Top 5 batting collapses for Australia against India

India and Australia have played a number of pretty exciting Test matches with some being regarded among the most memorable tests of that time.

Both teams have produced some scintillating performances with bat but on numerous occasions, the batting lineup could not deliver. Such instances have happened with Australia on several occasions. Here are 5 big Australian batting collapses against India.

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#5 At Kanpur, 1959

It was the second and final test of Australia’s Tour of India in 1959. Australia had won the first Test at Delhi by an innings and 127 runs.

Kanpur was the venue for the second Test and Indian skipper GS Ramchand opted to bat first.

The Australian bowlers, namely Alan Davidson and Richie Benaud decimated the Indian batting and bundled them out for 152.

Davidson took 5/31 while Benaud took 4/63. In reply, Australia did not add much as Jasu Patel’s 9/69, a national record at the time, restricted them to 219.

In the second innings, fifties from Nari Contractor and Ramnath Kenny and scores of 46 and 44 from Bapu Nadkarni and Chandu Borde respectively, took India to 291. Alan Davidson bowled a career-best spell of 7/93.

Australia had to chase down 225 to win the match but some magnificent bowling from Jasu Patel and Polly Umrigar skittled them out for just 105, giving India their first ever victory against Australia. Patel took 5/55 while Umrigar took 4/27.

#4 At Mumbai, 1979

Gavaskar led India to an emphatic win at Mumbai

It was the sixth and final Test of Australia’s Tour of India in 1979.

India were already leading the series 1-0, having won the 3rd Test at Kanpur by 153 runs. The venue for the match was Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium and India batted first.

Centuries from Sunil Gavaskar and Syed Kirmani and half-centuries from Chetan Chauhan and Karsan Ghavri saw India’s innings being declared at 458/8.

In reply, Australia were looking pretty good at 110/2. However, the likes of Shivlal Yadav and Dileep Doshi began to take one wicket after another and the visitors were dismissed for 160, their final eight wickets falling for just 50 runs. Doshi took 5/43 while Yadav took 4/40.

Indian captain Gavaskar enforced the follow-on and Australia had to bat once again. The visitors lost openers Andrew Hilditch and Graham Yallop early but Allan Border and skipper Kim Hughes added 132 to keep them at 149/2.

However, as with the first innings, the Australian batting collapsed following the fall of the third wicket, that of Hughes for 80.

The remaining wickets fell for only 49 runs and Australia were dismissed for 198, giving India an innings win and the series. Kapil Dev and Doshi were the pick of the bowlers, picking up four and three wickets respectively.

#3. At Mumbai, 2004

Harbhajan Singh helped India defend a paltry 106

It was the final Test of the 2004-05 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Australia had already bagged the series 2-0 by winning the first and third Tests at Bengaluru and Nagpur respectively.

This Test marked the debuts of Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik and Nathan Hauritz.

India batted first but were skittled out for a paltry 104 thanks to some sensational bowling from Jason Gillespie, debutant Hauritz and Michael Kasprowicz.

Gillespie was the pick of the Australian bowlers with four wickets while Hauritz and Kasprowicz took three and two scalps respectively.

In reply, some brilliant bowling by Anil Kumble and Murali Kartik reduced Australia to 203 with Kumble picking up his third five-wicket haul of the series while Kartik took four wickets.

In the second innings, fifties from Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman took India to 205, giving the visitors a target of just 107 to register a third win in the series. Michael Clarke bowled an unbelievable spell of 6/9.

India barely had anything to defend but they got off to a flier with Zaheer Khan dismissing Justin Langer in just the second delivery.

The early breakthrough boosted the morale of the Indian players. Langer’s wicket was the only one that was taken by a pacer as the spinners, specially Harbhajan Singh, began to clean up the Aussie batting.

Bhajji took five wickets for 29 runs as Australia were bundled out for just 93, giving India a consolation but an unexpected victory by 13 runs.

#2 At Eden Gardens, 2001

India scripted one of the most unbelievable wins in Test history

Whenever you talk about India’s finest wins against Australia or Test cricket in general, the Eden Test of 2001 has to come.

Australia batted first and put on 445 in their first innings. India responded with just 171.

Aussie skipper Steve Waugh enforced the follow-on and this time, India put on a mammoth 657/7 on board thanks to the majestic knocks of 281 and 180 by Laxman and Rahul Dravid respectively. Australia had to chase down 384 to win the match in the final day.

Australia began decently with openers Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater putting on 74 for the first wicket.

Slater got dismissed by Harbhajan Singh.

The next few Australian batsmen were not able to give a lot of assistance to Hayden but were scoring enough runs to keep the possibility of a draw.

On the other side, Harbhajan was taking wickets in quick succession.

Australia were looking quite good at 166/3 before Bhajji dismissed Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting within the blink of an eye.

At 167/5, Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly sent in Sachin Tendulkar to bowl just one over. In his first over, he dismissed Adam Gilchrist before getting the key wicket of Hayden.

With all the big Aussie batsmen gone, India were only a few steps away from victory. Tendulkar dismissed Shane Warne while Harbhajan dismissed Gillespie and Glenn McGrath to give India probably their most memorable Test win. The final seven Australian wickets fell for just 46 runs.

#1. At Melbourne, 1981

Kapil Dev skittled Australia out for 83

It was the third and final Test of India’s Tour of Australia in 1981. The Aussies were leading the series 1-0, having won the first Test at Sydney.

India batted first and scored 237 in their first innings with Gundappa Viswanath scoring a century.

In reply, Australia added 419 thanks to a century from Allan Border and half-centuries from skipper Greg Chappell and Doug Walters.

In the second innings, half-centuries from openers Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan and little contributions from Dileep Vengsarkar, Gundappa Viswanath and Sandeep Patil took India to 324. The hosts would now have to chase down just 143 to seal the series 2-0.

However, the Indian bowlers had other plans in his mind. Some brilliant bowling by Doshi and Karsan Ghavri reduced Australia to 40/4.

Following this, came the Kapil Dev show. The 22-year old took five wickets and Australia were bundled out for just 83.

India won the match by 59 runs and drew the series 1-1. This remains Australia’s lowest Test total against India.