Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Encyclopedia
The Border–Gavaskar Trophy is a Test cricket
series, played between India
and Australia
. It has witnessed some of the most competitive Test series played in recent years, with results usually either being a narrow win for one of the sides or a closely fought draw. It is currently played via the International Cricket Council
's future tours program, with varying lengths of time between matches. If the series is drawn, then the country holding the trophy retains it.
The series is named after Australian cricketer Allan Border
and Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar
, who both scored over 10,000 test runs in their career and captained their respective teams. The first Border–Gavaskar Trophy series was played for in the 1996–1997 season and was won by India 1–0. Since then, the trophy has alternated between teams. Australia's failure to win the Border–Gavaskar Trophy in India led to Steve Waugh
dubbing the Indian tour as the "Final Frontier" for the Australian team. In 2004–2005, Australia defeated India 2–1 in India. Australia's usual captain, Ricky Ponting, did not play in the winning matches due to injury and Adam Gilchrist instead captained the winning sides. In the 2007–2008 season, the Border Gavaskar trophy was played in Australia, with Australia retaining the trophy by winning the first two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney against India winning one as part of the four Test series. In the 2008–2009 edition, India defeated Australia 2–0 in a four match series in India to regain the trophy. In the latest edition played in 2010 India retained the trophy by winning the two match series 2–0. The series is sometimes accompanied by One Day Internationals; these are not considered part of the trophy.
The competitiveness of series played under the trophy is illustrated by the evenness of the wins between the two sides.
and ABC Radio
in Australia, ESPN Star Sports
in India.
Matches played in India: Nimbus Sports in India, Fox Sports
and ABC Radio
in Australia.
first series as captain. The series consisted of just one match, played at the Feroz Shah Kotla
ground in Delhi
.
The match, played from 10 October to 14 October 1996, lasted just over four days, as India defeated Australia by seven wickets. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. But the Indian spinners
, led by Anil Kumble
, bowled them out for 182. Michael Slater
top scored with 44 runs
. In reply India scored 361, riding on Nayan Mongia's
career best 152. In Australia's second innings, Steve Waugh
scored 67 to get his team to 234. This left India with 56 to get in the fourth innings, which they did for the loss of three wickets.
Full scorecard – http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1996-97/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IND_T_10-13OCT1996.html
Mongia was adjuged man of the match
.
The Australian cricket team toured India in February–March 1998. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IN_IND_FEB-APR1998_SCHEDULE.html
The tour started on a sour note as Australia lost a practice match to Ranji Trophy
champions Mumbai
with Sachin Tendulkar scoring a fast double hundred and Mumbai's spin bowlers picking up fourteen of the eighteen Australian wickets that fell. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_BOM_24-26FEB1998.html
The first test (played from 6 March to 10 March) started at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
in Chennai
. India, having won the toss, elected to bat and with solid contributions from Nayan Mongia
, Navjot Sidhu and Rahul Dravid
, posted 257. Shane Warne
and Gavin Robertson
took four wickets each. In reply Australia were struggling at 6-137, but fighting fifties from Ian Healy
(90) and Robertson (57) took Australia to 328 and a first innings lead.
In the second innings, fifties from Sidhu and Dravid took India to 2-115, but the highlight of the innings was Sachin Tendulkar
who scored 155 of only 191 deliveries, including a particularly savage assault on Shane Warne. He and Mohammed Azharuddin (64) took India to 418 in just 107 overs. The Aussies, faced with a target of 348 runs to win, crumbled as the spin trio of Kumble
, Raju
and Chauhan
took nine wickets. India won by 179 runs.http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IND_T1_06-10MAR1998.html
The second test was played from 18 March to 22 March at the Eden Gardens
in Kolkata
. Australia won the toss, elected to bat and were soon struggling at 4-29. But Ricky Ponting
and Steve Waugh
scored fifties, and some late order contributions carried Australia to 233. The Indian innings that followed ensured that they would not lose the game, as all the top six batsmen crossed fifty. Azharuddin played a captain's knock, staying unbeaten on 163 as India posted an enormous 633-5 declared. Facing a task of scoring 400 runs to make India bat again, Australia lost wickets at regular intervals and managed to score just 181 runs. Anil Kumble took five wickets in the second innings, but Javagal Srinath
was the man of the match for his six wicket haul. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IND_T2_18-22MAR1998.html
The third test was played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
, Bangalore
, from 25 March to 29 March. India won the toss and elected to bat first. Tendulkar scored 177 to notch up his second hundred of the series as India scored 424 in their first innings. Australia posted a score of 400 through Slater (91) and Mark Waugh
(153*), while Kumble took six wickets for India.
Starting with a lead of 24, India never really settled into a partnership, as wickets fell at regular intervals, and finally collapsed at the end with 5 wickets falling for just 25 runs. Scoring just 169, India set Australia a fourth innings target of 194 runs to get. This was achieved with relative ease, as captain Mark Taylor
scored an unbeaten 102 and in company of first innings hero Mark Waugh, guided the Aussies home. Michael Kasprowicz
was man of the match for his five wickets in the second innings.cricinfo.com
Sachin Tendulkar was adjudged the man of the series for scoring 446 runs in 3 matches, while Anil Kumble picked up 23 wickets.
Full scorecards – http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IN_IND_FEB-APR1998_RESULTS-SUMMARY.html
At the end of the tour, Shane Warne famously said that he would be having nightmares of Tendulkar hitting him for sixes and that only Bradman was in his class. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/sachin/story.htm
was the captain of India, while Steve Waugh
led the Australian team.
India lost the first practice match against Queensland
by 10 wickets, while winning the second match against New South Wales
by 93 runs.
The first Test match was played at the Adelaide Oval
from 10 December to 14 December. Australia won the toss (cricket) and elected to bat first. Australia were reduced to 4-52 in the first session before Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting
scored hundreds to take them near 300. Shane Warne scored 86 low down the order to take Australia to 441. India started their second innings on the second day, but lost both openers quickly and were reduced to 2-9. Rahul Dravid
and VVS Laxman did well to steady the innings, but both were dismissed before they could go on to big scores. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly
were both unbeaten on 12 as India ended the second day at 4-123. On the third day, Tendulkar and Ganguly went on to score fifties, but the lower order failed to put up serious resistance, and India were bowled out for 285.
Australia declared on 239 for the loss of eight wickets in the second innings, riding on the backs of Greg Blewett
's 88 and Adam Gilchrist
's quick 43. India needed 396 to win in the last innings and never looked to make match of it, as they collapsed to 110 in just 39 overs. Australia won by 285 runs and Steve Waugh was Man of the Match for his 150 in the first innings. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T1_10-14DEC1999.html
The second test was the Boxing Day Test
played at Melbourne. Australia won the toss and chose to bat. The first two wickets fell quickly and Australia were 2-28, but Michael Slater
and Mark Waugh
took them past 120, before Waugh fell. The rest of the Australian middle order also contributed, notably Ponting and Gilchrist, and Australia reached 405. The Indian openers failed to see off even the first ten overs and India were 2-11. The rest of the batting followed suit, only Sachin Tendulkar standing amongst the ruins as India were dismissed for 238. Sachin Tendulkar scored 116.
Australia started the second innings with a lead of 167, and went for quick runs. Gilchrist, promoted up the order, and Mark Waugh both scored fifties and Australia declared their innings closed at 5-208. India required 376 runs to win in the last innings and were never in the hunt, as wickets fell at regular intervals. Sachin Tendulkar was the only player to cross fifty as India was bowled out for 195. Australia won by 180 runs and Sachin Tendulkar was declared as Man of the Match. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T2_26-30DEC1999.html
The third and last test was the New Year's test, played at Sydney. Sachin Tendulkar won the toss for India and elected to bat first. Only 60 overs were bowled on the first day, but India had collapsed to 8-121 at the end. Sachin Tendulkar(45) was the only batsman to cross forty. The Indian innings folded quickly on the second day for 150. Australia started badly, going to 1-9 and later to 2-49 before Justin Langer
and Ricky Ponting, who scored 223 and 141* respectively, took them past 450. An unbeaten cameo of 45 from Gilchrist took them to 5-552, and Australia declared their innings closed.
India needed to cross 400 runs in the second innings just to make Australia bat again, which they had not scored even once in the entire series. But VVS Laxman seemed to have found the form that had eluded him the entire series. The complete range of cricket strokes was on display as Laxman flew to 167 in just 198 balls, being particularly savage on Brett Lee (taking 52 runs off 5 overs at one point) and Shane Warne. The rest of the Indian batting, however, could not stand up to the accuracy of Glen McGrath as he took five wickets to go with the fifer in the first innings. He was declared Man of the Match, as Australia won comprehensively by an innings and 141 runs.http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T3_02-06JAN2000.html
Sachin Tendulkar was Man of the Series.
The 2000–01 series was the most intense so far, and considered by many fans to be one of cricket's all-time classic confrontations, played over three gruelling Tests.
The First Test was played in Mumbai
on 27 February-1 March 2001. The game was over in only three days as Australia dominated from the beginning, putting India in to bat and then dismissing them for only 176 runs. Glenn McGrath
took 3-19 and Shane Warne
4-47, Sachin Tendulkar
top scoring for India with 76. Australia responded with 349 on the backs of centuries by Matthew Hayden
(119) and Adam Gilchrist
(122). Harbhajan Singh
took 4-121. India's second innings was barely better than their first, Tendulkar again top scoring with 65 in a total of 219. Needing only 47 runs to win, Australia's openers knocked them off in 7 overs, taking Australia to a 10 wicket victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.
