5 memorable Test matches involving India

#3 Australia tour of India, 1st Test: India v Australia at Chennai, Sep 18-22, 1986

Dean Jones was taken to the hospital after his brilliant double hundred

In one of the most scintillating and hardest test matches ever played, India and Australia played out the only the 2^nd 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 2^nd 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)