The first Test in Adelaide is only two days away and there are so many questions. Who will captain Australia in the first Test and who will lead India in the second?
Will Australia play with less focus or will they overcompensate by batting, bowling and fielding with greater intensity to honour their lost mate, Phillip Hughes?
As we ponder on this, I am reminded of two cliff-hanging Adelaide Tests between Australia and India; in 1978 and in 2003.
India scores 445 runs in the final innings and loses
The 1977-78 season was when cricket history was rewritten and cricket’s face was changed. It was a full-scale revolution with Channel Nine television mogul Kerry Packer buying Test cricketers from all over the world to start World Series Cricket. This resulted in many new faces in the Australian side, which was captained by Bob Simpson aged 41.
This series was fascinating as fortunes fluctuated every day, every session and in every Test. Australia won the first Test by 16 runs and the second by two wickets. India won the third and fourth Tests by bigger margins.
With the engrossing series tied two-all, the final Test in Adelaide lasted six days. Let us revisit the cliffhanging decider on the Adelaide Oval.
On the opening day the Indian attack appeared lacklustre as Australia piled on 5/358, Graham Yallop galloping to 121 and the debutant Rick Darling grabbing 65.
The next day Simpson scored a round 100 as Australia amassed 505. The mystery spinner BS Chandrasekhar had a five-wicket haul but proved expensive.
Sunil Gavaskar looked out of touch and went cheaply and India were soon 3/23, all three batsmen falling at 23. Just as well for the visitors that Thomson hobbled off after intimidating figures of 2/12 in 3.3 overs. Subsequently, he did not bowl in the match.
Gundappa Viswanath played a stylish innings of 89 but with Wayne Clark and debutant Ian Callen bowling accurately, India could total only 269 and trailed by 236.
Darling again went for runs and scored 56 before skipper Bishan Bedi, the turbaned left-arm spinner, bowled him. Simpson followed his century with 51 and Australia totalled 256, setting India an imposing target of 493.
India was 2/101 at stumps on the fourth day of this six-day Test. Although 392 to win in two days without Gavaskar appeared mission impossible, India batted next morning as if their dictionary did not include the word impossible.
Mohinder Amarnath (86) and Viswanath (73) settled in for a 131-run partnership for the third wicket. Simpson recalled later, “Surely we would get a final breakthrough now as the tall Vengsarkar came to the wicket to join the mighty shorty Viswanath. But the Indians were not going to give in without a fight, and the Mutt and Jeff of the Indian team dug in”.
Overnight not outs Syed Kirmani and Karsan Ghavri started the final pulsating day confidently and took the score to 415. Now only 78 runs were needed for a win.
Just then Simpson took the new ball and Clark bowled Kirmani for 51. Then Callen and Simpson dismissed the tail and India was all out for 445 to lose by 47 runs.
India’s total was until then their highest against Australia and then the highest by any side in the fourth innings to lose a Test.
On this fabulous series Jack Fingleton wrote, “There could not have been better matches had they been stage-managed”.
Australia amasses 556 in the first innings and loses
The Adelaide Test of December 2003 was incredible as the team which totalled 556 in the first innings ended up losing.
It must have been especially heartbreaking for Ricky Ponting, who scored a classy 242 in the first innings, hitting 31 fours. He blew a kiss to his wife when he reached 200. Anil Kumble took five wickets.
India started badly, losing 4/85, but were rescued by Rahul Dravid (233) and VVS Laxman (148) who added 303 for the fifth wicket. It was batsmanship at its sublime best. Andy Bichel took 4/118 as India made 523, only 33 behind.
India’s medium-pacer Ajit Agarkar surprised the Aussie batsmen, swinging the ball both ways as he captured 6/41 and Australia were dismissed for 196.
Set 230 to win in 100 overs, India were struggling at 4/170 but Dravid ‘The Wall’ took them to a four-wicket victory with an unbeaten 72. Deservedly, he hit the winning run, a four off Stuart MacGill. Steve Waugh chased the ball and presented it to Dravid saying, “Well played”.
Dravid had scored 305 runs in the Test. India led the series 1-0 with two Tests to go. It was the first time that India had been ahead in a series in Australia. The four Test series was tied one-all.
Will the Phillip Hughes tragedy inhibit the Australians or inspire them to give their all in Adelaide next week? Will Mitchell Johnson be hampered to bowl the bouncers which broke England spirits last summer? Will the traditionally spin-friendly Adelaide pitch help the Indians?
Test great Steve Smith is to play for Washington Freedom in the second season of Major League Cricket as the Australian influence in the…
Nathan Lyon has revealed his disappointment that Australia's cricket chiefs have prevented him from playing his first full season of county cricket in England…
Some of you may have watched the recent Fox Sports Series 'A Brief History of Australian Cricket: the Eighties'. If not, I’d definitely recommend…
Nathan Lyon's spell with English county Lancashire has been halved as Cricket Australia looks to protect the fitness of the star spinner. The Australian,…
Cricket Australia insists Optus Stadium can replace the Gabba as the men's Test team's new fortress after handing Perth the first match against India.…
It's no longer about how many runs score individually - it is about the team's ability to win Test in pressure moments.
