India's Most Memorable To Australia - by Altaf Khoja

by Viresh Tue 20 Dec 2011, 3:44 pm

Whilst many people are with a thought that India’s tour in 2003-04 under Sourav Ganguly was the most memorable Australian tour, and the tour in 2007-08 the most controversial one due to the Sydney test, my present article is about India’s one tour down under which was a complete package full of controversies, nail-biting finishes and off the field drama making it one of the most memorable and the one of the best series ever between the two nations.
India were due to play 5 test matches down under during the Australian Summer of 1977-78
The First of the Kerry Packer World Series match was scheduled to begin on December the 2nd 1977, The same day when India was to play its first test at the Gabba in Brisbane.. While the sacked players played in Packer’s circus, The official Australian side with 14 debutants started its test series against India..
Although India lost the first two tests of the series, both were absolute nail-biters that ended in a thrilling finish.
India lost thefirst test at the Gabba by just 16 runs. Chasing a record total of 341, India came close when they required just 23 to win with 2 wickets in hand, but the tailenders could not hold on and India lost by just 16 runs.. This test will also be remembered for an unusual dismissal of Vengsarkar. Vengsarkar got out hit wicket in an unfortunate manner, his cap came off as he ducked under a bumper from Jeff Thomson and dislodged a bail.
The 2nd test at the WACA also ended in a tight finish. Australia required 9 runs to win with just 2 wickets in hand as the tail-enders got them through.. The pulsating finish arrived when only 22 balls were remaining in the 5th day’s play and was a fitting climax to a match in which fortunes fluctuated with almost
every session. Morever a nightwatchman in Tony Mann scored a century for the Aussies to help them chase 340 on the final day.. This was the first time the cricket world saw a century hit by a night watchman..
Finally India registered its first ever test win on Australia soil when they defeated Australia by 222 runs in the third test at the MCG.. Capacity crowd gathered at the MCG for the 3rd test as the Aussies were smelling a series victory, but our spinning legend Bhagwat Chandresekhar had different ideas as he spelled havoc and ripped through the Aussies batting line-up twice and took two 6-wkt hauls as India defeated the Kangaroos by huge margin of 222 runs.. India registered its first ever test win on Australian soil after long wait of 12 Test matches. The spin maverick Chandrasekhar was also instrumental to register India’s first victory on the English soil when he took 6/38 at the Oval to dismiss England for 101..
India also went to win the 4th test at the Sydney Cricket Ground when Aussies were defeated by an innings. This time it was Erapalli Prasanna who bagged a 4-wkt haul.. Australia got bowled out for 131 and 263 in its two innings as India made 396. Chandrasekhar again got 6 wickets in that match as India won by an Innings and 2 runs..
With the series levelled at 2-2, it was now set up for an exciting finish and the last test at Adelaide was going to be one humdinger of a match.
Shocked by the 2 consecutive defeats, the Aussies brought in 4 more new players making it a total of 14 debutants in the entire series. Credit to all those 10-12 players that left Australia’s national side to play in Packer’s circus.. In the final Test, in the 4th Innings, India had to chase 493 runs to win the series or bat for about 14 hours to draw the test. India started in a heroic fashion all set to chase the record target as Mohinder Amarnath[83], Vengsarkar[78] and Vishwanath[73] made good contributions as India once reached 210 for 2 and then 325 for 4. With 170 runs required an 6 wickets in hand, India was still in the game to win the series, but then the debutant paceman Bruce Yardley knocked the middle order out as India were in big trouble at 6 for 348, Syed Kirmani[51] offered some resistance as India fought back. 80 runs and 4 wickets in hand, India was still with a chance..
It went down to 50 runs and 2 wickets in hand but the new ball did the trick for the Aussies as the Indian tail-enders could not hold on and India got bowled out for 445 and ultimately lost the test by 47 runs.. Although Australia won the series 3-2, India made a valiant effort in the final test to reach 493 and indeed made the Aussies feel the pressure throughout the series..
This series turned out to be one of the most memorable and best ever series between the 2 countries. Although India lost 3-2, Australians were put under pressure throughout the tour and ultimately Test Cricket emerged the winner. This also remains the only tour in India-Australia cricket that India managed to win 2 Test matches during a series on Australian Soil.. Since India got the test status, India has travelled to Australia 9 times from 1948 till today but has never managed to win more then one Test Match except for this tour..