The Second Test at Eden Gardens
in Kolkata
on 11 March-15 March is regarded by many as without doubt one of the most exciting games of cricket ever played, although it began with Australia electing to bat and scoring 445, captain Steve Waugh
contributing 110. Harbhajan Singh took 7-123, including a hat-trick
. India's woes continued, being dismissed for only 171, with McGrath taking 4-18 in a brilliant bowling performance. Australia enforced the follow-on, and at the end of day 3 India were 254/4, still 20 runs behind forcing Australia to bat again. For many spectators, commentators, and even players, the match and the series were as good as lost for India.
The fourth day saw the turnaround. V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid
batted the entire day, never offering a chance, and ran the Australian fielders ragged as Waugh called on nine different bowlers to try to break the partnership. Laxman and Dravid added 335 runs, taking India to 589/4 and a commanding lead in the game. In the process, Laxman set a new individual high score record for India, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar
's 236. Laxman was finally dismissed the next day on 281. Dravid made 180, and India declared on day 5 at 657/7, setting Australia an almost impossible target of 384 runs. Australia did not immediately crumble under the reversed pressure; at tea, they were 161/3 for their final innings, and a draw looked the most likely result. Then, the Australians lost 5 wickets for 8 in a span of 31 balls, with Harbhajan taking the first two wickets in the same over and Tendulkar taking the other three. Australia fell for 212 all out, with Harbhajan leading the bowling attack with 6-73. India had come back from the dead and recorded a stunning 171-run victory to level the series 1-1. They were only the third team in history to win a Test match after following on.
The Third Test began at Chennai
on 18 March with high expectations of a hard-fought series decider. Australia won the toss for the third time and elected to bat. Hayden batted through the first day for an eventual total of 203, but the rest of Australia's team contributed little to the total of 391. Again, Harbhajan Singh was the destroyer, taking 7-133. India pushed to 501 on the back of Tendulkar's 126. Australia ended day 4 at 241/7, a precarious lead of 131 runs. Early on day 5, Harbhajan again ran through the Australian tail, taking 8-84 and his series tally to an astounding 32 wickets, leaving Australia all out for 264. India had a target of 155 to chase, and plenty of time to do it. The only question was whether Australia's bowlers could get them out first. In 42 nail-biting overs, India steadily lost wickets, sinking to 135/7, a tantalising 20 runs short of victory, but in dire danger of losing their last batsmen before they could score them. The 8th wicket fell at 151, 4 runs short of victory, and it was left to wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe
and, who else, Harbhajan Singh to see out the end. Fittingly, Harbhajan cut the winning runs past point and sealed the game and an incredible comeback series victory for India. The series victory for India meant that Australia had still not won a series in India for over 30 years.
Before this tour, India had a poor record in Test matches away from home having won just 18 out of 176 Tests. The previous tour to Australia in 1999–2000 had resulted in a 3-0 defeat and India had not won a Test match in Australia since 1981.
The first Test match was played at Brisbane
from 4 December to 8 December. In a rain-affected match, Australia got off to a good start with Justin Langer
scoring a hundred. Scores from the remaining three batsmen out of the top four (Hayden
(37), Ponting
(54) and Martyn
(42)) took Australia to 262 for the loss of just two wickets at the end of first day's play. Only 18 overs were possible on the second day but the Indians picked up seven Australian wickets for the addition of only 61 runs. The third day was again affected by rain and only six overs were bowled, at the end of which, India were 11 for no loss. India started the fourth day well, but three quick wickets reduced them to 3-62. But Sourav Ganguly
(144) and VVS Laxman (75) took India to 409 and a first innings lead of 86. When the last day started, only the first innings had been completed, and the match appeared to be heading for a draw. However, Australia scored quick runs as four of the top five batsmen scored fifties. Matthew Hayden scored 99 runs in 98 balls faced, as Australia declared on 284. India had scored 73 runs out of the target of 199, when play was stopped with the consent of both teams. Sourav Ganguly was Man of the Match. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T1_04-08DEC2003.html
The second match was played at the Adelaide Oval
from 12 December to 16 December. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. Ricky Ponting was the highlight as he scored 242 runs, while contributions from Simon Katich
and Jason Gillespie
lower down the order took Australia to a first innings score of 556. Exactly 400 of these runs were scored on the first day. India started their first innings well, but four quick wickets meant that they were in trouble at 4-85. But Dravid
and Laxman, the heroes of Eden Gardens in 2001, put together a partnership which took India to 388 before Laxman was dismissed for 148. Dravid went on to string together partnerships with the tail, and was the last man dismissed as India scored 523. Rahul Dravid scored 233.
The second innings started just before lunch on the fourth day, with Australia leading by 33 first innings runs. But wickets fell all too regularly and only the lower middle order put up any resistance as Ajit Agarkar
picked up six wickets. Australia were bowled out for 196. India started their second innings chasing 230 runs to win. First innings hero Rahul Dravid who was dropped by adam Gilchrist scored an unbeaten 72 and, fittingly, hit the winning runs as India won by four wickets. This was the first win for India in Australia since February 1981. Rahul Dravid was Man of the Match. India led the series 1-0 http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T2_12-16DEC2003.html
The third Test match was the traditional Boxing Day Test
played at Melbourne
. India got off to a good start, with Virender Sehwag
scoring 195, and ended the first day at 4-329. But in the first session on the second day, wickets fell quickly and India were bowled out for 366. Australia, in their first innings, put up 558 runs, with centuries from Hayden (136) and Ponting (257). This was Ponting's second double hundred in as many matches. Anil Kumble picked up six wickets.
India started the second innings 192 runs behind. Dravid (92) and Sourav Ganguly (73) were the only players to cross fifty, and India were bowled out for 286. This gave Australia a target of only 95, which they achieved for the loss of one wicket, levelling the series at 1-1. Ricky Ponting was Man of the Match for his 257. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T3_26-30DEC2003.html
The fourth and final test was the New Year's test at Sydney, notable also for being Steve Waugh's
last Test match.
India won the toss and elected to bat first. The opening stand between Sehwag (72) and Chopra
(45) was worth 123 runs. The spotlight, though, was on Sachin Tendulkar, who had not had success with the bat on the tour. He responded by scoring 241 unbeaten runs and put up 353 runs for the fourth wicket with Laxman (178). A cameo from 'keeper Parthiv Patel
took India to 705-7 declared, India's highest ever test score. Australia started well, with Hayden and Langer putting up a 147 run opening stand. But they were in trouble at 7-350 before Katich and Gillespie put on 117 runs for the eighth wicket to take Australia to 474, Anil Kumble taking 8-141.
India started the second innings 231 runs ahead and requiring quick runs to force a result. Sehwag (47), Dravid (91*) and Tendulkar (60*) all contributed, as India raced to 211 in 43 overs to set Australia 443 to win. Four overs at the end of the fourth day produced no wickets and Australia had to play out the last day to save the test, while India needed 10 wickets to win. The Australian batting responded well under pressure, with Langer, Ponting and Martyn scoring forties. But at 4-196, with more than one session to go, the match could have gone either way. However Steve Waugh, playing his last test, and Simon Katich put the match out of India's reach. Waugh scored 80 and Katich was unbeaten on 77 as the match was drawn despite 4 more wickets for Kumble which gave him 12 wickets for the match itself. Despite Kumble's efforts on a flat wicket, Sachin Tendulkar was Man of the Match for his unbeaten scores of 241 and 60 in the match. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T4_02-06JAN2004.html The series score was maintained at 1-1.
Rahul Dravid was Man of the Series for 619 runs in four matches. The series was hailed as one of the best that had been played in Australia. http://usa.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/JAN/039819_AUSIND2003-04_07JAN2004.html
and Glenn McGrath
's last tour of India. They came with the desire to end Australia's 35 year drought of winning a Test Match
series in India
. Before this series India had performed poorly in tours of Sri Lanka
and the Netherlands
, and in the ICC Champions Trophy
.
Australia won the first Test played at Bangalore
comprehensively. The Indian batting order collapsed twice and they didn't look at any point that they could have made a match out of it. Michael Clarke
, playing his first ever Test match, scored 151 runs to take Australia to a commanding position. Harbhajan Singh
took another 10 wicket haul (5-146 and 6-78) in the match. Anil Kumble
took his 400th wicket. Clarke was awarded Man Of The Match.
Being 1-0 down in the series, India started the second Test match played between 14–18 October 2004 at Chennai
on a positive note. They got rid of Australia
in the first innings for a mere 235 runs. Earlier, Justin Langer
(71) and Matthew Hayden
(58) started the Australian innings with a bang. They contributed 136 runs for the opening wicket. When it looked as if Australia
would dominate this Test as well, Anil Kumble
struck consistently and produced a beautiful bowling spell in which he took 7 wickets for just 48 runs from his 17.3 overs. Australia's innings collapsed from 189-3 to 235 all out. In reply India scored 376 runs and took a commanding lead of 141 runs. Virender Sehwag
scored a magnificent 155 runs, Mohammed Kaif
on his comeback match scored 64 and was well supported by young Parthiv Patel
(54). Shane Warne
took 6 wickets for 125 runs. The top order of Australian innings again collapsed in the 2nd innings, but then Damien Martyn
notched up a century (104) at the crucial time with the result being that the Australians had scored 369 runs in their second innings, setting a victory target of 229 runs for India to win. India had a good chance of winning the game, but rain on the final day prevented any chance of play, therefore, the match ended in a draw. Anil Kumble
took 6 wickets for 133 runs and was awarded Man Of The Match.
