INDIA'S REVIEW OF PREVIOUS TEST SERIES IN AUSTRALIA by Arshad Chughtai

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Event:

India in Australia 2007/08

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DateLine: 29th December 2007

 

The first test match between touring Indian team and Australia starts from Boxing Day, 26th December 2007 at Melbourne. The Indian team has potential to perform strongly in the forth coming series particularly after their recent victory in both one day and test series against Pakistan. India however has never clinched a Test series in Australia since their maiden visit in 1947-48, infact they have just won four of their 32 Tests Down under. But inview of their consistent impressive recent away record-beating West Indies in 2006 and then England in 2007 it is expected that Kumble's team could defy history this time.

 

India drew a four Test series 1-1 on their last tour of Australia in 2003-04 under Sourav Ganguly. The exciting series could be claimed so far as one of the best for Indians in Australia where Indians held the upper hand and had come pretty close to win the series when Aussies captain Steve Waugh scored (80) a fighting knock in his farewell test to help Australia save the fourth and final test at Sydney to draw the series. Below is a brief review of the 2003-04 series:

 

1st Test Brisbane, 4-8 December 2003- Result :Drawn
Summary Test match ended in a draw after 185 overs were lost to rain over the first three days. Earlier India (409) earned a lead of 86 runs on the first innings, skipper Sourav Ganguly (144) scored his first hundred against Australia. Put into bat the home team had scored 323 and Justin Langer (121) made his 16th hundred in Test Cricket. Australia collected 284 for 3 in 62 overs in the second innings and then set India 199 to win in a minimum of 23 overs. Matthew Hayden scored 99, Ricky Pointing 50, DR Martyn (66) and Steve Waugh (57) remained unbeaten. India were 73 for 2 when the match was called off seven overs early. Zaheer Khan bowled splendidly to claim 5 for 95 in Australia's first innings and MacGill and Gillespie accounted for 4 wickets each in India's first innings. Sourav Ganguly was man of the match.

 

2nd Test : Adelaide Oval , 12-16 December 2003. Result: India won by 4 wickets.
Summary: Steve Waugh won the toss and Australia amassed 556 with a double century (242) by Ricky Pointing. Present Indian Skipper Anil Kumble claimed 5 for 154 off 43 overs. India in reply had collapsed at one stage being 85 for 4 but latter Rahul Dravid (233) and Vangipurrapu Laxman (148) not only retrieved the situation but lead India a strong fight back enabling them to reach 523. The two shared record 303 runs partnership. Inspired by Dravid's performance the Indian seamer Ajit Agarkar captured career best test figures of 6 for 41 as Australia collapsed to 196 all out in the second innings on fourth day. Set 230 for victory the Indians reached the target after tea on the final day. Man of the match Rahul Dravid once again batted solidly with an unbeaten 72. India won by 6 wickets to lead the series 1-0 until that stage.

 

3rd Test Match- Melbourne, December 26-30 Result: Australia won by 9 wickets
Summary: Ricky Ponting scored a career best 257 and then 31 not out to guide Australia to a nine wicket victory as Australia levelled the four match series one-all. Electing to bat India compiled a respectable total of 366, Virendar Sehwag smashing magnificent 195. Ricky Ponting (257) and Matthew Hayden (136) put on 234 for the second wicket in 227 minutes which demoralized Indian bowlers on a flat MCG wicket, Australia finally succeeded to pile up a mammoth score of 558. later pace man Brad William grabbed 4 for 53 in India's second innings (292), only Rahul Dravid (92) and Sourav Ganguly (73) offered resistance. Set 95 to win Australia reached 97 for one to end the match 21 minutes before lunch on the fifth day.

 

Fourth Test: Sydney 2-6 January 2004 Result: Drawn
Summary: India scored their highest ever total in Test cricket - 705 for 7 declared, featuring an unbeaten 241 from master batsman Sachin Tendulkar, and an equally superb knock of 178 by VVS Laxman. The two paired for a 353 runs stand and a set a new record for the highest partnership by a visiting team in Australia. Australia were facing a desperate battle to avoid their first series loss at home in over a decade and needed at least 506 runs to avoid the follow-on but slumped to 342 for 6 by the end of third day. On the fourth day they added 132 more runs yet remained 32 runs short of the target India did not enforce the follow-on, Sourav Ganguly declared their second innings at 211-2 with Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar remaining unbeaten on 91 and 60 respectively. Set 443 to win Australia appeared to be in danger of losing after Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn all were dismissed before tea on the final day. To save the match Steve Waugh played a heroic rescue knock and defied all most 3 hours and shared a fifth wicket partnership with Simmon Katich (125) to deny India their first series win in Australia and certainly Australia narrowly escaped.

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
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