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Tuesday, Oct 12, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

When history was repeated

By Vijay Parthasarathy

CHENNAI, OCT. 11. Over the years, cricket, like any sport, has produced its fair share of climaxes and anti-climaxes; like any good story, it has provoked the creation of myths and footnotes.

Consequently, we find ourselves often walking away with a lump in our throat, fiercely inspired by the drama, as we replay in our minds the image of the underdog heroically prevailing over some mighty champion. Equally, at other moments, we can only watch bemusedly as Goliath, in a minor deviation from the script, conks David on the head, knocking him out in true slapstick fashion.

But rarely will you find climax mixing freely with anti-climax, myth merging fiercely with footnote; as the two lead players declare a special truce that simultaneously represents a victory and a loss.

Test cricket has produced just two ties from 1,713 encounters; and such an outcome remains as precious as the perfect metaphor.

India has featured once in a tie. That was the first Test against Australia during the 1986-87 series, played in this very city, at Chepauk stadium.

And, until V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid tinkered around with history, the general consensus prevailed that this was easily the greatest match involving India.

Allan Border won the toss on the morning of September 18 and decided to bat. The Aussies were banking on their formidable line-up, and not without some justification: opener David Boon, Dean Jones and Border scored centuries in the first innings. Jones — who, in fact, was playing in only his third Test then, and making a comeback after a prolonged absence — went on to post the highest ever individual score made by an Australian on Indian soil: 210.

What makes his effort spectacular was he had to battle nausea right through the knock; at one point he even threw up on the field.

Great knock

At 245 for seven in its first innings, India appeared to be in some trouble; but skipper Kapil Dev, undoubtedly the country's greatest all-rounder, took the team to 397 with a fantastic knock of 119.

Border made a declaration at 170 for five to try force a win; but that ploy seemed to backfire for a while after Gavaskar, Amarnath and Azharuddin all made solid contributions.

Chasing 348 to win, India looked to have turned the tables on the opposition. Australia kept pegging away, though, and managed to reduce India to 334 for eight. Then at 344, Shivlal Yadav was dismissed.

Ravi Shastri, however, took charge at this stage. Off-spinner Greg Mathews came on to bowl the final over with India needing four runs to win but Shastri now had only Maninder Singh to keep him company.

Shastri was unable to score off the first ball, but managed to pick up two vital runs after stepping down the track, the next ball. Next, he played a typical wristy push to square leg for a quick single.

Costly single

The scores were now level — at least India couldn't lose from this position. So, Shastri cannot be blamed for taking the run. But in hindsight, that run probably cost India a win.

Maninder, it can be argued, didn't exactly qualify as the greatest number 11 to have ever played the game.

He managed to survive the fourth ball; but next up Greg Mathews bowled a sharp offbreak. The tail-ender looked up confidently, believing there was an inside edge.

Umpire Vikram Raju, however, didn't share that opinion; and raised his finger. Shastri was left stranded on 48.

Thus, for only the second time in the history of Test cricket, a match had ended in a tie. The first instance occurred in Brisbane, and involved Australia and the West Indies, during the 1960-61 series.

To many, the tied Test in Chennai ranks among the greatest Test matches ever played.

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