Flashback: India’s famous Test wins in Australia – Part II

Tags: India tour of Australia 2014 -15

Published on: Nov 27, 2014

With the Indian cricket team having arrived in Australia for yet another grueling tour, we take a look back at India’s rare wins Down Under over the years.

With the Indian cricket team having arrived in Australia for yet another grueling tour, we take a look back at India’s rare wins Down Under over the years. In part two, we look at India’s second Test win in Australia, which came during the 1977-78 tour, at Sydney.


The background: Having lost the opening two Tests of the series by a close margin, India hit back strongly at Melbourne courtesy superb bowling by Bhagwath Chandrasekhar to register their maiden Test triumph in Australia. They thus went into the fourth Test at Sydney high on confidence.


The teams

India: Sunil Gavaskar, Chetan Chauhan, Mohinder Amarnath, Gundappa Viswanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ashok Mankad, Syed Kirmani, Karsan Ghavri, Erapalli Prasanna, Bishen Singh Bedi and Bhagwath Chandrasekhar


Australia: John Dyson, Gary Cosier, Peter Toohey, Craig Serjeant, Bob Simpson, Kim Hughes, Tony Mann, Steve Rixon, Wayne Clark, Jeff Thomson and Sam Gannon


The match: Australia won the toss and chose to bat first. India bowled magnificently in the first innings to dismiss the hosts merely for 131. Chandrasekhar once again stood out with excellent figures of 4 for 30. Bishan Singh Bedi chipped in with three wickets while Amarnath and Prasanna claimed a wicket each to play the supporting role. Five Aussie batsmen were dismissed for single-figure scores. Five other batsmen reached double-figure scores, but Simpson’s 38 was the highest. Opener John Dyson made 26 earlier in the innings.


India’s response to Australia’s mediocre score was a solid one. They made 396 for eight before declaring the innings. Viswanath top-scored for India with a sublime 79. Down the order, Karsan Ghavri made a crucial 64. The Indians were also aided by four other batsmen who made 40s before being dismissed. Gavaskar made 49, Chauhan 42, Vengsarkar 48 and Kirmani 42. Thomson picked up four wickets for Australia while Clark and Cosier chipped in with two scalps each.


Having gained a healthy lead, India went into the second innings of the match high on confidence. And they utilised the same to put further pressure on the Aussie batting line-up. The Australians did fight back hard. Peter Toohey made a dogged 85 having batted for over 230 minutes. Opener Cosier chipped in with 68 to give the Aussies some hope. However, India’s bowlers ensured that the visitors had the last laugh. Prasanna was the chief wicket-taker with four scalps. Ghavri, Bedi and Chandrasekhar chipped in with two wickets each.


India levelled the series by an innings and two runs. Unfortunately, they went down in the final Test at Adelaide by 47 runs to lose the series 3-2.


--By A Cricket Analyst

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