Thrashed. Bruised. Battered. There are no words in the English dictionary to describe India’s huge loss in the first Test of the four-match series against Australia in Pune.
After being unbeaten for 19 Test matches, the Indian team went down to the Baggy Greens by 333 runs in less than three days.
There are still three more matches to go in the series and India definitely have the firepower to bounce back to win the series 3-1, but they will have to be at their very best to do so. And even history is not on their side.
The Indian team has won a series after losing the first Test for only three times during their entire time in the five-day format.
They pulled off terrific comebacks against England in 1972/73, Australia in 2001 and Sri Lanka in 2015.
As we move into the rest of the four-match Test series between India and Australia, here’s a look at how India turned around their fortunes in the three contests.
India vs England, 1972/73
Ajit Wadekar’s Indian side managed to do the unthinkable in those days, when they beat England at their own den for the first time in 1971. Therefore, when England came to India for the return series in 1972/73, they certainly wanted to make things right.
In the first Test, England’s speedster Geoff Arnold picked up six wickets for 45 runs, which helped the Three Lions to bundle India out for 173 runs in the first innings in New Delhi.
The match was on even lines when Tony Lewis’ England side were set a target of 207 runs mid-way through Day 4 of the Test.
Bishan Singh Bedi got two quick wickets and India had England under the pump at 20/2. Then, Barry Wood and Mike Denness added 56 runs before Tony Lewis (70*) and Tony Greig (40*) lead England to a six-wicket victory after stringing an unbeaten 101-run partnership.
In the next two Tests, the famed Indian spinners Bishan Singh Bedi, BS Chandrasekhar and Erapalli Prasanna stamped their authority and took India to victories.
In the second Test, India posted low scores of 210 and 155, but the spinners took 19 wickets together and eked out a 28-run victory for the home side.
In the third Test, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi made a comeback to the side and scored a brisk 73 off 183 balls, which helped India gain a lead of 74 runs.
The spin trio picked up 19 wickets in a match yet again and helped India win the match by four wickets.
India drew the next two matches and won the five-match Test series 2-1.
India vs Australia, 2001
The Australians started off with a thumping ten-wicket victory in the first Test in Mumbai. The game was over within three days of the Test match.
They were well on their way to a series win in the three-match contest, when they posted 445 runs in the first innings in the second Test in Kolkata and got India all out for 171 runs.
Following on, India were on the brink of defeat when they were reduced to 254/4 at the end of Day 3.
Come Day 4 and India fought back through VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid’s brilliant batsmanship. Laxman, who had already got a hundred on the previous day, went on to bat the entire day along with Rahul Dravid and took India’s score to 589/4. India added 335 runs without losing a wicket on Day 4.
On Day 5, India declared their innings at 657/7 just before lunch. Then Harbhajan Singh picked up six wickets for 73 runs and India won the match by 171 runs.
In the third Test in Chennai, Matthew Hayden toiled his way to 203 runs off 320 balls but then the little master Sachin Tendulkar scored 126 runs off 230 balls and helped India get a lead of 110 runs.
Harbhajan Singh scalped figures of 8/84 and India were set a relatively easy target of 155 runs.
But the drama wasn’t over. India kept losing wickets at regular intervals, but VVS Laxman (66) stood tall and kept ticking the scoreboard until Colin Miller got him out with India being 20 runs short of the target.
In the end, it was Sameer Dighe and Harbhajan Singh who took India to a two-wicket win!
Sri Lanka vs India, 2015
India were on course for a victory when they set a target of 176 runs at the end of Day 3 of the first Test at Galle . But then, the batting order had a meltdown against spin and the team capitulated for a mere 112 runs. Ajinkya Rahane was the top scorer for India with 36 runs and Rangana Herath picked up seven wickets for 48 runs.
Sri Lanka won the match by 63 runs and India’s dream of winning a Test series in the island nation for the first time in 22 years was looking very dim.
In the next match, KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane scored brilliant centuries in the first and second innings respectively, which helped India to post over 300 runs in both the innings.
Ashwin showed his magic with the ball in the second innings. He took five wickets for 42 runs and Sri Lanka were all out for 134 runs. India leveled the series with a 278-run victory.
In the third Test, the Indian batting line-up held itself together and posted decent scores of 312 and 274. Ishant Sharma led the bowling attack with eight wickets in the match and even though Angelo Mathews scored 110 in the second innings, the islanders still fell short of their target of 386 runs by 117 runs.
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