The Third Test of the Series was played between 26–30 October at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground at Nagpur
. Australia won the match and Series in four days. Australia posted 398 in their first innings, with Damien Martyn posting 114 runs with Michael Clarke
making 91. In contrast, India played poorly in their first innings and none of their top order batsmen got going. The only batsman to make above 50 was Mohammed Kaif
(55). Sachin Tendulkar
, who returned from injury, made just 8 runs. India made 185 runs, 14 runs short of the follow-on. Australia rejected the follow-on and began their second innings, setting a target in excess of 500. But once again the Indians were bundled out for 200. None of the frontline batsman made a big score. Sehwag and Patel provided some hope but fell to the Australia's metronomic bowling. Australia won the third Test by 342 runs. Martyn was awarded Man of the Match
. With this win, Australia
won this Test series after 35 years of trying for success in India, a feat which has been termed the final frontier by Steve Waugh
.
The fourth and final Test match was played between 3–7 November 2004 at the Wankhede Stadium
, Mumbai
. Having already lost the series, India made changes in the team. Patel, Akash Chopra
, Ajit Agarkar
and Yuvraj Singh
were all dropped from the lineup. The first day of play was almost completely washed out by rain, with only 11 overs being bowled. India
won the toss and elected to bat. The innings started on a bad note, losing 2 wickets on the first day itself. On the second day India
was bowled out for their second-lowest score ever of 104 runs, with Rahul Dravid
scoring the highest score in the innings of 31 runs. Jason Gillespie
(4-29) was the main wicket taker for Australia
. Australia
's first innings also didn't last long, as they were bowled out on the same day for a score of 203 runs, with Martyn (55) top scoring. Murali Kartik
(4-44) and Kumble (5-90) were the main wicket takers. 18 wickets fell in all on the second day of play. India made 205 runs in their second innings, with significant scores from V.V.S. Laxman (69) and Tendulkar (55). Michael Clarke
(6-9) removed the tail order within 23 runs. Chasing 107 runs for victory, Australia
lost wickets consistently throughout their second innings and were bowled out for 93 runs, giving India
a victory by 13 runs. Harbhajan Singh
(5-29) and Murali Kartik
(3-32) took most of the wickets. Murali Kartik
was named Man of the Match
. This Test is one of the shortest Test matches ever played, lasting for only 2 complete days. The pitch prepared for the match had later come in for a lot of criticism by Ricky Ponting.
Damien Martyn
was named Man of the Series.
Australia scored 343 runs in the first innings riding on Matthew Hayden's 124. In reply India folded for 196 with Clark and Lee taking 4 wickets each. India was set a target of 499 runs which they never challenged.
Australia won the second Test by 122 runs in Sydney on the 5th day with only nine minutes to spare – Michael Clarke took 3 wickets in what would probably have been the second last over.
India fought back with a win in the third Test in Perth by 72 runs. Two changes were made to the Indian team for this game, dropping the out of form Yuvraj Singh, and Harbhajan Singh, and recalling Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan. Australia had also made two changes to their team. Chris Rogers
was brought in to replace the injured Matthew Hayden
to become the 399th Test player for Australia. Shaun Tait
was brought in for tactical reasons to replace Brad Hogg as Australia went with a four-pronged pace attack.
India won the toss and elected to bat and the changes were to have an immediate impact. Jaffer and Sehwag contributed for the first opening partnership above fifty of the tour. Dravid, now relieved of his opening duties, found some semblance of form and was dismissed just short of a century on 93 as the highest scorer of the innings as India reached 330.
Pathan's recall to the team was immediately successful dismissing both Australian openers. Australia's top order collapsed, leaving them at 5-63, as they struggled with the swing bowling of the Indian pace attack. A century partnership between Symonds and Gilchrist helped Australia recover to 212, which gave India a lead of 118.
India's second innings again showed the worth of Sehwag as he scored 43 in 61 balls to give momentum at the top of the order. At the dismissal of Jaffer, Pathan came in as night-watchman and scored 46, the second highest score of the innings behind Laxman's 79. India were eventually dismissed for 294, leaving Australia the imposing target of 413 to win.
Australia were bowled out for 340, 73 runs short of their target, and India once again put a stop to an Australian 16 Test match winning streak. Pathan again dismissed the two Australian openers, while Sehwag proved a useful contributor by dismissing Gilchrist and Lee. Australia's team changes proved unsuccessful, with Rogers having scores of 4 and 15, and Tait, wicketless in the match and bowled sparingly. Ponting, in a post match interview with Channel 9, laid the blame for the defeat on a poor first innings batting performance, while Kumble praised the contributions of his team and his young pace attack.
, Bangalore
.This match ended in a draw.
The second Test Match was played at the PCA Stadium in Mohali
, Punjab
. The Indians dished out a clinical all-round performance to outclass Australia by a record 320 runs on Day 5 to lead the 4-Test series 1-0. This was the biggest win for India in Test match cricket excluding an innings victory.It was a historical match for India with Sachin Tendulkar who became the highest run getter in Test match history surpassing record of 11,957 runs marks and on the way becoming the first man to score 12000 runs in Test cricket history. It was a historic outing for Sourav Ganguly too, as he passed 7000 runs in Test cricket and scored a century in the process.
The Third Test Match was played at the Feroz Shah Kotla
in Delhi
. Anil Kumble
, The Ace Spinner of Indian National Cricket team declared his retirement from the Test Matches after suffering from torn fingers.He was also the captain of the Indian side in this game. The match ended in a draw and VVS Laxman was declared the Man of the Match. Gautam Gambhir
and Laxman scored double hundreds in India's First Innings.
The Fourth Test was played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium
in Nagpur
. India won by 172 runs to regain the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy after a gap of four years.
After setting the visitors a daunting target of 382 for victory in a turning fifth day track, India went on to dismiss the Aussies for 209 at just before the tea to wrap up the four-match series with a 2-0 margin. It turned out to be a perfect gift for Sourav Ganguly
by his teammates in his farewell Test as they bowled out the Aussies in just about two sessions of play on the last day.
Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma was declared the man of the series.
was declared the man of the series.
The first test was an instant classic. Australia made 428 in its first innings. Opening batsman Shane Watson scored a century and Wicket keeper Tim Paine made a 92 to lead the charge. In reply India's top order almost contributed equally with Sachin Tendulkar
scoring 98 and Suresh Raina scoring 86. India made 405 in their first innings. Indian bowlers led a surge in the second Innings to rout Australia to 192. India were set a target of 216. Wickets started to fall in the evening of 4th day with Ben Hilfenhaus taking the key wickets of Gambhir, Shewag and Raina. The score stood at 55/4 at the end of 4th day's Play with Tendulkar playing with night watchman Zaheer Khan
. Australia started the 5th day well to remove Zaheer Khan first. VVS Laxman who played late down the order because of his back injury joined Tendulkar for the 6th wicket. They improved the scoring rate considerably. However Tendulkar was out for 38 trying to play an upper late cut of Bollinger. MS Dhoni then followed Tendulkar as he was run out following a confusion with Raina who was a by runner for VVS Laxman. The score stood at 122/7. Harbhajan too was out pretty quickly facing just 2 deliveries. It looked all but over for India. India were 124/8 with an injury ridden VVS Laxman and Ishant sharma at the crease and only Pragyan Ojha to follow. India still needed 92 runs to win with just 2 wickets remaining at lunch. It looked like a lost cause to India.
The post lunch session saw one of the most dramatic comebacks in Test cricket history. VVS Laxman played one of his best knocks along with Ishant Sharma
for most of the post lunch session. He was happy to give Ishant most of the strike and Ishant played very cautiously unlike a tail-ender. Boundaries almost came off every over and India was slowly inching towards their target. In no time India moved from 124/8 to 170, 180 and 190/8. Finally Ishant got out to a Ben Hilfenhaus lbw decision which replays indicated that it was going way down the leg side. The score was at 205/9. It was a very valuable 81 run partnership with VVS Laxman by Ishant sharma to take India close to the target. Pragyan Ojha joined Laxman at the crease. Laxman scored one more boundary of Shane watson and the score was at 210/9. During Mitchell Johnson's over more drama followed with Ojha being clearly struck in line, but the On-field Umpire Billy Bowden
turned down the appeal. Pragyan Ojha tried to sneak a single which wasn't there and that's when the substitute fielder Steven Smith
shied at the stumps but pitifully for Australia, no fielders where backing his throw. It went to four overthrows meaning India just needed 2 runs to win. Drama followed more drama.
At this point of time all the 3 results were possible (India win, Australia win and a Tie). Mitchell Johnson then strayed a delivery on to the leg side of Ojha and Ojha did well to just muster it pass the diving wicket keeper. The 3rd man did very well to stop the ball before it reached the boundary but it was too late. The Indian batsmen ran their 2 runs in a jiffy and had won the match. VVS Laxman top scored in the second innings with an unbeaten 73 and once again proved that he is a nemesis to Australia denying yet another win in the likes of Kolkatta 2001, Adelaide 2003 and Perth 2008.
