If Ashes is the best Test cricket has to offer its fans, then Border-Gavaskar Trophy has the potential to improve the best.
At a time when Test cricket is fighting for its survival, the rivalry between India and Australia has only blossomed in the last 75 years.
As the two cricketing giants prepare for what promises to be a fascinating four-Test series starting in Nagpur, here’s a look back at some of the iconic matches the Baggy Green have played in India.
1969: Fires and riots at the CCI stand
With an 89 for seven scorecard in their second leg, India needed a miracle to save the first Test against Australia at Brabourne Stadium.
Syed Abid Ali’s dismissal brought Srinivas Venkataraghvan down the middle with Ajit Wadekar running out of partners at the end.
Their eighth wicket partnership on day four was turning into something substantial before a controversial call by umpire Shambu Pan to send Venkatraghavan into the locker room sparked one of the most chilling incidents in India Test history. -Australia.
Radio commentator Devraj Puri was unconvinced Venkataraghvan had hit him and with India desperate at 114 to eight the crowd’s behavior turned ugly with chairs and soft drink bottles thrown into the stadium. However, fear only set in among the players when they saw flames in the stands.
Iconic Australian cricket writer Ray Robinson, who witnessed the violence from the ICC press box, later wrote about the infamous incident in his book ‘The Wildest Tests’.
“A teeming mass of people threw their weight against the wire mesh barricade in front of the East Stand. As it swayed, Australians watched in alarm, ready to rush towards the clubhouse if it gave way.
“Collecting bottles, the officers threw them over the wire. As the bottles crashed onto the concrete, rains of shattered glass quickly drove the crowd away. Booths were cleared while the fires were put out “, he writes.
Despite the situation seemingly out of control, Australia captain Bill Lawry wanted to continue the game and India finished the day at 125 for nine.
Setting a small target of 64 runs on day five, Australia took a comprehensive victory from eight wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five-game series. The visitors won the series 3-1.
1986: Tie Test and the formidable finger of Vikram Raju
Madras’ iconic game is best known for the late Dean Jones’ double cent under “inhumane” conditions and referee V Vikramraju’s contentious call that effectively ended his career.
With India on track to chase 348, left-arm spinner Ray Bright got Australia back in the game with three wickets, leaving a well-placed Ravi Shastri and No. 11 Maninder Singh to get the final four runs.
India could only get three to tie the game as Greg Mathews, who finished with 10 wickets in the game, trapped Maninder in front of the stumps. Maninder was sure he hadn’t hit the ball but the referee had his call and only for the second time in Test history a game was tied. Vikramraju was never able to officiate in a test again.
Besides the sensational result of the match, Jones’ 210 in extremely hot weather ended up being the most scoring shot of his career. With the temperature hitting 40 degrees with 80 per cent humidity, the late Australian batsman kept batting for over eight hours to take his team to 574 for seven hours.
It is well documented that Jones fell very ill during the innings and eventually had to be taken to hospital as he was severely dehydrated. In fact, he threw up right in the middle of his sleeves.
“I don’t think they would play today under those conditions,” World Cup-winning captain Steve Waugh, who was part of the game, recalled in a chat with ABC years later.
“I would say they would claim it was harmful to your health. It was really ridiculous when you think about it. It was really so hot and so humid that you were going out and it was like walking into a furnace,” Waugh said.
2001: Harbhajan, Laxman and history
Steve Waugh’s Australia had won 16 Tests on the rebound before reaching India in 2001 to conquer the ‘last frontier’.
After a 10-wicket victory in the first Test, Australia were on course for a series victory, which could have been their first in India since 1969-70 before VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid forged a partnership for the ages.
After scoring 445 in their first innings which included a hat-trick from youngster Harbhajan Singh, Australia imposed the sequel by eliminating the hosts for 171.
At 232 for four in the second inning, the Indians needed a miracle and that was provided by Laxman and Dravid who amassed a stand of 376 to help their team to a mammoth 657 for seven.
(photo by AFP)
With an unlikely 384, Australia were folded for 212 with Harbhajan extending his match tally to 13 wickets. Laxman, Dravid and Harbhajan became game greats with their performances at the Gardens of Eden celebrated to this day.
The Australians in this formation were unhappy with Indian referee SK Bansal. In fact, before the last wicket fell, the late Tony Greig said on air: “Harbhaajaan is brought in from the end of umpire Bansal.”
2005: When Nagpur track gives a Gabba feel
Australia was finally able to capture the “final frontier” in the next set in India three years later under Adam Gilchrist.
Of the four tests in this series, Nagpur’s game is the most talked about and predictably so.
With Australia leading 1-0 after the win in Bangalore and a draw in Chennai, the visitors had a golden opportunity to take an unassailable lead in the series in Nagpur.
The curator left a lot of grass on the wicket much to the delight of skillful Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.
While former skipper Sourav Ganguly and spinner Harbhajan Singh pulled out due to injuries, there were a few senior players, who felt the skipper pulled out after the curator left a thick patch of grass on the alleged instructions of a senior official in the BCCI office who called the shots. at the state unit.
This was the time when Jagmohan Dalmiya was starting to lose his grip on BCCI and there were rumors that it was his anti group’s job to teach him a lesson by not giving Ganguly his choice of track.
Both Ganguly and Harbhajan sat out of this game and in his autobiography, opposition fly-half Matthew Hayden claimed that the nature of the pitch contributed to their sudden withdrawal from the game.
“The curator, a famous determined character with no love for the Indian hierarchy, ignored calls to raze the bridge and left a good cover of grass. It reminded me of Gabba (in Brisbane). Having that kind of wicket for The deciding Test of a series outdoors – particularly in India – was the most pleasant surprise imaginable,” Hayden wrote in “Standing My Ground.”
“When Ganguly and Harbhajan went to see the bridge a few days before the game, they looked like farmers inspecting crops after a hailstorm. We predicted neither would play, and they didn’t.
“Ganguly retired with a leg muscle injury that suddenly erupted, and Harbhajan had an even more sudden dose of food poisoning. We attributed their ailments to acute cases of ‘greentrackitis’,” added Hayden.
An angry Harbhajan after the publication of Hayden’s book had told PTI he believed the opener was smoking some kind of weed to make up such fake stories.
