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. 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.