The historic 500th Test match of India is all set to begin on 22 September at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur against New Zealand. We take a walk down memory lane as we reminisce the 5 memorable test matches involving India.
India have played a whole lot of unforgettable matches, and have come a long way since their first test match played against England in 1932. Be it Virender Sehwag’s triple century, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid’s incredible partnership or the famous tied match against Australia, these few games which we have picked out were truly special and significant in some way or the other.
#5 India tour of Pakistan, 1st Test: Pakistan v India at Multan, Mar 28-Apr 1, 2004
In what was a historic Test win for India on Pakistan soil after 50 years, this match was most remembered by fans for mainly two reasons – Virender Sehwag’s triple century, and Rahul Dravid’s declaration which did not allow Sachin Tendulkar to reach his double century.
After a superb ODI series win against their neighbours, India came into the test series looking for their first win in 50 years, and it came easily as India went on to win the match by an innings and 57 runs. After 52 years of India-Pakistan encounters, 49 years after India first toured Pakistan, they could finally savour the sweet taste of victory away from home. Rahul Dravid was leading the side in the absence of Sourav Ganguly and he could not have asked for a better start to the series.
After winning the toss, India got off to a flying start thanks to the heroics of Virender Sehwag. Along with Sachin Tendulkar, the duo set up a 336 run partnership where Sehwag scored a historic triple century. After Sehwag’s dismissal, Tendulkar along with Yuvraj Singh continued to take the attack to the Pakistani bowlers. With Sachin batting at 194, and India going strong at 675-5, Rahul Dravid surprisingly decided to declare the innings. This led to a controversy as Sachin Tendulkar saying that he wanted to be “left alone."
Pakistan replied well with their batting but were nowhere near India’s standards as they were bowled out for 407 thanks to a 4 wicket haul by Irfan Pathan. After enforcing the follow-on, Pakistan had no answer to Anil Kumble’s superb bowling performance as they were bowled out for a meagre score of 216, thus leading to a comprehensive win for India.
India went on to win the Test series 2-1.
Result: India 675 for 5 dec (Sehwag 309, Tendulkar 194*, Yuvraj 59) beat Pakistan 407 (Hameed 91, Inzamam 77, Pathan 4-100) and 216 (Youhana 112, Kumble 6-72) by an innings and 52 runs.
#4 India tour of West Indies, 3rd Test: West Indies v India at Port of Spain, Apr 7-12, 1976
With West Indies at the helm of test cricket in the 1970s, to beat them at their home ground was an uphill task for any team. India were not as good a team as they are currently, and they were the underdogs when they toured the mighty West Indies in 1976.
India did the seemingly unthinkable in this test match as they went on to achieve what was then the second highest run chase ever. They were the only team after Australia to have chased down a target greater than 400 in a test match. Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath’s heroics proved too good for the fiery West Indies bowlers as they went on to defeat Clive Lloyd’s men emphatically by 6 wickets as they chased down a target of 404.
Batting first after winning the toss, West Indies scored a respectable total of 359 thanks to a fantastic 177 run knock by Viv Richards. India did not respond well as they were bundled out for 228 with not one even players scoring a half-century.
Led by Alvin Kallicharan’s century in the 2nd innings, West Indies were going strong and they decided to declare at 271 with the loss of 6 wickets, thus setting a target of 404 for the Indians. West Indies thought they had the game in the bag, but Gavaskar and Gundappa had other ideas in mind.
The duo smashed brilliant centuries on the final 2 days of the Test to take India home with 6 wickets to spare, thus creating history. Although India went on to lose the series 2-1, this particular win will be etched in the memories of Indian fans forever.
Result: West Indies 359 and 271 for 6 wickets declared lost to India 228 and 406 for 4 by 6 wickets.
#3 Australia tour of India, 1st Test: India v Australia at Chennai, Sep 18-22, 1986
In one of the most scintillating and hardest test matches ever played, India and Australia played out the only the 2nd tie ever in test history in front of 30000 fans. The game was played out in the toughest of conditions with extreme heat and humidity at the M Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
For the second time in 1052 Tests, the result was a tie, and coincidentally Australia had been involved each time. Interestingly, Bob Simpson was involved in both the tied matches – in 1960 as a player, and in 1986 as the coach of the Australian team.
After winning the toss, Australia decided to bat first. David Boon and Allan Border notched up centuries and Dean Jones went on to score a fantastic double century. The intense heat and humidity led to Jones cramping and dehydrating. Towards the end of his innings, he batted on instinct as his body gave away. He had to be treated in hospital after the completion of the innings for heat exhaustion. Australian coach Bob Simpson described it as "the greatest innings ever played for Australia".
Led by a century by captain Kapil Dev, India responded well in their first innings but were not at the level of Australia was, as they were bowled out for 397.
In the 2nd innings of the match, Australia decided to declare the innings at 170 at the loss of 5 wickets, thus setting India a target of 347 with little more than a day remaining.
Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, and Mohinder Amarnath performed well for the Indians, and they were on course to achieve a seemingly impossible victory, but it was not to be. With 4 runs needed off the last over, Maninder Singh was given out LBW in the penultimate ball of the match, thus causing heartbreak for the packed stadium. To this date, Maninder Singh claims that the ball had come off his bat before hitting him on the leg.
Result: Australia 574/7d( Dean Jones 210, Shivlal Yadav 4/142 (49.5 overs) and 170/5d (David Boon 49, Maninder Singh 3/60) tied India 397 (Kapil Dev 119, Greg Matthews 5/103) and 347 (Sunil Gavaskar 90, Ray Bright 5/94)
#2 India tour of Australia, 2nd Test: Australia v India at Adelaide, Dec 12-16, 2003
India registered a remarkable victory over the mighty Australian team in the 2nd test match of the 4 match series played down under in 2003-04. The ghosts of 2001 came back to haunt Australia as Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman once again made an unimaginable victory look easy for India with their brilliant batting performances.
Not often does a team lose a test match after scoring 500 plus in the first innings, but that's just what happened to Australia at Adelaide. Vice-Captain Rahul Dravid led the way with a brilliant double century in the first innings and a poised 72 not out in the second innings. The match will also be remembered for Ajit Agarkar’s magical spell in the 2nd innings which led the way for India’s victory.
After losing the first game, Australia were keen to bounce right back, and they started off on the right track after scoring a majestic total of 556 in the first innings. Their innings was led by an amazing double century by captain Ricky Ponting. Anil Kumble was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he bagged 5 wickets.
The Indian team was struggling at one point in the first innings at 85-4 but were once again revived by the magic of the deadly duo of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid as they put on a 303 run stand.
Dravid continued to fight on after the departure of Laxman and was unbeaten at 233 as India were bowled out for 523, trailing Australia by just 33 runs.
What followed next, in the 2nd innings was pure magic by Ajit Agarkar. He ripped through the Australian batting line-up with figures of 6-41, which led to Australia being bowled out for 196, thus setting up a target of 230 runs for India to achieve.
India eventually held their nerve to win the match by 6 wickets, led once again by Dravid’s unbeaten 72, along with useful contributions by Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman. It was a fitting finish as Ajit Agarkar was at the crease, along with Rahul Dravid when the winning runs were hit.
Result : Australia 556 (Ricky Ponting 242, Anil Kumble 5/154) and 196 (Matthew Hayden 99, Ajit Agarkar 6/41) lost to India 523 (Rahul Dravid 233, Andy Bichel 4/118) and 233/6 (Rahul Dravid 72*, Katich 1/22)
#1 Australia tour of India, 2nd Test: India v Australia at Kolkata, Mar 11-15, 2001
The phrase “snatch victory from the jaws of defeat” was epitomised in this particular test match, as India produced one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the sport. It was only the third time since the inception of cricket that a team had won the match after being forced to follow-on in the 2nd innings.
Led by the heroics of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid in the batting department, and Harbhajan Singh in the bowling department, the Indian team produced one of the most cherished memories for any cricket fan by defeating Australia.
Australia were on a streak of an unbeaten 16 test match run, and they had comprehensively defeated India in the first match of the test series as well. They were well on their way to winning the 2nd Test too after they had forced a follow-on for India, but what happened in the 2nd innings was nothing short of a miracle.
After opting to bat first, Australia started off well with 3 out of the 4 top order batsman performing well. It was all going according to plan until Harbhajan Singh produced a stunning bowling performance by picking up a hat-trick in the first innings which led to a middle-order collapse for the Australians.
They were struggling at 269-8 at one point, but led by a calm century by captain Steve Waugh and a heroic 46 by Jason Gillespie, they reached a highly respectable total of 445.
The Australian bowlers proved to be too good for the Indian batting line-up, as they were bundled out for 171 in their first innings. VVS Laxman was the only batsman who performed decently well as he scored 59.
Trailing by 274 runs, Australia enforced a follow-on and were confident of producing a similar bowling performance to take a 2-0 lead in the test series. India started off quite well but were not able to build a significant partnership for a while. The score was 232-4, and out at the crease were VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. What happened from there was one for this history books. VVS Laxman went on to score a “very very special” 281, and along with Rahul Dravid’s stupendous 180, they put on a historic 376 run partnership for the 6th wicket.
India set Australia a target of 384 runs to achieve on the last day of play. Once again, it was a fabulous bowling performance by Harbhajan Singh, along with a 3 wicket haul by Sachin Tendulkar which led to the demise of the Australian batting line-up. and a historic Test win for India.
Result : Australia 445 (Steve Waugh 110*, H. Singh: 7-123) and 212(Hayden 67, H. Singh: 6-73) lost to India 171(VVS Laxman 59, G. Mcgrath: 4-18), 657/7dec(VVS Laxman 281, G McGrath: 3-103)
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