What a day for
Indian Cricket fans .. .. only recently they were distraught – bowled out for a
paltry 36 .. .. and today they have bounced back.
India first played at Melbourne way back in Jan 1948 – it was a ‘8balls per over’ Six day Test which Australia won by a huge margin of 233 runs. Donald Bradman scored a century (132) in the first innings as Australia was all out for 394. Dattu Phadkar had the honour of claiming Bradman, while Lala Amarnath and Vinoo Mankad took 4 apiece. Lala Amarnath captained the side. Indians made 291 with NH Mankad making a century (116), Phadkar remained unbeaten on 55. In the second Aussies declared at 255/4 wth AR Morris and Donald Bradman making unbeaten centuries and sharing an unbroken partnership of 223 [Aussies were 32/4 at one stage]. Chasing a target of 359 Indians buckled and were shot out for 125. Now comes the news that the Third Test will be at Sydney only !
The threat of a COVID-19
outbreak in Greater Sydney will consume health authorities in the coming days,
as the number of mystery cases outside the northern beaches multiplies and
testing rates nosedive. Three new
unlinked cases have been detected in Greater Sydney: one in the inner west, one
in northern Sydney and another in a Wollongong resident who had visited the
Sydney CBD. The new infections bring the number of mystery cases outside the northern beaches to seven, flaming fears that
the virus could again be spreading by stealth in pockets of the city. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there
"will be relief" for people in the lower northern beaches on January
3, foreshadowing an announcement on January 2.
Back to the
Cricket arena at Melbourne – ‘defeat is the strongest motivator’ !, while
victory takes off that finest edge that divides the teams. The sting of loss
hones the concentration like nothing else. Complacency has no cure, and no
matter what they say, to have dismissed an opponent for 36 runs engenders
whatever tiny percentage of complacency it is that makes the difference.
This morning, India pulled
off one of their greatest Test wins, chasing down Australia’s fourth-innings
target of 70 to secure victory by eight wickets at the MCG. After being skittled for a record-low of 36
in Adelaide 10 days ago, without star captain Virat Kohli, and injuries to key bowlers, India levelled
the series at one-all to become the first touring side to win consecutive
Boxing Day Tests in Melbourne since England in 1982 and 1986.
This
morning, stayed away from social media apprehending too many memes of
comparisons back to that ‘36’ as India suffered some anxious moments in the
tiny chase, falling to 19-2, but debutant opener Shubman Gill (35 not out) and
stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane (27 not out) guided them home in the 16th over. A few
authentic boundaries by Shubman Gill, and solid performance by Rahane, took
them home comfortably. Led superbly by Rahane, who made a courageous 112 in the
first innings, India controlled the contest from day one when they rolled
Australia for 195. While Rahane’s 12th Test century – which Indian legend Sunil
Gavaskar hailed as one of the most important innings in the country’s history –
was vital, it was the bowlers who set the game up. India could have slumped when veteran quick
Umesh Yadav hobbled off with a lower-leg injury, shortly after dismissing
out-of-form opener Joe Burns for four to follow the Australian’s first-innings
duck. But Jasprit Bumrah
and pace debutant Mohammed Siraj stepped up with spinners Ravi Ashwin and
Ravindra Jadeja to never relent against the brittle Australian top-order. The
load was shared between the front-line attack in both innings, with Bumrah (six
wickets), Ashwin (five) and Siraj (five) dominating.
The
scorecard reflects the grand performance :
India 326 (Rahane 112, Jadeja 57, Lyon 3-72, Starc 3-78) and 70 for 2
beat Australia 195 (Bumrah 4-56) and 200 (Green 45, Siraj 3-37) by eight
wickets
Australia have been fined
40% of their match fee and docked four World Test Championship points for
maintaining a slow over-rate against India in the Boxing Day Test at MCG. David
Boon, the match referee, imposed the sanction after Australia were ruled to be
two overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into
consideration. Ajinkya Rahane, Jasprit
Bumrah and Ravi Ashwin, are world class in any conditions, and debutant
Mohammed Siraj was able to cover not only for the absent Mohammed Shami but, in
Australia’s second innings, also for the injured Umesh Yadav. India needed only
three bowlers to dismiss Australia for 200 on a good pitch; the thrashing in
Melbourne was even more comprehensive than it looked- and another debutant
played some delicious shots.