This was a great Test match which saw momentum swing both ways, and the Border-Gavaskar trophy lived up to its reputation of producing close test matches. With this win it meant that India can hold onto the trophy even if it lost the next test match as India won the 2008/09 series 2-0.
Sachin Tendulkar
was the most successful batsmen scoring 403 runs in 4 innings at an average of 134.33. Zaheer Khan
was the leading wicket taker with 12 wickets in 2 tests.
In India:
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
series, played between India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
and Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
. It has witnessed some of the most competitive Test series played in recent years, with results usually either being a narrow win for one of the sides or a closely fought draw. It is currently played via the International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
's future tours program, with varying lengths of time between matches. If the series is drawn, then the country holding the trophy retains it.
The series is named after Australian cricketer Allan Border
Allan Border
Allan Robert Border AO is a former Australian cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test matches in his career, a record until it was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh...
and Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
, who both scored over 10,000 test runs in their career and captained their respective teams. The first Border–Gavaskar Trophy series was played for in the 1996–1997 season and was won by India 1–0. Since then, the trophy has alternated between teams. Australia's failure to win the Border–Gavaskar Trophy in India led to Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
dubbing the Indian tour as the "Final Frontier" for the Australian team. In 2004–2005, Australia defeated India 2–1 in India. Australia's usual captain, Ricky Ponting, did not play in the winning matches due to injury and Adam Gilchrist instead captained the winning sides. In the 2007–2008 season, the Border Gavaskar trophy was played in Australia, with Australia retaining the trophy by winning the first two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney against India winning one as part of the four Test series. In the 2008–2009 edition, India defeated Australia 2–0 in a four match series in India to regain the trophy. In the latest edition played in 2010 India retained the trophy by winning the two match series 2–0. The series is sometimes accompanied by One Day Internationals; these are not considered part of the trophy.
The competitiveness of series played under the trophy is illustrated by the evenness of the wins between the two sides.
| Australian Test wins (as of 2010–2011) | Indian Test wins (as of 2010–2011) | Draws |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 12 | 6 |
Naming
The trophy is named after the two great Test players Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar from Australia and India respectively.Media coverage
Matches played in Australia: Nine NetworkNine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
and ABC Radio
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in Australia, ESPN Star Sports
ESPN Star Sports
ESPN Star Sports is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and News Corporation...
in India.
Matches played in India: Nimbus Sports in India, Fox Sports
Fox Sports (Australia)
Fox Sports is an Australia group of sports channels. They are owned by the Premier Media Group, which is in turn owned by News Corporation, and Consolidated Media Holdings. Its main competitors are ESPN, which has little local content and the free-to-air digital channel One HD...
and ABC Radio
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in Australia.
Results
| Year | Played in | Result | Player of the series |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–1997 | India | India won the one-off test 1-0 | Nayan Mongia Nayan Mongia Nayan Ramlal Mongia is a former Indian cricketer. He played as a right-handed batsman and a wicketkeeper. Currently, he is a cricket analyst.... |
| 1997–1998 | India | India won the 3-match series 2-1 | Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket... |
| 1999–2000 | Australia | Australia won the 3-match series 3-0 | Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket... |
| 2000–2001 | India | India won the 3-match series 2-1 | Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.... |
| 2003–2004 | Australia | 4-match series drawn 1-1 [Retained By India] | Rahul Dravid Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers... |
| 2004–2005 | India | Australia won the 4-match series 2-1 | Damien Martyn Damien Martyn Damien Richard Martyn is a former Australian cricketer. He played for the national team sporadically in 1992–1994 before becoming a regular ODI player in 1999–2000 and a regular Test player in 2001 until his retirement in late 2006... |
| 2007–2008 | Australia | Australia won the 4-match series 2-1 | Brett Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket... |
| 2008–2009 | India | India won the 4-match series 2-0 | Ishant Sharma Ishant Sharma Ishant Sharma is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler. He has a high arm delivery action and is not a swinger of the ball but depends a lot on pace and movement off the seam.... |
| 2010–2011 | India | India won the 2-match series 2-0 | Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket... |
Series Summary
Cricketing contests between the two nations have always been of high intensity. The importance of the series is also fueled by Australia's desire to beat India in India in a Test match series, which, until their victory in the 2004–05 series, they had not done so since 1969–70. India has developed a reputation of being particularly difficult to beat at home, having lost only two test series since 1986–87. The competitiveness of the series played between the two sides is also reflected in the fact that in both 2000–01 and 2007–08, it was India who ended Australia's runs of 16 consecutive test wins. Matches in India are commonly described with labels like final frontier or iconic event.1996–97 one-off Test
The 1996–97 one-off Test was the first to be played under the Border–Gavaskar Trophy. This was also Sachin Tendulkar'sSachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
first series as captain. The series consisted of just one match, played at the Feroz Shah Kotla
Feroz Shah Kotla
The Feroz Shah Kotla or Kotla was originally a fortress built by Sultan Ferozshah Tughlaq to house his version of Delhi city called Ferozabad. A pristine polished sandstone pillar from the 3rd century B.C...
ground in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
.
The match, played from 10 October to 14 October 1996, lasted just over four days, as India defeated Australia by seven wickets. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. But the Indian spinners
Spin bowling
Spin bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as spinners or spin bowlers.-Purpose:The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ball with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the pitch it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the...
, led by Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
, bowled them out for 182. Michael Slater
Michael Slater
Michael Jonathon Slater is a former Australian cricketer who played in 74 Tests and 42 ODIs for the Australian cricket team from 1993 to 2001...
top scored with 44 runs
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
. In reply India scored 361, riding on Nayan Mongia's
Nayan Mongia
Nayan Ramlal Mongia is a former Indian cricketer. He played as a right-handed batsman and a wicketkeeper. Currently, he is a cricket analyst....
career best 152. In Australia's second innings, Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
scored 67 to get his team to 234. This left India with 56 to get in the fourth innings, which they did for the loss of three wickets.
Full scorecard – http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1996-97/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IND_T_10-13OCT1996.html
Mongia was adjuged man of the match
Man of the match
In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...
.
1997–98 series
The tour started on a sour note as Australia lost a practice match to Ranji Trophy
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
champions Mumbai
Mumbai cricket team
The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. It is the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, India's top domestic cricket competition, with 39 titles, the most recent being in 2009–10. The team's home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in...
with Sachin Tendulkar scoring a fast double hundred and Mumbai's spin bowlers picking up fourteen of the eighteen Australian wickets that fell. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_BOM_24-26FEB1998.html
The first test (played from 6 March to 10 March) started at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is a cricket stadium in Chennai , India, named after M. A. Chidambaram, the former President of BCCI and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. The stadium was formerly known as Madras Cricket Club Ground or Chepauk Stadium. Commonly known as Chepauk, its first match was...
in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
. India, having won the toss, elected to bat and with solid contributions from Nayan Mongia
Nayan Mongia
Nayan Ramlal Mongia is a former Indian cricketer. He played as a right-handed batsman and a wicketkeeper. Currently, he is a cricket analyst....
, Navjot Sidhu and Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...
, posted 257. Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...
and Gavin Robertson
Gavin Robertson
Gavin Ron Robertson is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests and 13 ODIs from 1994 to 1998 after a first-class cricket career that saw him depart New South Wales for Tasmania and then return to New South Wales.Robertson is also a member of the band Six & Out with Australian fast...
took four wickets each. In reply Australia were struggling at 6-137, but fighting fifties from Ian Healy
Ian Healy
Ian Andrew Healy is a former cricketer who played for Queensland and Australia. A specialist wicketkeeper and useful right-hand middle-order batsman, he made an unheralded entry to international cricket in 1988, after only six first-class games. His work ethic and combativeness was much needed...
(90) and Robertson (57) took Australia to 328 and a first innings lead.
In the second innings, fifties from Sidhu and Dravid took India to 2-115, but the highlight of the innings was Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
who scored 155 of only 191 deliveries, including a particularly savage assault on Shane Warne. He and Mohammed Azharuddin (64) took India to 418 in just 107 overs. The Aussies, faced with a target of 348 runs to win, crumbled as the spin trio of Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
, Raju
Venkatapathy Raju
Venkatapathy Raju came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic season. He made his Test and One Day International debut in the tour of New Zealand. When sent in as a night-watchman in his first Test innings, he batted for more than two hours for 31 runs while six...
and Chauhan
Rajesh Chauhan
Rajesh Kumar Chauhan is a former Indian cricketer who played in 21 Tests and 35 ODIs from 1993 to 1998. He was part of the Indian spin trio of Kumble-Raju-Chauhan, in the 1990s....
took nine wickets. India won by 179 runs.http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IND_T1_06-10MAR1998.html
The second test was played from 18 March to 22 March at the Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata , India. It is the home of the Bengal cricket team and the Indian Premier League's Kolkata Knight Riders, as well as being a Test and One Day International ground. It is the largest cricket stadium in India by seating capacity...
in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. Australia won the toss, elected to bat and were soon struggling at 4-29. But Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...
and Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
scored fifties, and some late order contributions carried Australia to 233. The Indian innings that followed ensured that they would not lose the game, as all the top six batsmen crossed fifty. Azharuddin played a captain's knock, staying unbeaten on 163 as India posted an enormous 633-5 declared. Facing a task of scoring 400 runs to make India bat again, Australia lost wickets at regular intervals and managed to score just 181 runs. Anil Kumble took five wickets in the second innings, but Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath is a former Indian cricketer. He was a frontline fast bowler for the Indian cricket team until his retirement, being the second Indian pace bowler after Kapil Dev to take 200 Test wickets. One ball that he bowled during the 1996 tour of South Africa measured...
was the man of the match for his six wicket haul. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IND_T2_18-22MAR1998.html
The third test was played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium , located in Bangalore, Karnataka, is one of the cricket stadiums of India. Flanked by the picturesque Cubbon Park, Queen's Road, Cubbon and uptown MG Road, this four decade old stadium is situated in the heart of the city of Bangalore. Formerly known as the Karnataka...
, Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, from 25 March to 29 March. India won the toss and elected to bat first. Tendulkar scored 177 to notch up his second hundred of the series as India scored 424 in their first innings. Australia posted a score of 400 through Slater (91) and Mark Waugh
Mark Waugh
Mark Edward Waugh AM is a former Australian cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, and made his One-Day International debut in 1988. Waugh is regarded as one of the most elegant and gifted stroke makers to ever play the game. His nickname is "Junior" as...
(153*), while Kumble took six wickets for India.
Starting with a lead of 24, India never really settled into a partnership, as wickets fell at regular intervals, and finally collapsed at the end with 5 wickets falling for just 25 runs. Scoring just 169, India set Australia a fourth innings target of 194 runs to get. This was achieved with relative ease, as captain Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor (cricketer)
Mark Anthony Taylor, AO is a former Australian cricket player and Test opening batsman from 1988–1999, as well as captain from 1994–1999, succeeding Allan Border...
scored an unbeaten 102 and in company of first innings hero Mark Waugh, guided the Aussies home. Michael Kasprowicz
Michael Kasprowicz
Michael Scott Kasprowicz is a former Australian Test cricketer. He is a right arm fast bowler, effective outfielder and useful lower order batsman, and has enjoyed a successful career both in Australia and in the English county scene since making his debut for Queensland as a seventeen year old in...
was man of the match for his five wickets in the second innings.cricinfo.com
Sachin Tendulkar was adjudged the man of the series for scoring 446 runs in 3 matches, while Anil Kumble picked up 23 wickets.
Full scorecards – http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IN_IND_FEB-APR1998_RESULTS-SUMMARY.html
At the end of the tour, Shane Warne famously said that he would be having nightmares of Tendulkar hitting him for sixes and that only Bradman was in his class. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/sachin/story.htm
1999–2000 series
This series was the third edition of the Border–Gavaskar Trophy, played in Australia from November 1999 to February 2000. Sachin TendulkarSachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
was the captain of India, while Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
led the Australian team.
India lost the first practice match against Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
by 10 wickets, while winning the second match against New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
by 93 runs.
The first Test match was played at the Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
from 10 December to 14 December. Australia won the toss (cricket) and elected to bat first. Australia were reduced to 4-52 in the first session before Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...
scored hundreds to take them near 300. Shane Warne scored 86 low down the order to take Australia to 441. India started their second innings on the second day, but lost both openers quickly and were reduced to 2-9. Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...
and VVS Laxman did well to steady the innings, but both were dismissed before they could go on to big scores. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...
were both unbeaten on 12 as India ended the second day at 4-123. On the third day, Tendulkar and Ganguly went on to score fifties, but the lower order failed to put up serious resistance, and India were bowled out for 285.
Australia declared on 239 for the loss of eight wickets in the second innings, riding on the backs of Greg Blewett
Greg Blewett
Gregory Scott Blewett is a former Australian right handed batsman and a right arm medium fast bowler in cricket who represented the Australian national cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches from 1995 to 2000....
's 88 and Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist
Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national...
's quick 43. India needed 396 to win in the last innings and never looked to make match of it, as they collapsed to 110 in just 39 overs. Australia won by 285 runs and Steve Waugh was Man of the Match for his 150 in the first innings. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T1_10-14DEC1999.html
The second test was the Boxing Day Test
Boxing Day Test
The Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match hosted in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia involving the Australian cricket team and an opposing national team which is touring Australia that summer. It begins annually on Boxing Day and is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground...
played at Melbourne. Australia won the toss and chose to bat. The first two wickets fell quickly and Australia were 2-28, but Michael Slater
Michael Slater
Michael Jonathon Slater is a former Australian cricketer who played in 74 Tests and 42 ODIs for the Australian cricket team from 1993 to 2001...
and Mark Waugh
Mark Waugh
Mark Edward Waugh AM is a former Australian cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, and made his One-Day International debut in 1988. Waugh is regarded as one of the most elegant and gifted stroke makers to ever play the game. His nickname is "Junior" as...
took them past 120, before Waugh fell. The rest of the Australian middle order also contributed, notably Ponting and Gilchrist, and Australia reached 405. The Indian openers failed to see off even the first ten overs and India were 2-11. The rest of the batting followed suit, only Sachin Tendulkar standing amongst the ruins as India were dismissed for 238. Sachin Tendulkar scored 116.
Australia started the second innings with a lead of 167, and went for quick runs. Gilchrist, promoted up the order, and Mark Waugh both scored fifties and Australia declared their innings closed at 5-208. India required 376 runs to win in the last innings and were never in the hunt, as wickets fell at regular intervals. Sachin Tendulkar was the only player to cross fifty as India was bowled out for 195. Australia won by 180 runs and Sachin Tendulkar was declared as Man of the Match. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T2_26-30DEC1999.html
The third and last test was the New Year's test, played at Sydney. Sachin Tendulkar won the toss for India and elected to bat first. Only 60 overs were bowled on the first day, but India had collapsed to 8-121 at the end. Sachin Tendulkar(45) was the only batsman to cross forty. The Indian innings folded quickly on the second day for 150. Australia started badly, going to 1-9 and later to 2-49 before Justin Langer
Justin Langer
Justin Lee Langer AM is a former international cricketer who represented Australia in 105 Test matches and the current Assistant Coach and Batting Coach of the Australian cricket team. A left-handed batsman, his opening partnership with Matthew Hayden was one of the most successful of all time...
and Ricky Ponting, who scored 223 and 141* respectively, took them past 450. An unbeaten cameo of 45 from Gilchrist took them to 5-552, and Australia declared their innings closed.
India needed to cross 400 runs in the second innings just to make Australia bat again, which they had not scored even once in the entire series. But VVS Laxman seemed to have found the form that had eluded him the entire series. The complete range of cricket strokes was on display as Laxman flew to 167 in just 198 balls, being particularly savage on Brett Lee (taking 52 runs off 5 overs at one point) and Shane Warne. The rest of the Indian batting, however, could not stand up to the accuracy of Glen McGrath as he took five wickets to go with the fifer in the first innings. He was declared Man of the Match, as Australia won comprehensively by an innings and 141 runs.http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T3_02-06JAN2000.html
Sachin Tendulkar was Man of the Series.
2000-2001 series
The First Test was played in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
on 27 February-1 March 2001. The game was over in only three days as Australia dominated from the beginning, putting India in to bat and then dismissing them for only 176 runs. Glenn McGrath
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...
took 3-19 and Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...
4-47, Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
top scoring for India with 76. Australia responded with 349 on the backs of centuries by Matthew Hayden
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is a former Australian cricketer, and was signed to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL until the 2010 season. Hayden is a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels.Hayden holds the record...
(119) and Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist
Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national...
(122). Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....
took 4-121. India's second innings was barely better than their first, Tendulkar again top scoring with 65 in a total of 219. Needing only 47 runs to win, Australia's openers knocked them off in 7 overs, taking Australia to a 10 wicket victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.
The Second Test at Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata , India. It is the home of the Bengal cricket team and the Indian Premier League's Kolkata Knight Riders, as well as being a Test and One Day International ground. It is the largest cricket stadium in India by seating capacity...
in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
on 11 March-15 March is regarded by many as without doubt one of the most exciting games of cricket ever played, although it began with Australia electing to bat and scoring 445, captain Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
contributing 110. Harbhajan Singh took 7-123, including a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
. India's woes continued, being dismissed for only 171, with McGrath taking 4-18 in a brilliant bowling performance. Australia enforced the follow-on, and at the end of day 3 India were 254/4, still 20 runs behind forcing Australia to bat again. For many spectators, commentators, and even players, the match and the series were as good as lost for India.
The fourth day saw the turnaround. V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...
batted the entire day, never offering a chance, and ran the Australian fielders ragged as Waugh called on nine different bowlers to try to break the partnership. Laxman and Dravid added 335 runs, taking India to 589/4 and a commanding lead in the game. In the process, Laxman set a new individual high score record for India, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
's 236. Laxman was finally dismissed the next day on 281. Dravid made 180, and India declared on day 5 at 657/7, setting Australia an almost impossible target of 384 runs. Australia did not immediately crumble under the reversed pressure; at tea, they were 161/3 for their final innings, and a draw looked the most likely result. Then, the Australians lost 5 wickets for 8 in a span of 31 balls, with Harbhajan taking the first two wickets in the same over and Tendulkar taking the other three. Australia fell for 212 all out, with Harbhajan leading the bowling attack with 6-73. India had come back from the dead and recorded a stunning 171-run victory to level the series 1-1. They were only the third team in history to win a Test match after following on.
The Third Test began at Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
on 18 March with high expectations of a hard-fought series decider. Australia won the toss for the third time and elected to bat. Hayden batted through the first day for an eventual total of 203, but the rest of Australia's team contributed little to the total of 391. Again, Harbhajan Singh was the destroyer, taking 7-133. India pushed to 501 on the back of Tendulkar's 126. Australia ended day 4 at 241/7, a precarious lead of 131 runs. Early on day 5, Harbhajan again ran through the Australian tail, taking 8-84 and his series tally to an astounding 32 wickets, leaving Australia all out for 264. India had a target of 155 to chase, and plenty of time to do it. The only question was whether Australia's bowlers could get them out first. In 42 nail-biting overs, India steadily lost wickets, sinking to 135/7, a tantalising 20 runs short of victory, but in dire danger of losing their last batsmen before they could score them. The 8th wicket fell at 151, 4 runs short of victory, and it was left to wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe
Sameer Dighe
Sameer Dighe is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a wicketkeeper. His main chance at international cricket did not come until the 1999–2000 season, at which time he was 31 years of age....
and, who else, Harbhajan Singh to see out the end. Fittingly, Harbhajan cut the winning runs past point and sealed the game and an incredible comeback series victory for India. The series victory for India meant that Australia had still not won a series in India for over 30 years.
2003–04 series
The Indian cricket team toured Australia during November 2003 – February 2004, starting with a four Test series. http://www.cricket.org/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/wci/IND_IN_AUS_NOV2003-FEB2004_SCHEDULE.htmlBefore this tour, India had a poor record in Test matches away from home having won just 18 out of 176 Tests. The previous tour to Australia in 1999–2000 had resulted in a 3-0 defeat and India had not won a Test match in Australia since 1981.
The first Test match was played at Brisbane
Brisbane Cricket Ground
The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as The Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. It is named after the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located....
from 4 December to 8 December. In a rain-affected match, Australia got off to a good start with Justin Langer
Justin Langer
Justin Lee Langer AM is a former international cricketer who represented Australia in 105 Test matches and the current Assistant Coach and Batting Coach of the Australian cricket team. A left-handed batsman, his opening partnership with Matthew Hayden was one of the most successful of all time...
scoring a hundred. Scores from the remaining three batsmen out of the top four (Hayden
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is a former Australian cricketer, and was signed to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL until the 2010 season. Hayden is a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels.Hayden holds the record...
(37), Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...
(54) and Martyn
Damien Martyn
Damien Richard Martyn is a former Australian cricketer. He played for the national team sporadically in 1992–1994 before becoming a regular ODI player in 1999–2000 and a regular Test player in 2001 until his retirement in late 2006...
(42)) took Australia to 262 for the loss of just two wickets at the end of first day's play. Only 18 overs were possible on the second day but the Indians picked up seven Australian wickets for the addition of only 61 runs. The third day was again affected by rain and only six overs were bowled, at the end of which, India were 11 for no loss. India started the fourth day well, but three quick wickets reduced them to 3-62. But Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...
(144) and VVS Laxman (75) took India to 409 and a first innings lead of 86. When the last day started, only the first innings had been completed, and the match appeared to be heading for a draw. However, Australia scored quick runs as four of the top five batsmen scored fifties. Matthew Hayden scored 99 runs in 98 balls faced, as Australia declared on 284. India had scored 73 runs out of the target of 199, when play was stopped with the consent of both teams. Sourav Ganguly was Man of the Match. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T1_04-08DEC2003.html
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
from 12 December to 16 December. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. Ricky Ponting was the highlight as he scored 242 runs, while contributions from Simon Katich
Simon Katich
Simon Matthew Katich is an Australian cricketer. He is the captain of the New South Wales Blues, and also captained, up until the end of the 2007 season, Derbyshire County Cricket Club...
and Jason Gillespie
Jason Gillespie
Jason Neil Gillespie is an Australian cricketer who formerly represented Australia at international level, in both Tests and One Day Internationals, and South Australia, Yorkshire and Glamorgan at first-class level. His primary role is as a right-arm fast-medium bowler, but he is also a competent...
lower down the order took Australia to a first innings score of 556. Exactly 400 of these runs were scored on the first day. India started their first innings well, but four quick wickets meant that they were in trouble at 4-85. But Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...
and Laxman, the heroes of Eden Gardens in 2001, put together a partnership which took India to 388 before Laxman was dismissed for 148. Dravid went on to string together partnerships with the tail, and was the last man dismissed as India scored 523. Rahul Dravid scored 233.
The second innings started just before lunch on the fourth day, with Australia leading by 33 first innings runs. But wickets fell all too regularly and only the lower middle order put up any resistance as Ajit Agarkar
Ajit Agarkar
Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar is an Indian international cricketer, who has been on the fringes of the Indian side in both tests and one day matches since his debut in 1998...
picked up six wickets. Australia were bowled out for 196. India started their second innings chasing 230 runs to win. First innings hero Rahul Dravid who was dropped by adam Gilchrist scored an unbeaten 72 and, fittingly, hit the winning runs as India won by four wickets. This was the first win for India in Australia since February 1981. Rahul Dravid was Man of the Match. India led the series 1-0 http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T2_12-16DEC2003.html
The third Test match was the traditional Boxing Day Test
Boxing Day Test
The Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match hosted in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia involving the Australian cricket team and an opposing national team which is touring Australia that summer. It begins annually on Boxing Day and is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground...
played at Melbourne
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
. India got off to a good start, with Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag , affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or the Zen master of modern cricket, is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler...
scoring 195, and ended the first day at 4-329. But in the first session on the second day, wickets fell quickly and India were bowled out for 366. Australia, in their first innings, put up 558 runs, with centuries from Hayden (136) and Ponting (257). This was Ponting's second double hundred in as many matches. Anil Kumble picked up six wickets.
India started the second innings 192 runs behind. Dravid (92) and Sourav Ganguly (73) were the only players to cross fifty, and India were bowled out for 286. This gave Australia a target of only 95, which they achieved for the loss of one wicket, levelling the series at 1-1. Ricky Ponting was Man of the Match for his 257. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T3_26-30DEC2003.html
The fourth and final test was the New Year's test at Sydney, notable also for being Steve Waugh's
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
last Test match.
India won the toss and elected to bat first. The opening stand between Sehwag (72) and Chopra
Akash Chopra
Aakash Chopra is an Indian cricketer, who played for the Indian cricket team from late 2003 until late 2004 as a defensive opening batsman and close catcher in Test matches who evoked comparisons with Eknath Solkar...
(45) was worth 123 runs. The spotlight, though, was on Sachin Tendulkar, who had not had success with the bat on the tour. He responded by scoring 241 unbeaten runs and put up 353 runs for the fourth wicket with Laxman (178). A cameo from 'keeper Parthiv Patel
Parthiv Patel
Parthiv Ajay Patel is an Indian cricketer, wicketkeeper-batsman, and a member of the Indian national cricket team. He is a left-handed batsman. He got married in 2008 to Avni Zaveri.- ODI career :...
took India to 705-7 declared, India's highest ever test score. Australia started well, with Hayden and Langer putting up a 147 run opening stand. But they were in trouble at 7-350 before Katich and Gillespie put on 117 runs for the eighth wicket to take Australia to 474, Anil Kumble taking 8-141.
India started the second innings 231 runs ahead and requiring quick runs to force a result. Sehwag (47), Dravid (91*) and Tendulkar (60*) all contributed, as India raced to 211 in 43 overs to set Australia 443 to win. Four overs at the end of the fourth day produced no wickets and Australia had to play out the last day to save the test, while India needed 10 wickets to win. The Australian batting responded well under pressure, with Langer, Ponting and Martyn scoring forties. But at 4-196, with more than one session to go, the match could have gone either way. However Steve Waugh, playing his last test, and Simon Katich put the match out of India's reach. Waugh scored 80 and Katich was unbeaten on 77 as the match was drawn despite 4 more wickets for Kumble which gave him 12 wickets for the match itself. Despite Kumble's efforts on a flat wicket, Sachin Tendulkar was Man of the Match for his unbeaten scores of 241 and 60 in the match. http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T4_02-06JAN2004.html The series score was maintained at 1-1.
Rahul Dravid was Man of the Series for 619 runs in four matches. The series was hailed as one of the best that had been played in Australia. http://usa.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/JAN/039819_AUSIND2003-04_07JAN2004.html
2004-2005 series
The Australian cricket team toured India during October – November 2004 for a four Test match series. This was Shane WarneShane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...
and Glenn McGrath
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...
's last tour of India. They came with the desire to end Australia's 35 year drought of winning a Test Match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
series in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Before this series India had performed poorly in tours of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and in the ICC Champions Trophy
ICC Champions Trophy
The ICC Champions Trophy is a One Day International cricket tournament, second in importance only to the Cricket World Cup. It was inaugurated as the ICC Knock Out tournament in 1998 and has been played every two years since, changing its name to the Champions Trophy in 2002...
.
Australia won the first Test played at Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
comprehensively. The Indian batting order collapsed twice and they didn't look at any point that they could have made a match out of it. Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (cricketer)
Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...
