History at Perth - what a WIN ?!?!??

 

A historic win at Perth on day 4 !  - the victory tastes much sweeter to the generation that has been watching Test Cricket since mid 1970s.  In 70s & 80s, Test matches would often end in dull dreary draws and India would lose many a matches.  Victories were rare and a win overseas was rarer still !!

 

Vividly remember  Test No. 752  in Jan 1975 –  those days, I would follow Cricket (in newspapers),  I would write the scores in a diary and update them next day.. .. Chepauk those days was spacious – the B & C stands had no chairs;  spectators used to carry bedsheets along squatting on the huge concrete steps much earlier before the game started.  The stadium had huge pillars, round in shape – so huge that perhaps it would require four persons holding hands to round them.  They were the  impediments too as they would hide the view on some angles from the place one sat.    

At a time when we started following, Indian Cricket was not on a high ! – the batting was too frail and there was no pace !! -  by mid 1960s started Indian spin revolution – the spin quartet led the way with a few famous wins.  The attack was so much spin oriented that sometimes bowlers like Solkar, Gavaskar – would bowl a couple of overs, the ball would be rolled from thirdman – then with a beaming smile the Sardar and his partners  would start his assassinations. 

Today at Perth, it was top class Team performance lead by debutant Captain Jasprit Bumrah.    Felt so happy, when a debutant Harshit Rana wrapped it up  Beautifully disguised delivery to Alex Carey, who defends with feet going nowhere. It's the slower offcutter from round the wicket, and it pegs back off stump after turning past the left-hander's outside edge. India have pulled off several memorable wins over their Test-match history: some of them overseas, some after being written off, some after stirring comebacks from desperate positions, some with key players missing.   

This one has all the ingredients of the greatest win – the big margin, team composition changing due to injuries and drop-outs, unlikely X1 of 4 pacers with two of them being debutants, at Overseas when everyone wrote them off, coming as it did after a white wash at home handed by New Zealand.  .. .. more so, winning the top, bowled out for 150 and Critics braying that match would not lost 3 full days – now look at the margin, it would never sink in !!     

The Score card :  India 150 (Hazlewood 4-29) and 487 for 6 dec (Jaiswal 161, Kohli 100*, Rahul 77) beat Australia 104 (Bumrah 5-30) and 238 (Head 89, Bumrah 3-42, Siraj 3-51) by 295 runs. Completing a remarkable turnaround, India wrapped up a famous Test victory at Optus Stadium with a 295-run victory over Australia in a one-sided result set to cause aftershocks in the latest tussle for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

Though the target was to humongous  and Aussies had lost 3 wickets yesterday itself, still one nursed some apprehensions not exactly on the result but when and how it would unfold.  Despite   counterattacking knocks from Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh, the formalities were completed and India is home quite comfortably and by a huge margin.  Indeed a very memorable performance. Captain Jasprit Bumrah  claimed eight wickets in  the match, while Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli produced outstanding centuries in India's second innings to decimate a flagging Australia. India had largely been written off after an unprecedented 3-0 home whitewash against New Zealand. They entered the series-opener without having played an official match on tour and were shorthanded without captain Rohit Sharma and injured batter Shubman Gill. Under intense pressure, coach Gautam Gambhir made the right moves and the brave selection calls, which included veteran spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being left out, were vindicated. 

There is set to be recriminations for Australia, who underwhelmed in their first Test since March's New Zealand tour. There will be questions raised over the limited preparations of a number of players. Having started so well on the opening day, Australia's bowling wilted in India's second innings with captain Pat Cummins enduring a rare off match. Cummins had not played a red-ball match since March, preferring his series build-up through three 50-over games in the lead-up, and he finished with the modest match figures of 3 for 153 from 40.4 overs. Australia appeared flummoxed with the changing conditions of the pitch. 

This morning resuming at 12 for 3, after a disastrous start amid the shadows late on day three, Australia confronted an India attack eyeing to finish things off quickly. Usman Khawaja fell off the first short ball of the day's play when he top-edged quick Mohammed Siraj and was caught by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant running back.  Smith was hit on the body couple of times from quickie Harshit Rana and he later   nicked off a superb back of a length delivery from a pumped-up Siraj.  Head was hitting his way out of trouble and marching towards a century when Bumrah came back to produce a superb delivery that took the edge.  Marsh was soon out to   allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who capped an impressive debut with his first Test wicket. Mitchell Starc was sharply held at short leg by Dhruv Jurel,  giving Washington Sundar his first wicket of the match, and it wasn't long before India claimed a victory they will saviour for some time as the pressure starts to intensify on Australia. 

In mid 1970s West Indies was formidable -  Clive Lloyd always had battery of pace bowlers. Gordon Greenidge made his debut in Nov 1974 at Bengaluru scoring well in his first test which WI won by 267 runs.  In the next test at Delhi, when Venkatraghavan was the captain,  King Viv Richards  who had debuted at Bangalore, flourished.  After two bad losses, india bounced back to win   Calcutta  …the  two debutants– Anshuman Gaekwad and Karsan Devraj Ghavri …. went on the play longer.  It was one of those Tests when India had two fast bowlers opening the attack – Madanlal and Ghavri. Ghavri in fact bowled 14 overs and took 2 wickets in that match…. 

In the next match at Chepauk, [Pongal Test Jan 1975]  little Master Gundappa Vishnawath showed class on a green top against quality Andy Roberts.  Gavaskar was not available – Farokh Engineer opened with Eknath Solkar and soon it was   41 for four with Bernard Julian taking 2; as Roberts rested, the fifth-wicket pair – Vishy & Mankad  raised the score to 74. Roberts made short work of Mankad and Madan Lal on resumption and India were reduced to 76 for six. At this point Viswanath was only 19, having batted for one and three-quarter hours.  When Indians were all out in 58.2 overs shortly after Tea, Vishy had  made 97 (unbeaten) studded  with fourteen 4s.  WI were bowled out for 192 with Prasanna taking 5 and Bedi 3. In the second India made 256 with Vishy 46, Gaekwad 80 and Ghavri 35. Needing 255 to win, West Indies soon got into trouble. Clive Lloyd stumped by Farokh Engineer off Erapalli Prasanna was the picture that flashed in newspapers the next day.

 

An Indian win always makes up happy and this would be savoured for many many more years to come.  Well played Team India – remarkably Jasprit Bumrah, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and others.

 

Regards – S Sampathkumar
25.11.2024