It must count as one of the most dramatic last overs in the stories history of Test cricket. Ravi Shastri and Maninder Singh in the middle. The Australians all around the bat. Greg Matthews in a sweater in the sweltering Madras heat with the ball.
Shastri took two and one to level the scores, and then Maninder had to see off three balls, or try and get a single to win the game. With one ball to go, Vikram Raju raised his finger to an appeal for lbw that everyone - including the Australians - felt had hit bat first. It didn’t. An Indian win it wasn’t, but an even better, more memorable result was achieved: Only the second tied Test in history. 30 years on!
Since test cricket began in 1877, only two matches have ended in a tie. The first in 1960 between Australia and the West Indies in Brisbane is universally regarded as the tied test. The 'other' tied test played in Madras between India and Australia in 1986 really is the 'Forgotten Tie'. Australian great Bob Simpson, who played a key role in both matches, believes Madras to have been the tougher test, given that the game was played in temperatures that hovered around 40° degree Celsius and 80 per cent humidity! The physical toll on the players was immense. Dean Jones lost 7kgs during an epic innings of 210 over eight hours and was taken to hospital and placed on an intravenous drip. Simpson, Jones, Allan Border, David Boon, Steve Waugh, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri are just some of the luminaries who tell how they battled for cap and country over five grueling days in appalling heat and humidity in the cauldron that was the Chidambaram Stadium in September 1986.
Indeed it can be persuasively argued the Madras tie could lay claim to being the greatest match in 129 years of test cricket.
India faced an emerging Australian side with the attitude, cricket nous and sheer stubbornness to succeed. Australia faced the fierce, crowded concrete MA Chidambaram Stadium as well as a star studded Indian team. Madras Magic - Tied test of 1986.
#deanjones #tiedtest1986 #ripdeano
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23 окт 2024