, playing his first ever Test match, scored 151 runs to take Australia to a commanding position. Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....
took another 10 wicket haul (5-146 and 6-78) in the match. Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
took his 400th wicket. Clarke was awarded Man Of The Match.
Being 1-0 down in the series, India started the second Test match played between 14–18 October 2004 at Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
on a positive note. They got rid of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in the first innings for a mere 235 runs. Earlier, Justin Langer
Justin Langer
Justin Lee Langer AM is a former international cricketer who represented Australia in 105 Test matches and the current Assistant Coach and Batting Coach of the Australian cricket team. A left-handed batsman, his opening partnership with Matthew Hayden was one of the most successful of all time...
(71) and Matthew Hayden
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is a former Australian cricketer, and was signed to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL until the 2010 season. Hayden is a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels.Hayden holds the record...
(58) started the Australian innings with a bang. They contributed 136 runs for the opening wicket. When it looked as if Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
would dominate this Test as well, Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
struck consistently and produced a beautiful bowling spell in which he took 7 wickets for just 48 runs from his 17.3 overs. Australia's innings collapsed from 189-3 to 235 all out. In reply India scored 376 runs and took a commanding lead of 141 runs. Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag , affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or the Zen master of modern cricket, is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler...
scored a magnificent 155 runs, Mohammed Kaif
Mohammed Kaif
Mohammad Kaif is an Indian cricketer. He is a thinly built cricketer who made it to the national team on the strength of his performances at the Under-19 level, where he captained the Indian team to victory in the Under-19 World Cup in 2000...
on his comeback match scored 64 and was well supported by young Parthiv Patel
Parthiv Patel
Parthiv Ajay Patel is an Indian cricketer, wicketkeeper-batsman, and a member of the Indian national cricket team. He is a left-handed batsman. He got married in 2008 to Avni Zaveri.- ODI career :...
(54). Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...
took 6 wickets for 125 runs. The top order of Australian innings again collapsed in the 2nd innings, but then Damien Martyn
Damien Martyn
Damien Richard Martyn is a former Australian cricketer. He played for the national team sporadically in 1992–1994 before becoming a regular ODI player in 1999–2000 and a regular Test player in 2001 until his retirement in late 2006...
notched up a century (104) at the crucial time with the result being that the Australians had scored 369 runs in their second innings, setting a victory target of 229 runs for India to win. India had a good chance of winning the game, but rain on the final day prevented any chance of play, therefore, the match ended in a draw. Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
took 6 wickets for 133 runs and was awarded Man Of The Match.
The Third Test of the Series was played between 26–30 October at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground at Nagpur
Nagpur
Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...
. Australia won the match and Series in four days. Australia posted 398 in their first innings, with Damien Martyn posting 114 runs with Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (cricketer)
Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...
making 91. In contrast, India played poorly in their first innings and none of their top order batsmen got going. The only batsman to make above 50 was Mohammed Kaif
Mohammed Kaif
Mohammad Kaif is an Indian cricketer. He is a thinly built cricketer who made it to the national team on the strength of his performances at the Under-19 level, where he captained the Indian team to victory in the Under-19 World Cup in 2000...
(55). Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
, who returned from injury, made just 8 runs. India made 185 runs, 14 runs short of the follow-on. Australia rejected the follow-on and began their second innings, setting a target in excess of 500. But once again the Indians were bundled out for 200. None of the frontline batsman made a big score. Sehwag and Patel provided some hope but fell to the Australia's metronomic bowling. Australia won the third Test by 342 runs. Martyn was awarded Man of the Match
Man of the match
In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...
. With this win, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
won this Test series after 35 years of trying for success in India, a feat which has been termed the final frontier by Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
.
The fourth and final Test match was played between 3–7 November 2004 at the Wankhede Stadium
Wankhede Stadium
The Sheshrao Krushnarao Wankhede Stadium is a cricket stadium in the Indian city of Mumbai. This ground was built after disputes between the Cricket Club of India, which owns the Brabourne Stadium, and the Mumbai Cricket Association over the allocation of tickets for cricket matches...
, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. Having already lost the series, India made changes in the team. Patel, Akash Chopra
Akash Chopra
Aakash Chopra is an Indian cricketer, who played for the Indian cricket team from late 2003 until late 2004 as a defensive opening batsman and close catcher in Test matches who evoked comparisons with Eknath Solkar...
, Ajit Agarkar
Ajit Agarkar
Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar is an Indian international cricketer, who has been on the fringes of the Indian side in both tests and one day matches since his debut in 1998...
and Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh Bhandal is an Indian cricketer, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000 and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008...
were all dropped from the lineup. The first day of play was almost completely washed out by rain, with only 11 overs being bowled. India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
won the toss and elected to bat. The innings started on a bad note, losing 2 wickets on the first day itself. On the second day India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
was bowled out for their second-lowest score ever of 104 runs, with Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...
scoring the highest score in the innings of 31 runs. Jason Gillespie
Jason Gillespie
Jason Neil Gillespie is an Australian cricketer who formerly represented Australia at international level, in both Tests and One Day Internationals, and South Australia, Yorkshire and Glamorgan at first-class level. His primary role is as a right-arm fast-medium bowler, but he is also a competent...
(4-29) was the main wicket taker for Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's first innings also didn't last long, as they were bowled out on the same day for a score of 203 runs, with Martyn (55) top scoring. Murali Kartik
Murali Kartik
Murali Kartik is an Indian cricketer who sporadically represented the India national cricket team since 2000...
(4-44) and Kumble (5-90) were the main wicket takers. 18 wickets fell in all on the second day of play. India made 205 runs in their second innings, with significant scores from V.V.S. Laxman (69) and Tendulkar (55). Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (cricketer)
Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...
(6-9) removed the tail order within 23 runs. Chasing 107 runs for victory, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
lost wickets consistently throughout their second innings and were bowled out for 93 runs, giving India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
a victory by 13 runs. Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....
(5-29) and Murali Kartik
Murali Kartik
Murali Kartik is an Indian cricketer who sporadically represented the India national cricket team since 2000...
(3-32) took most of the wickets. Murali Kartik
Murali Kartik
Murali Kartik is an Indian cricketer who sporadically represented the India national cricket team since 2000...
was named Man of the Match
Man of the match
In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...
. This Test is one of the shortest Test matches ever played, lasting for only 2 complete days. The pitch prepared for the match had later come in for a lot of criticism by Ricky Ponting.
Damien Martyn
Damien Martyn
Damien Richard Martyn is a former Australian cricketer. He played for the national team sporadically in 1992–1994 before becoming a regular ODI player in 1999–2000 and a regular Test player in 2001 until his retirement in late 2006...
was named Man of the Series.
2007–08 series
Australia won the first Test in Melbourne by 337 runs within 4 days.Australia scored 343 runs in the first innings riding on Matthew Hayden's 124. In reply India folded for 196 with Clark and Lee taking 4 wickets each. India was set a target of 499 runs which they never challenged.
Australia won the second Test by 122 runs in Sydney on the 5th day with only nine minutes to spare – Michael Clarke took 3 wickets in what would probably have been the second last over.
India fought back with a win in the third Test in Perth by 72 runs. Two changes were made to the Indian team for this game, dropping the out of form Yuvraj Singh, and Harbhajan Singh, and recalling Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan. Australia had also made two changes to their team. Chris Rogers
Chris Rogers (cricketer)
Christopher John Llewellyn Rogers is an Australian cricketer.Rogers is a left-handed opening batsman and a left-handed leg-break bowler...
was brought in to replace the injured Matthew Hayden
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is a former Australian cricketer, and was signed to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL until the 2010 season. Hayden is a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels.Hayden holds the record...
to become the 399th Test player for Australia. Shaun Tait
Shaun Tait
Shaun William Tait is a professional Australian cricketer, who currently plays only in the Twenty20 format. Tait plays domestic cricket for South Australia and is also a representative for Australia at Twenty20 International level; he has also represented his country in One Day Internationals and...
was brought in for tactical reasons to replace Brad Hogg as Australia went with a four-pronged pace attack.
India won the toss and elected to bat and the changes were to have an immediate impact. Jaffer and Sehwag contributed for the first opening partnership above fifty of the tour. Dravid, now relieved of his opening duties, found some semblance of form and was dismissed just short of a century on 93 as the highest scorer of the innings as India reached 330.
Pathan's recall to the team was immediately successful dismissing both Australian openers. Australia's top order collapsed, leaving them at 5-63, as they struggled with the swing bowling of the Indian pace attack. A century partnership between Symonds and Gilchrist helped Australia recover to 212, which gave India a lead of 118.
India's second innings again showed the worth of Sehwag as he scored 43 in 61 balls to give momentum at the top of the order. At the dismissal of Jaffer, Pathan came in as night-watchman and scored 46, the second highest score of the innings behind Laxman's 79. India were eventually dismissed for 294, leaving Australia the imposing target of 413 to win.
Australia were bowled out for 340, 73 runs short of their target, and India once again put a stop to an Australian 16 Test match winning streak. Pathan again dismissed the two Australian openers, while Sehwag proved a useful contributor by dismissing Gilchrist and Lee. Australia's team changes proved unsuccessful, with Rogers having scores of 4 and 15, and Tait, wicketless in the match and bowled sparingly. Ponting, in a post match interview with Channel 9, laid the blame for the defeat on a poor first innings batting performance, while Kumble praised the contributions of his team and his young pace attack.