Captain Tim Paine pleaded
guilty to a charge that the Australians were two overs behind the rate once
allowances had been taken into account. Australian players have been fined 40
per cent of their respective match fees and the Aussies have been docked four
points in the World Test Championship. Teams
are penalised 20 per cent of their match fee and two WTC points for every over
they are deemed to be short. The
four-point deduction is unlikely to have a huge impact on Australia's hopes of
making the WTC final given they and India are well ahead in the standings. The ICC said that on-field umpires Bruce
Oxenford and Paul Reiffel, third umpire Paul Wilson and fourth umpire Gerard
Abood, levelled the charge, with match referee David Boon imposing the sanction
on his 60th birthday.
Australia's sports media has reacted coldly to its cricket side's second consecutive Boxing Day Test loss to India. Cricket legend Shane Warne has outlined two major changes for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar series after Australia was defeated by India in the Boxing Day clash. Joe Burns’ spot in the Australian side is under severe pressure after his early exit on day three, while Shane Warne believes there should also be change in the middle order.
Of our two
wins at Melbourne, the latest one came in Feb 1981 – a Test which was almost
sparred by ‘smoke was coming out of my ears and I heard nothing’ comment of
Sunil Gavaskar. In Test No. 895,
Indians led by Gavaskar, made 237 with a brilliant 114 by Gundappa
Vishwanath. Dennis Lillee scalped 4, Len Pascoe took 3. Aussies made a massive 416. India had the best opening partnership of 165
when Gavaskar was adjudged LBW to Lillee when he had nicked it on to his
pads. Chauhan went on to make 85 and
Indians made 324 – a target of 143 looked simple and Kapil was not fit to bowl
with a strained thigh muscle.
But in the dramatic last
session Aussie lost 3 wickets for 24.
Ghavri removed Jack Dyson; Wood was out to Doshi and Greg Chappen was
out bowled by Ghavri for a first ball duck.
The next morning Kapil dev fired them out with
figures of 5 for 28 bundling them out for 83 – one of the great movements in
Indian Cricket. The first win in Dec 1977/ Jan 1978 was different. It was a great series in which all the 5
matches produced results. Indians were
led by Bishan Singh Bedi; Australians brought back Bobby Simpson as some key
players had joined Kerry Packer and were unavailable for National side. Aussies secured an early 2-0 lead and the 3rd
Test (Test No. 812) was at Melbourne. Jeff
Thomson was at his furious best and Indians straightaway were off to the worst
imaginable start losing both the openers without a single run on board. Mohinder, Vishwanath, Vengsarkar and Ashok
Mankad took the score to 256. Craig
Serjeant made 85, while rest Dyson, Coiser, Ogilvie, Simson, Toohey, Rixon went
out cheaply and were bowled out for 213.
Chandrasekhar took 6 for 52. In the second India made an imposing 343 with
Gavaskar making 118. Set an improbable
387, Aussies mustered only 164 giving Indians their first win – a big one at
that. Chandra was the hero with another
identical 6 for 52. The accomplishment
of the first win in 12 tests in Australian soil was outrightly due to Chandra’s
magical figures of 12 for 104 in the match.
Those days,
an half hour capsule called ‘highlights’ would be telecast few days after the
match in the night time and we clamoured seeing the Indians performance on TV –
when ‘the slow-motion’ of the action – delivery, catch, run out etc., caught
the attention of everybody and were the
most talked about events. Only
few households had TV sets and people would crowd in those houses to watch
those half an hour capsules………
Some strange
statistics - 1887 - was when a visiting team's spinners last averaged better in
Australia. India's spinners figures for this series so far read 13 wickets at
an average of 16.92…. and Ravichandran Ashwin stands tall
29.12.2020.
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