf Patel in the second, at Mohali. Chasing 368, India made 260-6 in the fourth innings at Nagpur, but Anil Kumble claimed 9-146 – including his 500th Test wicket – to help them go up in the series.

The decider at Mumbai was a milestone Test match for Sachin Tendulkar, who went past Kapil Dev’s Indian record of 131 games, and captain Rahul Dravid, who was making his 100th appearance in the format.

Andrew Strauss (128) and Owais Shah (88) helped England post 400 after Dravid surprised everyone by opting to bowl at a venue where no team had chased more than 200. Matthew Hoggard, who bowled brilliantly through the series (13 wickets at 17.84) took out the Indian openers to reduce India to 24-2, and Tendulkar walked out amidst familiar applause.

Hoggard was brilliantly supported by a youngster called James Anderson. This was Anderson’s 13th Test match, but his first in 14 months. As the England seamers stuck to their line and length, India remained scoreless for 18 balls. In 6.4 overs of batting together, Dravid made two runs and Tendulkar one.

Then Anderson bowled on a length outside the off-stump. Tendulkar, perhaps desperate to score after his 20-ball stay, poked and edged to the big gloves of Geraint Jones. As he walked back to the pavilion, the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium booed their hometown hero.

“Must be the first time Sachin was booed at the Wankhede Stadium,” uttered Michael Atherton on air.

Dravid (52) and MS Dhoni (64) resisted, but India conceded a 121-run lead as Anderson finished with 4-40. Kumble (4-49) then led the rout as England were bowled out for 191, but the target of 313 seemed insurmountable.

Still, there was hope for a draw as India went to lunch on the fifth day at 75-3 with Dravid and Tendulkar at the crease. After the interval, they lost seven wickets for 25 runs in 15.2 overs against Flintoff (3-14) and Shaun Udal (4-14).

Watch Sachin Tendulkar get booed at his home ground Wankhede Stadium:

On this day in 2006 something unreal happened. Sachin Tendulkar got booed that too at his home ground after getting out for 1(21). Here is the video of that moment. Michael Atherton talked about it on air (timestamp 00:55) as well. pic.twitter.com/SPAGzEbZhE

— Mainak Sinha🏏📽️ (@cric_archivist) March 19, 2024