India have not done too badly at Melbourne
In a scenario of three wins against 16 losses - which is the Indian Test record in Australia - it may seem unthinkable to speak of a lucky venue for the visitors
Partab Ramchand
24-Dec-1999
In a scenario of three wins against 16 losses - which is the Indian
Test record in Australia - it may seem unthinkable to speak of a lucky
venue for the visitors. But the fact remains that, overall, the best
performance of the Indians has been at Melbourne, the venue of the
second Test, commencing on Sunday. Out of seven matches played there
between the two countries, Australia has won four, India two while one
has been drawn.
In 1947-48 on the Indians' first tour `Down under' the home team won
both the Tests played at Melbourne. In the third Test, batting first,
Australia made 394 with Don Bradman scoring 132 and Lindsay Hassett
contributing 80. The two put on 169 runs for the third wicket. India
in reply got off to a fine start with Vinoo Mankad (116) and Chandu
Sarwate (36) putting on 124 runs for the first wicket. Dattu Phadkar
contributed an unbeaten 55 in the middle order before Lala Amarnath,
aware of the changing nature of the wicket, declared at 291 for nine.
Bradman countered this strategy by having the tailenders open the
batting. Australia were 32 for four but with the wicket fast
improving, Arthur Morris (100) and Bradman (127) shared an unbroken
fifth wicket partnership of 223 runs. It was for the first time in his
illustrious Test career that Bradman scored a century in each innings.
Set to get 359 for victory, India collapsed against Johnson and
Johnston and were all out for 125 to go down by 233 runs.
There was another defeat for India in the final Test. Australia led
off with 575 for eight declared with 19-year-old Neil Harvey top
scoring with 153, his maiden Test century and Bill Brown and Sam
Loxton contributing 99 and 80 respectively. Bradman, playing his last
Test innings in Australia, scored 57 before he tore a muscle under his
left ribs and retired. India's first innings of 331 was marked by a
second century by Vinoo Mankad (111) and useful knocks by Vijay Hazare
(74) and Dattu Phadkar (56 not out). Following on, India inexplicably
collapsed for 67 to lose by an innings and 177 runs.
Twenty years later, Australia infliced another big defeat on India.
Batting first, India were shot out for 173 with Graham McKenzie, with
a bag of seven for 66, being particularly destructive. Only skipper
Pataudi, batting with an injured leg, with a fighting 75 faced him
with a degree of comfort. Australia's reply of 529 was marked by
centuries by captain Bobby Simpson (109), Bill Lawry (100) and Ian
Chappell (151). Lawry and Simpson put on 191 runs for the first wicket
and Chappell and Barry Jarman (65) added 134 runs for the sixth
wicket. Prasanna bore the brunt of the attack and was rewarded with
six wickets for 141. In the second innings, India put up a much better
display with Ajit Wadekar getting 99 and Pataudi coming up with
another gallant innings of 85. But the final total of 352 was not
enough to prevent Australia winning by an innings and four runs.
Ten years later, however the tables were well and truly turned. A
weakened Australian team, bereft of the stars who had defected to
Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket went down tamely by 222 runs. This
was India's first victory in Australia and was shaped by BS
Chandrasekhar's match haul of 12 for 104. India led off with 256
thanks to valuable knocks by Mohinder Amarnath (72), GR Viswanath (59)
and AV Mankad (44). Chandrasekhar restricted Australia to 213 with
only Gary Cosier (67) and Craig Serjeant (85) showing a semblance of a
fight. India consolidated their position with a second innings total
of 343 with Sunil Gavaskar top scoring with 118, his third successive
hundred in the series and Viswanath chipping in with 54. Left to get
387 for victory, Australia were bowled out for 164.
India's second successive victory at Melbourne three years later is
reckoned to be one of their finest in Test cricket. Viswanath (114)
provided the star turn in India's modest first innings total of 237
and Australia put themselves in a position of considerable strength
when they replied with 419. Allan Border top scored with 124 and Doug
Walters and Greg Chappell made 78 and 76 respectively. The Indian
second innings was marked by a dramatic development involving
Gavaskar. He was given out leg before to Dennis Lillee and so
furiously did the Indian captain disagree with the decision that he
urged his partner, Chetan Chauhan to leave the field with him. The
Indian manager, Wing Commander SK Durrani however met the agitated
Gavaskar at the gate, pacified him, asked Chauhan to wait on the field
and sent Dilip Vengsarkar to join him. The match continued and India
totalled 324. Australia needed only 143 runs for victory and even
though the pitch was deteriorating, they had the batting (Dyson, Wood,
Chappell, Border, Walters, Hughes and Marsh) to pursue a modest
target. Moreover the Indian attack was badly depleted, reduced through
injuries to one fit bowler (Ghavri) and two half fit bowlers (Kapil
Dev and Doshi). With a dream performance, the Indians bowled out the
Australians for 83 with Kapil Dev (5 for 28) sharing the honours with
Ghavri (2 for 10) and Doshi (2 for 33).
If it was ecstasy then, it was distress for the Indians five years
later. They had more than one chance to wrap up the Test but made a
hash of things. Australia, with Greg Matthews scoring an unbeaten 100
made 262 in their first innings. India replied with 445 with valuable
contributions from K Srikkanth (86), Vengsarkar (75), Shastri (49) and
skipper Kapil Dev (55). The Australians lost wickets at regular
intervals in the second innings but playing a true captain's knock,
Border stayed firm. The turning point came when he added 77 runs for
the last wicket in two hours with Gilbert, a very definite No 11.
Border was last out for 163 but the Indians still had plenty of time
to get the 126 needed for victory. However, they dawdled and then
thunderstorms during the tea interval saw the match abandoned as a
draw with India stranded on 59 for two.
The Australians escaped that time but there was no escape route for
the Indians six years later. A strong rearguard action led by Kiran
More (67 not out) saw India reach a first innings total of 263. Bruce
Reid finished with six for 66. The home team, with good knocks from
Geoff Marsh (86), Dean Jones (59) and Ian Healy (60) replied with 349,
despite a stout hearted performance from Kapil Dev (5 for 97). The
Indian second innings was a fair disaster with Reid again taking six
wickets. Only Vengsarkar (54) put up a semblance of a fight as the
Indians were all out for 213. The Australians hit off the required 128
runs for the loss of two wickets.