2008–09 Series
The first Test of the 2008–09 season was played at M. Chinnaswamy StadiumM. Chinnaswamy Stadium
The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium , located in Bangalore, Karnataka, is one of the cricket stadiums of India. Flanked by the picturesque Cubbon Park, Queen's Road, Cubbon and uptown MG Road, this four decade old stadium is situated in the heart of the city of Bangalore. Formerly known as the Karnataka...
, Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
.This match ended in a draw.
The second Test Match was played at the PCA Stadium in Mohali
Mohali
Mohali is a city adjacent to Chandigarh, 18th District in Punjab, India. It is officially named after the eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh, Sahibzada Ajit Singh . It, along with Chandigarh and Panchkula, form a part of the Chandigarh Tricity...
, Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
. The Indians dished out a clinical all-round performance to outclass Australia by a record 320 runs on Day 5 to lead the 4-Test series 1-0. This was the biggest win for India in Test match cricket excluding an innings victory.It was a historical match for India with Sachin Tendulkar who became the highest run getter in Test match history surpassing record of 11,957 runs marks and on the way becoming the first man to score 12000 runs in Test cricket history. It was a historic outing for Sourav Ganguly too, as he passed 7000 runs in Test cricket and scored a century in the process.
The Third Test Match was played at the Feroz Shah Kotla
Feroz Shah Kotla
The Feroz Shah Kotla or Kotla was originally a fortress built by Sultan Ferozshah Tughlaq to house his version of Delhi city called Ferozabad. A pristine polished sandstone pillar from the 3rd century B.C...
in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
, The Ace Spinner of Indian National Cricket team declared his retirement from the Test Matches after suffering from torn fingers.He was also the captain of the Indian side in this game. The match ended in a draw and VVS Laxman was declared the Man of the Match. Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir is an Indian cricketer, a batsman. He has been a member of the Indian national cricket team since 2003 and 2004...
and Laxman scored double hundreds in India's First Innings.
The Fourth Test was played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium
Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium
The Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium is a Test cricket ground built in 2008 in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India...
in Nagpur
Nagpur
Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...
. India won by 172 runs to regain the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy after a gap of four years.
After setting the visitors a daunting target of 382 for victory in a turning fifth day track, India went on to dismiss the Aussies for 209 at just before the tea to wrap up the four-match series with a 2-0 margin. It turned out to be a perfect gift for Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...
by his teammates in his farewell Test as they bowled out the Aussies in just about two sessions of play on the last day.
Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma was declared the man of the series.
2010–11 Series
India won the 2 test series 2-0. Sachin TendulkarSachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
was declared the man of the series.
- First test was played at PCA Stadium in MohaliMohaliMohali is a city adjacent to Chandigarh, 18th District in Punjab, India. It is officially named after the eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh, Sahibzada Ajit Singh . It, along with Chandigarh and Panchkula, form a part of the Chandigarh Tricity...
, PunjabPunjab (India)Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
1–5 October 2010. India won by 1 wicket. Zaheer KhanZaheer KhanZaheer Khan is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000. A left arm fast bowler considered as the best of the Indian fast bowling attack, Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, and as a batsman also holds the record for the highest Test...
was named as the man of the match.
The first test was an instant classic. Australia made 428 in its first innings. Opening batsman Shane Watson scored a century and Wicket keeper Tim Paine made a 92 to lead the charge. In reply India's top order almost contributed equally with Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
scoring 98 and Suresh Raina scoring 86. India made 405 in their first innings. Indian bowlers led a surge in the second Innings to rout Australia to 192. India were set a target of 216. Wickets started to fall in the evening of 4th day with Ben Hilfenhaus taking the key wickets of Gambhir, Shewag and Raina. The score stood at 55/4 at the end of 4th day's Play with Tendulkar playing with night watchman Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000. A left arm fast bowler considered as the best of the Indian fast bowling attack, Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, and as a batsman also holds the record for the highest Test...
. Australia started the 5th day well to remove Zaheer Khan first. VVS Laxman who played late down the order because of his back injury joined Tendulkar for the 6th wicket. They improved the scoring rate considerably. However Tendulkar was out for 38 trying to play an upper late cut of Bollinger. MS Dhoni then followed Tendulkar as he was run out following a confusion with Raina who was a by runner for VVS Laxman. The score stood at 122/7. Harbhajan too was out pretty quickly facing just 2 deliveries. It looked all but over for India. India were 124/8 with an injury ridden VVS Laxman and Ishant sharma at the crease and only Pragyan Ojha to follow. India still needed 92 runs to win with just 2 wickets remaining at lunch. It looked like a lost cause to India.
The post lunch session saw one of the most dramatic comebacks in Test cricket history. VVS Laxman played one of his best knocks along with Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler. He has a high arm delivery action and is not a swinger of the ball but depends a lot on pace and movement off the seam....
for most of the post lunch session. He was happy to give Ishant most of the strike and Ishant played very cautiously unlike a tail-ender. Boundaries almost came off every over and India was slowly inching towards their target. In no time India moved from 124/8 to 170, 180 and 190/8. Finally Ishant got out to a Ben Hilfenhaus lbw decision which replays indicated that it was going way down the leg side. The score was at 205/9. It was a very valuable 81 run partnership with VVS Laxman by Ishant sharma to take India close to the target. Pragyan Ojha joined Laxman at the crease. Laxman scored one more boundary of Shane watson and the score was at 210/9. During Mitchell Johnson's over more drama followed with Ojha being clearly struck in line, but the On-field Umpire Billy Bowden
Billy Bowden
Brent Fraser "Billy" Bowden is an international cricket umpire from New Zealand. He was a player until he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and took up umpiring...
turned down the appeal. Pragyan Ojha tried to sneak a single which wasn't there and that's when the substitute fielder Steven Smith
Steve Smith (cricketer born 1989)
Steven Peter Devereux "Steve" Smith is an Australian international cricketer who currently plays for the New South Wales Blues. An all-rounder, Smith bats right-handed and bowls right arm leg spin. Smith has played for the Kent Second XI, New South Wales, the Sutherland Cricket Club and Illawong...
shied at the stumps but pitifully for Australia, no fielders where backing his throw. It went to four overthrows meaning India just needed 2 runs to win. Drama followed more drama.
At this point of time all the 3 results were possible (India win, Australia win and a Tie). Mitchell Johnson then strayed a delivery on to the leg side of Ojha and Ojha did well to just muster it pass the diving wicket keeper. The 3rd man did very well to stop the ball before it reached the boundary but it was too late. The Indian batsmen ran their 2 runs in a jiffy and had won the match. VVS Laxman top scored in the second innings with an unbeaten 73 and once again proved that he is a nemesis to Australia denying yet another win in the likes of Kolkatta 2001, Adelaide 2003 and Perth 2008.
This was a great Test match which saw momentum swing both ways, and the Border-Gavaskar trophy lived up to its reputation of producing close test matches. With this win it meant that India can hold onto the trophy even if it lost the next test match as India won the 2008/09 series 2-0.
- Second test was played at M. Chinnaswamy StadiumM. Chinnaswamy StadiumThe M. Chinnaswamy Stadium , located in Bangalore, Karnataka, is one of the cricket stadiums of India. Flanked by the picturesque Cubbon Park, Queen's Road, Cubbon and uptown MG Road, this four decade old stadium is situated in the heart of the city of Bangalore. Formerly known as the Karnataka...
in Bengaluru 9–13 October. India won by 7 wickets. Sachin TendulkarSachin TendulkarSachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
was named as the man of the match.
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
was the most successful batsmen scoring 403 runs in 4 innings at an average of 134.33. Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000. A left arm fast bowler considered as the best of the Indian fast bowling attack, Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, and as a batsman also holds the record for the highest Test...
was the leading wicket taker with 12 wickets in 2 tests.
Records and statistics
- Twice, Australia were denied a record 17th Consecutive Test win by India. The first instance happened in 2001 Kolkatta and the second happened in 2008 Perth.
- Tendulkar became the leading run scorer in Test cricket. [2008/09]
- Tendulkar became the first player to score 14,000 test runs. [2010/11]
- Harbhajan became the first Indian to take a Test match hat-trick. [2000/01]
- Laxman and Dravid were involved in a record 376 run fifth wicket partnership in Kolkata. [2000/01]
- Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the Man of the Series for his contributions with the bat. He scored 98,38, 214 and 53* in the four innings of the 2 Test matches at an Incredible average of 134.33
- Laxman and Ishant Sharma put up a valiant partnership of 81 runs for the 9th wicket in the First Test Match at Mohali. They took the score from 124/8 to 205/9 until Ishant was wrongly adjudjed lbw. India won the Match by 1 wicket. (2010/11)
Match venues
In Australia:- Adelaide Oval (Adelaide);
- Brisbane Cricket Ground (Brisbane);
- Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne);
- Sydney Cricket Ground (Sydney);
- Western Australian Cricket Association Ground (Perth);
In India:
- Eden Gardens (Kolkata);
- Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium (Delhi);
- M A Chidambram Stadium (Chennai);
- M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru);
- Punjab Cricket Association (Mohali);
- Vidharba Cricket Association Stadium (Nagpur);
- Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai);
External links
- http://content.cricinfo.com/indvaus2008/content/current/series/345666.html
- http://content.cricinfo.com/australia/engine/series/60755.html