The first series of this long India winter was the Australian tour of India after 6 years. Australia was a team in transition. Allan Border, after a string of defeats, had found his feat as Captain. Though far from a formidable team, at least Australia had found a few pieces of the puzzle – like a strong opening pair, a young, inspiring all-rounder, and an intimidating fast bowler. They still lacked a middle order and a spinner who could threaten in subcontinent batsmen. India had a chance to extend their winning run.
The first memory of the tour is the heat. The first two limited overs matches were played on 7th and 9th September. The heat was oppressive throughout the country; therefore, the 9th of September match was staged in Srinagar – possibly the last international cricket match to be played there. Unbelievable it seems now and at the same time, gloomy too.
Australia were asked to play a test in a boiling Chepauk stadium in Madras. Understandably, they started slowly with a sole intention of not losing a wicket, while batting as long as possible. By the end of second day, Dean Jones almost lost his life due to dehydration. His effort though, was monumental, a mighty score of 210, which helped Australia bat into the third day, ending their first innings at 575 for 6. India battled to avoid the follow on, which was to happen only because of a blistering (as always) hundred from Kapil Dev, who scored 86 runs before lunch on the fourth day. Australia batted sedately on the last two sessions of the fourth day, and everyone seemed to lose interest in the match. However, Allan Border declared with a lead of 347 runs.
India began their chase of 348 runs in 87 overs on the last day. Everyone contributed except for first innings hero Kapil Dev, who got out after scoring a solitary run. It was now down to the very dependable Ravi Shastri to finish the task. He almost did it. But in the last over of the day, bowled by indefatigable Greg Matthews, who bowled throughout the innings in a sweater, Ravi Shastri casually ran a single to tie the score. But he probably forgot that Maninder Singh, his partner, could not be trusted with even a run. Border and Matthews knew this, the latter promptly trapped Maninder leg before on the fourth ball, thereby triggering the jubilations for the Aussies, who had escaped out of the jail.
I didn’t realize the significance of the result then. Immediately, though, newspapers and magazines filled with comparisons of the earlier tied match between Australia and West Indies in perhaps the greatest test series ever played. Narratives of that match, especially of the last over bowled by Wes Hall, are much more dramatic than Madras tie, but the escalated drama, the ensuing tension, and the anticipation of unearthed final moments, were the same.
A year ago, in 1985, a sports publication, Sportsworld, had a feature on the Barbados tie. It was a result unlikely to be repeated. At the time of writing though, a few matches have come close. The one run Adelaide test victory of west Indies over Australia and England’s cathartic two run win at Edgbaston in 2005. A trivial observation here – the Sportstar usually wrote the result like – WI won by 9 wickets or Australia won by 323 runs. In the Adelaide test, they wrote – WI won by a run!
The next test at Delhi was washed out, but not before Vengsarkar, who missed the epic Madras test, scored his 5000th run. In the next, high scoring draw, he scored a mighty 164 not out and the series was done. Remarkable it was, that Kapil Dev, did not claim a single wicket in the entire series. Australia visited India for tests only in 1996 by when Kapil Dev had retired. It is hard to believe that Kapil Dev, who went on to take 400 plus wickets claimed no wickets in a home test against Australia after the age of 21! How do such a thing happen! This can happen only to those who were selected for a test or two and then faded. But here we are talking about a legend!
I’ll be telling you more such unbelievable cricket facts.
The limited over series revealed a new star for India – Raman Lamba, a player born with a penchant to jump outside the off stump and hit everything over extra cover. Lamba scored a hundred too, in his first ODI series and was adjudged the player of the series. Allan Border’s two unbeaten nineties gave Australia two victories, one after India had won the 6-match series with one match washed out.
I recall a clever player Chandrakant Pandit, who played in a few matches, stole a run while Bruce Reid, the lanky medium pacer stood holding the ball, only a few feet away from the stumps near the umpire. Kapil dev responded the run. It was enjoyable.
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