Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.
Venue- Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne [February 7-11, 1981].
In the Australian Summer of 1980-81, Indian Cricket Team toured Australia to play a Triangular Series with Australia and New Zealand and also a 3 Match Test Series against the mighty Australians. The Indians failed to reach the final of the Triangular Series and were also trailing 0-1 at the end of 2 tests. As a result, it was a must win game for them in Melbourne.
In this do or die game, Australian Captain Greg Chappell won the toss and decided to field first. Riding upon Gundappa Viswanath's 114, Indians ended up scoring 237 in their first innings. Apart from Viswanath, no other Indians Batsman was able to cross the 50 runs mark. For Aussies, Dennis Lillee and Len Pascoe picked up 4 and 3 wickets respectively.
In response the Aussies posted mammoth 419 in their first innings. Allan Border scored a wonderful 124, whereas Captain Greg Chappell and Doug Walters too scored gritty half-centuries. The Indians were 182 runs behind the Aussie total. It appeared that they would lose one more test. However, this is when the Indian Top-Order came into the party. Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan scored solid half-centuries on the top with the middle order too playing their part. Due to the valuable contributions of every Indians Batsmen, the Visitors were able to score 324 in their second innings.
The Aussies needed 143 runs to win the test. It was not a big total to chase. However, the Indians came from behind and bowled Australia out for just 83 in their second innings. Kapil Dev picked up 5 crucial wickets as the Indians won the game by 59 runs.
The Match was won. The Series was Levelled.
To watch the spell of Kapil Dev, Click Here.
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