Australia vs India Test series: 5 engaging matches between two powerhouses Down Under

India will take on Australia in a four-Test series starting December 17. This is the 13th time that the subcontinental giants will be touring Down Under for a Test series and the first time the two top sides will lock horns in the ICC World Test Championship. India have so far won only one Test series against Australia in their den and it came during their previous visit (2018-19). The Kangaroos have won eight series while on three occasions, the series ended in draws.

The Test rivalry between India and Australia has always been engaging. They have faced each other in the red-ball format 98 times since the first meeting in 1947-48 with Australia having a 42-28 advantage. One game has been tied while 27 remained inconclusive. In Australia, however, India have managed to register only seven wins out of 48 games while the hosts have won 29 and 12 games have been drawn.

Can Virat Kohli’s men continue their form of 2018-19 and especially after the regular captain skips the last three Tests of the four-match series to attend his paternal responsibilities.

Here we take a look at some of the most engaging Test matches that Australia and India have played Down Under over the years:

1. Brisbane, January 1968, third Test, Australia won by 39 runs:

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi’s India were humiliated in the first two Test matches in the four-game series and needed a win to keep the hopes of a draw alive. Pataudi won the toss and sent the hosts to bat first. Bill Lawry’s men continued with their good show with the bat. The top order clicked with Lawry himself making 64. Dough Walters top-scored for the Aussies with 93 at No.6 and Australia eventually scored 379 in their first innings.

Rusi Surti was the top wicket-taker for India with three wickets while Umesh Kulkarni, Erapalli Prasanna and Bapu Nadkarni claimed two wickets apiece. India lost three quick wickets but a couple of 70s from Pataudi and M Jaisimha, 52 from Surti from 24 from Prasanna helped the visitors’ fightback.

India still conceded a 100-run lead as they got bowled out for 279 with Eric Freeman and Bob Cowper claiming two wickets each. The Australians came back strong with the bat in the second essay as well with Ian Redpath scoring 79 and Walters following up with 93 in the first innings with a 62 in the second. They could have put India under a mountain of runs had Prasanna not pulled things back with a six-for.

From a comfortable position of 4 for 240, Australia were all out for 294, taking an overall lead of 394. The target looked far too daunting for the visitors on quick Australian wickets but the Indian middle-order came together to make a real fight out of it.

Three wickets tumbled fast again (with 61 on board) and hopes were fading fast. But Surti (64), Pataudi (48) and Chandu Borde (63) decided to meet fire with fire and they were led by Jaisimha who slammed 101 — his only hundred outside India in Tests.

Jaisimha’s marathon knock that took 291 deliveries kept India in the hunt of the target and when he fell as the final Indian wicket on the fifth day of the match, the visitors were just 40 runs short of the target. For Australia, spinner Cowper took four wickets while John Gleeson took three. With this defeat, India lost the series but put up a valiant fight before losing. India went on to lose the series 0-4.

2. Perth, December 1977, second Test, Australia won by 2 wickets

This series was India’s most notable performance in Australia till the ones in 2003-04 and 2018-19. The Asians were led by Bishan Singh Bedi, who was part of that 1967-68 loss, while Australia were under the captaincy of Bob Simpson, who came out of retirement to lead his country at the age of 40-plus. Australia won the first match of the five-Test series in Brisbane by just 16 runs and India needed to win the second to keep the series competitive.

Bedi won the toss and decided to bat first at WACA, Perth. Opener Chetan Chauhan blasted 88 while Mohinder Amarnath made 90 at No.3 and these two top knocks, backed by some 40s and 30s down the order saw the visitors totalling over 400. Jeff Thomson claimed four scalps while one-series wonder Sam Gannon took three. Australia came up with a great reply despite losing some early wickets.

Simpson led their batting effort with 176, his highest Test score against India, while opener John Dyson and Steve Rixon made 50s to take their side close to the Indian total. Australia were all out for 394, conceding a slender lead of eight runs. Just like his opposite number’s superb form with the bat in the series, Bedi continued to deliver with the ball to take yet another fifer in the series for 89 runs.

India then came up with a powerful batting performance in their second essay with Sunil Gavaskar (his second in the series) and Amarnath slamming hundreds. India were placed at 1 for 240, giving their supporters enough hope of a first-ever win Down Under. But Gannon (4 for 77) and Wayne Clark (2 for 83) triggered a collapse in the Indian innings and after Madan Lal fell as the ninth wicket with the team score at 330, Bedi chose to declare, setting the hosts a target of 339.

The hosts lost a couple of quick wickets but nightwatchman Tony Mann’s 105, his only international ton, kept the chase on track. Peter Toohey’s 83 and David Ogilvie’s 47 gave Mann the assistance he needed and Simpson, who came down at No.6 in the second essay, made a crucial 39 to ensure that Australia never lost sight of the target.

The 100-run partnership between Toohey and Simpson for the fifth wicket did the trick for the home side and after the captain’s exit, Toohey continued and got out when his team needed only nine. Bedi bowled his heart out to claim another fifer in the second innings but could not prevent Australia from running away with a two-wicket win. India, however, pulled two back to make the series 2-2 before losing the final match to squander the series.

3. Melbourne, February 1981, third Test, India won by 59 runs

This is known as Kapil Dev’s Test. After losing the first match of the series by a massive margin, India somehow managed to draw the second and it came down to the third and final game in Melbourne. Greg Chappell won the toss and sent Gavaskar’s team to bat first. India lost half their side for only 99, thanks to some fiery bowling from Dennis Lillee and Len Pascoe and it was Gundappa Viswanath who stood tall among the ruins to help India go past 200.

