# New Zealand cricket team in India in 1955–56

The New Zealand national cricket team toured India in 1955–56 season. The teams played five Tests. India won the series 2–0 with three Tests drawn. Before the series, the New Zealand team had played a three-Test series in Pakistan, losing that series 0–2.

## Squads

| India | New Zealand |
| Ghulam Ahmed (c) Vinoo Mankad Vijay Manjrekar Polly Umrigar Dattu Phadkar Subhash Gupte Jayasinghrao Ghorpade Gulabrai Ramchand Chandrakant Patankar Bapu Nadkarni Pankaj Roy Gundibail Sunderam Vijay Mehra Nari Contractor Sadashiv Patil A. G. Kripal Singh Narain Swamy | Harry Cave (c) John Reid (vc) Jack Alabaster John Guy Noel Harford Zin Harris Johnny Hayes Gordon Leggat Tony MacGibbon Noel McGregor Trevor McMahon Alex Moir Eric Petrie Matt Poore Bert Sutcliffe |
Every player played at least one Test in the series. Cave, Reid, Guy, Hayes, MacGibbon and Sutcliffe played all five Tests. The team was managed by Henry Cooper, who was at the time headmaster of Auckland Grammar School, and had previously played three first-class matches for Auckland.

## Tour matches
### Three-day: West Zone v New Zealanders

* 15–17 November 1956 Scorecard
* West Zone won by 6 wickets Club of Maharashtra, Poona Umpires: T. B. Dani and S. N. Kothawalla
* New Zealanders won the toss and elected to bat.
Electing to bat upon winning the toss, the New Zealanders made 162 on a grassy wicket. Harry Cave and Alex Moir offered any resistance to West Zone's bowling. In reply, West Zone lost three early wickets Nari Contractor and Bapu Nadkarni struck a 62-run partnership taking their team to 100/4 at close of play. The West Zone batsmen failed to keep up with the pace of Johnny Hayes and Tony MacGibbon, and were dismissed for 179 the following afternoon. The New Zealanders began their second innings scoring at brisk pace making 215 runs in 208 minutes. Starting the final day at 215/6, the New Zealanders lost their tail the final morning, setting West Zone a target of 252 runs to be made in 225 minutes. Captain Vinoo Mankad opening in West Zone's second innings made a fighting 103 in 210 minutes while striking partnerships with Madhav Apte and Nari Contractor that yielded 105 and 116 runs respectively. West Zone reached the target with three minutes to spare and six wickets in hand.

### Three-day: South Zone v New Zealanders

* 26–28 November 1955 Scorecard
* New Zealanders won by and innings and 3 runs Central College Ground, Bangalore Umpires: M. Anantaswamy Rao and S. K. Raghunatha Rao
* South Zone won the toss and elected to bat.
* John Reid (New Zealanders) passed 6,000 runs in first-class cricket.

## Test matches
### 1st Test

* 19–24 November 1955 Scorecard
* Match drawn Fateh Maidan, Hyderabad Umpires: Jamshed Patel and Mysore Vijayasarathi
* India won the toss and elected to bat.
* A. G. Kripal Singh and Narain Swamy (both Ind) made their Test debuts.
* A. G. Kripal Singh became the third India player to score a century on debut. John Guy also scored his first Test century.
* Polly Umrigar's 223 was the highest individual score by an India player in Tests, before it was equalled in the next and surpassed in the final Test by Vinoo Mankad.
* Polly Umrigar and Vinoo Mankad's partnership of 238 runs was India's highest for the third wicket, before it was surpassed by Gundappa Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma (316) in 1982.
* India's total of 498 in the first innings was their highest in a Test innings before it was surpassed in the Third Test.
* 21 November was a rest day.

### 2nd Test

* 2–7 December 1955 Scorecard
* India won by an innings and 27 runs Brabourne Stadium, Bombay Umpires: Balkrishna Mohoni and Mysore Vijayasarathi
* India won the toss and elected to bat.
* Vijay Mehra, Nari Contractor and Sadashiv Patil (Ind) made their Test debuts.
* 5 December was a rest day.

### 3rd Test

* 16–21 December 1955 Scorecard
* Match drawn Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi Umpires: Dinkar Desai (Ind) and Noshirvan Nagarwala (Ind)
* New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat.
* Bapu Nadkarni and Gundibail Sunderam (Ind) made their Test debuts.
* John Reid (NZ) and Vijay Manjrekar (Ind) both passed 1,000 runs in Tests.
* Bert Sutcliffe scored the highest individual score by a New Zealand player in a Test innings (230), before it was surpassed by Graham Dowling in 1968.
* 19 December was a rest day.

### 4th Test

* 28 December–2 January 1956 Scorecard
* Match drawn Eden Gardens, Calcutta Umpires: Dinkar Desai (Ind) and Santosh Ganguli (Ind)
* India won the toss and elected to bat.
* Chandrakant Patankar (Ind) made his Test debut.
* 30 December was a rest day.
* Gulabrai Ramchand (Ind) scored his first century in Tests.

### 5th Test

* 6–11 January 1956 Scorecard
* India won by an innings and 109 runs Nehru Stadium, Madras Umpires: Bapu Joshi (Ind) and Mysore Vijayasarathi (Ind)
* India won the toss and elected to bat.
* Vinoo Mankad (Ind) and Bert Sutcliffe (NZ) both passed 2,000 runs in Tests.
* Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy (Ind) broke the record for highest partnership for the first wicket in Tests (413), before it was surpassed by Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith in 2008. It was also the highest first wicket partnership in India's first-class cricket till 1977.
* Vinoo Mankad's 231 was the highest individual score for India in Tests before it was surpassed by Sunil Gavaskar (236) in 1983.
* 9 January was a rest day.