Historic Flashback: 30 years of tied Test between India-Australia

Tags: India, Australia, Gregory Richard John Matthews, Dean Mervyn Jones, Raymond James Bright, Maninder Singh, India Australia Tied Test

Published on: Sep 19, 2016

It has been 30 years since the famous tied Test played between India and Australia at Madras (now Chennai). The memorable match was played from September 18-22 at Chepauk. Here’s a recap of match

It has been 30 years since the famous tied Test played between India and Australia at Madras (now Chennai). The memorable match was played from September 18-22 at Chepauk. Here’s a recap of match.

Toss: Australia won and chose to bat

Teams

India: Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikkanth, Mohinder Amarnath, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ravi Shastri, Chandrakant Pandit, Kapil Dev (captain), Kiran More, Chetan Sharma, Shivlal Yadav, Maninder Singh

Australia: David Boon, Geoff Marsh, Dean Jones, Ray Bright, Allan Border (captain), Greg Ritchie, Greg Matthews, Steve Waugh, Tim Zoehrer, Craig McDermott, Bruce Reid

A Jones special: Dean Jones stood out with a sensational 210 as Australia posted 574 for 7 declared in their first innings. The innings is best remembered for Jones battling dehydration in the draining Chennai to build the epic. He requested his captain to retire him, but Border refused, and Jones carried on to build his most famous innings. In all, he batted for over 500 minutes, and 27 fours and two sixes before he was eventually bowled by Shivlal Yadav. At the top David Boon and, in the middle captain Border also contributed hundreds. For India, Shivlal Yadav finished with four wickets.

Kapil leads from the front: India needed to put up a strong batting show to stay in the game. But, they did not fare too well, as many batsmen got starts, and perished. However, Kapil Dev held fort for the hosts, and came up with a brilliant ton. He blasted 119 from 138 balls with 21 fours to help India finish on a credible 397. Kris Srikkanth, Ravi Shastri and Mohammed Azharuddin all made half-centuries, but failed to transform them into big knocks. In the end, cameos from Chandrakant Pandit and Chetan Sharma took the closer to 400. For Australia, Greg Matthews did the star turn with five wickets.

Australia’s sporting declaration: In an era known for safe play, Border took up the challenge of setting up a Test match. Boon made 49 while Jones, Border, Ritchie and Matthews all chipped in with 20s, as Australia set India 348 to win the Test, declaring at 170 for 5 after 49 overs.

The crazy fourth innings: Everyone expected India to play for a draw. Australia were undoubted favourites considering the runs they had to play with. But, the Indians sprung a surprise with their attacking antics. Sunil Gavaskar made a brilliant 90 at the top while Mohinder Amarnath made 51. In the middle order, Azhar and Pandit made 42 and 39. Again, India’s inability to build on starts let them down. Before Gavaskar was dismissed, India were well placed at 204 for 2. But, they quickly collapsed to 291 for 6. A good partnership between Shastri and Chetan Sharma took them to 331 when the latter was dismissed. It all came down to one run with one wicket in hand. In the 87th over, Mathews trapped Maninder Singh lbw to bring the curtains on the second ever tied Test. Mathews picked up five again while Ray Bright got the other five in the innings.

--By A Cricket Analyst

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