A little resistance from Sandeep Patil, Syed Kirmani and Shivlal Yadav saw India ending at 237 with Lillee taking four and Pascoe three. The Australians came up with a big reply with a young Allan Border hitting a ton. Chappell (76), Walters (78) and Rod Marsh (45) made their own contributions to help the hosts secure a 182-run lead. Dilip Doshi was the most successful Indian bowler with three wickets in his kitty while Karsan Ghavri, Yadav and Patil took two each.

India then came out with a solid second inning with all of their top five batters getting runs. Gavaskar (70) and Chauhan (85) put 165 runs for the opening wicket to ensure the big lead was nullified and when Viswanath fell for 30, the visitors were 3 for 243. They would have loved to extend the lead but the Aussie bowling led by Lillee (4 wickets), Pascoe and Bruce Yardley (2 wickets each) restricted India to 324 with Yadav not coming out to bat.

India had more bad news in the injuries of Kapil and Doshi and that gave indications that the target of 143 will be a cakewalk for the Australians, even if the pitch was not behaving at its best. But Australia lost three wickets early and were 24 for 3 at stumps on Day 4, giving India the sense of an opportunity to return unbeaten from a Test series in Australia for the first time ever.

Ghavri and Patil opened the Indian bowling and with Australia losing three quick wickets, Kapil could not rest inside the pavilion on the final day. The man was in great pain but took pain-killers to come out to bowl the next day and claimed five of the last six Australian wickets that tumbled in a hurry. The hosts could add only 59 to their overnight score of 24 to get skittled out for 83 — their lowest-ever total at home against India. Kapil took 5 for 28 and India drew the series 1-1.

4. Adelaide, December 2003, second Test, India won by 4 wickets

India toured Down Under under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, who set the tone in the drawn first Test in Brisbane with a brilliant 144. The two teams then met for the second match in Adelaide and the visitors did not settle for anything less than history. Steve Waugh won the toss and elected to bat. The hosts came up with a ruthless batting performance led by Ricky Ponting who hit 242.

Simon Katich made 75, Justin Langer 58 and Jason Gillespie also hit 48 not out down the order to help Australia total a massive 556 in their first innings. Anil Kumble picked five wickets for 154 runs by bowling 43 of the 127 overs that Australia batted. India then came out with an equally strong reply with their No.3 batsman Rahul Dravid returning Ponting the favour by slamming 233 — the highest individual score by an Indian in Australia at that point of time and bettered by Sachin Tendulkar a couple of Tests later.

He was given company by VVS Laxman who made a brilliant 148 and the duo added 303 runs for the fifth wicket after a middle-order collapse, reminding the fans of their famous exploits at the Eden Gardens two years ago. Andy Bichel was the most successful of the Aussie bowlers with 4 for 118 as India stopped just 33 runs short of the opponents’ total.

The hosts were looking to bat India out of the game with another solid show in their second innings but Ajit Agarkar had other plans. The Indian spearhead produced his only fifer in Tests (6 for 41) with Tendulkar chipping in with two key Australian wickets of Damien Martyn and Steve Waugh. Australia were bowled out for only 196 in just over 56 overs on Day 4, setting India a reasonable target of 230 in a day and a half.

Openers Aakash Chopra and Virender Sehwag gave the tourists a good foundation by putting up 48 runs and then it was again ‘The Wall’ who came to the party. Dravid stood like a rock with 72 not out off 170 balls to ensure India never lost sight of the target even as wickets fell at the other end.

On the final day, Ganguly’s men created history by winning the game by 4 wickets as it was the first-ever time that India took a lead against Australia in a Test series Down Under. Stuart McGill and Katich took a couple of wickets but it was not enough for Steve Waugh, playing in his final series, to stop the determined Indians.

5. Adelaide, December 2018, first Test, India won by 31 runs

This has been India’s best tour of Australia in history and it was the win in the first Test in Adelaide that set up the momentum for the visitors. Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. The Australian fast bowlers triggered a collapse in India’s top order and half of the side was back into the hut for only 86. But just like it was Dravid 15 years ago, another No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara held together the innings.

He made a well-crafted 123 and with some support from Rishabh Pant (25) and Ravichandran Ashwin (25), helped the Indian score to reach 250. Josh Hazlewood took three wickets while Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon claimed two apiece. India’s bowlers then came out determined to defend the modest total and restricted the hosts to 235 with the pacers and spinner in Ashwin making rich exploits.

Pacers Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami shared seven wickets between them while Ashwin took three to help India secure a lead of 15 runs. Travis Head was the only Australian batsman to score a half-century (72). India could have found themselves in a spot if they had slipped in the second innings like they did in the first but Kohli’s men ensured that they did not.

Pujara was again the star of the show with a solid 71 and he found worthy partners in Ajinkya Rahane (70), KL Rahul (44), Kohli (34) and Pant (28). The visitors were bowled out for 307 in their second essay, a score that would make them less than pleased since India were once placed at 3 for 234. Lyon took 6 for 122 to be the most successful Australian bowler.

The Kangaroos needed to score 323 to win the Test but the Indian bowlers acted in unison to stop them from achieving the target. Shaun Marsh top-scored with 60 while skipper Tim Paine made 41 but there were a lot of Aussie batters who could not convert their 20s and 30s into a big knock. Lyon produced a fighting knock of 38 not out at No.10 but his 32-run partnership with Hazlewood wasn’t enough. Australia folded for 291 to give India a 31-run win, their narrowest loss to the Asian opponents at home.