The year was 1979. India were coming into their four-match Test series on the back of a poor World Cup campaign, where they had failed to win a single game and even lost to Sri Lanka in one of their group matches.
For a large part of the Test series, the fortunes remained the same and heading into the final Test at the Oval, they needed a win to square the series at 1-1.It began well for the Indians as they bowled out the hosts for 305. Bishan Singh Bedi and Srinivas Venkatraghavan took 5 wickets between them to restrict the hosts to a decent first innings total.
However, the good work by the bowlers was undone by the batsman, who could only muster up just 202 with Bob Willis, Ian Botham and Mike Hendrick doing the damage, picking up all 10 wickets between them.
Led by Geoffrey Boycott’s 125 and David Bairstow’s 59, England put forth a spirited reply and were bowled out for 334, leaving India with a massive 438 to chase in the fourth innings.
When needed the most, the batsman stand up and deliver
In order to make a fist of the chase, India needed a good start and they got not just a good but an exceptional beginning to their innings, courtesy Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan, who put on 213 runs for the opening wicket to put the hosts under enormous pressure.
The dismissal didn’t disturb his partner Gavaskar, who stitched yet another big stand with his fellow Mumbaikar Dilip Vengsrakar, of 153 runs, and en route that stand also got to his 100.
Vengsarkar was dismissed for 53 and at that stage, India needed 72 runs to register a sensational win and with Gavaskar looking good for some more runs, all the visitors needed was another decent stand that would get them even closer to the target.
But, following the wicket of Vengsarkar, they were dealt a severe blow as Kapil Dev, promoted to Number 4, was out for a duck and then, at the score of 389, Gavaskar too fell for a monumental 221. The knock had all the usual Gavaskar qualities- strong technique, rock solid defense and contained 21 fours, a number that one didn’t associate with him at the time.
It was now upto Yajuvendra Singh and Gundappa Vishwanath to take India home, but they couldn’t do so as both fell with India still 27 runs adrift.
The bowlers tried their best, but couldn;t help the team cross the line and India fell agonisingly short by 9 runs.
India may not have won the match, but it won't be wrong to say that the match was a start of a very good run for India in Tests as well as ODI matches overseas. A couple of years later, they beat Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, won the World Cup, won the World Championships of cricket and beat England 2-0 in their own backyard.
But what if India had pulled off that win that day at the Oval? Gavaskar’s reputation would have enhanced further. India would have been much more feared side on foreign turf and we would have also had a memorable Indian victory to talk about for the ages.
Here’s a video of that innings:
