On 22 September 1986, Australian bowler Greg Matthews was ready to bowl the penultimate delivery of the test match between India and Australia at Chennai (then Madras).
Indian tail-ender Maninder Singh was on strike. The ball rapped on to the pad and Matthews immediately appealed for an LBW. Without any delay, up went the finger of umpire Vikram Raju and history was created.
The test ended as a tie, only the second in 140 years of test cricket and till date the last.
This week is the 30th anniversary of that very match.
I rate the Indian test team during 1985-86 as one of the finest sides that ever took the field for us. It was a seamless blend of experience and youth.
At the time of this match, the great Sunil Gavaskar was in the last phase of his career. With hardly anything left to achieve, he was playing fearless and attacking cricket, nothing close to the image he had of a cautious opening batsman.
Along with swashbuckling Srikkanth, Gavaskar made an outstanding opening batting pair. Dileep Vengsarkar was in the form of his life. At number four, he was the fulcrum of Indian middle order.
Another veteran Mohinder ‘Jimmy’ Amarnath was steady and solid at number three. Young Azharuddin was filling the number five slot perfectly. He was an outstanding fielder and his exuberance (and of Srikkanth as well) on the field was a delight to watch.
Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri were two all-rounders. Though Kapil was past his peak as a bowler by then, he was still very potent. Bowlers like Chetan Sharma, Maninder Singh and Shivlal Yadav were playing their part too. The performance and results during that period also validates this point.
Australia came to India in the later part of 1986 and the first test commenced at Madras on 18 September 1986. Border won the toss and elected to bat. Australians were slow but steady and scored just a little over two hundred runs for the loss of just two wickets on the first day.
Second day belonged to Dean Jones who completed his double century. He played a valiant knock in sultry weather. His scoring rate was brisk and riding on that brilliant double century, Australia was well past five hundred by the end of day two.
Jones was so tired and dehydrated during the day’s play that soon after his innings was over, he was rushed to hospital.
Australia declared their first innings at 574 for 7 during the first hour of third day. At that point in time, it appeared that Indians will also pile up runs against a depleted Australian attack and the test will ultimately end in a dull draw.
However Indian batting sans Vengsarkar struggled. The unexpected damage came from Australian off-break bowler Greg Matthews.
First of all, Indians were supposedly very strong against the spin attack. Moreover Matthews had a very mediocre record, until commencement of this test.
Matthews was an interesting personality. He used to bowl wearing a baseball cap and in hot and humid Madras weather, he played the match with a sweater on.
Though Srikkanth, Shastri and Azhar scored half centuries it was not good enough to counter the mammoth Australian total.
By the time the third day’s play got over, Indians were still more than hundred runs away from saving the follow-on with just three wickets in hand. Kapil was on the crease and he had a colossal task of taking India out of this muddle with three tail-enders.
Some people keep their best reserved for the special occasions and Kapil Dev was one such bloke. If second day of match belonged to Dean Jones, it was Kapil’s day on the fourth.
As soon as play commenced on day four, Kapil made his intentions clear. He started hammering Australian bowlers to each part of the ground.
Kapil smashed century and saved follow-on for India. India finished first innings at 397 — a deficit of 177. At the end of fourth day’s play, Australia was 170 for 5 and this is when Border spiced up the whole scenario.
In a display of extreme aggression, Border declared the innings and lured Kapil and India to score 348 runs on the fifth and last day to bag the match.
Today scoring 340 runs in a day of Test match is a bit routine but thirty years back it was almost unthinkable. That was the time when a normal day of test cricket would yield just 200-250 runs. But it was actually the great spirit of the two captains which turned this test in one of the greatest ever.
When India started their fourth innings, it became apparent that the challenge has been accepted. India decided to chase down the target, instead of playing out the fifth day safely.
Srikkanth provided a quick start at the top of the order. Azhar played a short but quick knock and kept the chase on. Kapil promoted himself in the batting order and all eyes were on him. However he could not do much.
India’s prospects got severely damaged when Azhar and Kapil got out in quick succession. Shastri and Chandrakant Pandit however took charge. Both scored briskly and at one point of time India was just 17 runs away from victory with four wickets in hand.
Victory was in sight but then the Indian tail crumbled. India needed four runs in last over with Ravi Shastri on strike and eleventh man Manainder Singh on the other end. Matthews was bowling.
Shastri took a couple off the second ball of the over. Now two was needed in four balls. At this juncture, Shastri did something unusual. He took a single on the third ball and put Maninder on strike. Maninder’s batting skills were zilch — in the league of Chandra and Courtney Walsh. It was a blunder by Shastri which cost India the test.
Maninder defended the fourth ball but fell prey to the high pressure situation on the fifth ball. Australians rejoiced as they saved the test from a difficult situation. Allen Border took a sigh of relief. His audacity had almost cost him the match.
After one year, India played Australia in a World Cup ODI match at the same venue. Australia batted first and scored 270 runs. India was 269 for 9 after 48.4 overs. Again Maninder Singh was on strike. India needed two runs to win. Again on the penultimate ball of the match, Maninder succumbed. India lost by one runs.
So Maninder Singh broke the heart of Indian fans twice in two years and that too at the same venue and against the same opposition. Isn’t it so interesting? Coming back to the tied test, thirty years on, I still wish Maninder Singh had scored that one run but then the match wouldn’t have been so memorable.
(The writer is is an IIT graduate with passion for sports, history and politics and can be reached at @pankajag1973. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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