England should rightly celebrate their first Test series triumph in India since 1984-85. After their drubbing at home by the West Indies, it gave David Gower’s side some welcome success but who could have predicted it would take 28 years to repeat the feat? In those days, India weren’t exactly world-beaters in the five-day game, even if they were World Cup holders in one-dayers.
It must be said that India have made their homeland a fortress rarely breached by touring nations. Since Gavaskar’s squad succumbed 2-1 to England, there have been 41 ‘series’ of at least one Test, of which only five have been lost, including the latest at the hands of Alastair Cook’s tourists, and an impressive 26 won. Imran Khan’s Pakistan nicked the 1987 contest 1-0, then Saeed Anwar’s batting clinched victory in a one-off in 1999. The following year, South Africa also came, saw and conquered but it was another four years before the next home failure by India.
In 2001, Steve Waugh’s fabulous Aussies came an unexpected cropper 2-1, exemplified by VVS Laxman’s legendary 281 when following on at Eden Gardens. When the green baggies returned in October 2004, the Waugh brothers were missing. In fact, until the fourth Test, so were Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting. Adam Gilchrist took the reins for the visitors and he, in harness with a debutant named Michael Clarke (whatever happened to him?), got things off to a great start in Bangalore.
In Chennai, India established a first innings lead thanks to Anil Kumble’s 7-47 and 155 from Viru Sehwag. Kumble took another six second time around but Damien Martyn led a patient Aussie response to secure a draw. Nagpur witnessed a one-sided spectacle. Martyn scored another century, well supported by Clarke and Lehmann, then McGrath and Gillespie bowled India out for under 200. Instead of enforcing the follow-on, Gilchrist opted to put the bowlers to the sword once more, as Katich scored 99 and Matryn fell three runs short of another hundred. Needing an impossible 543 to win, India could scrape together only 200, and that was only reached with the aid of some late-order blows by Zaheer Khan and Murali Kartik.
And so on to Mumbai with series already lost. The Aussies gave a debut to Nathan Hauritz in place of Shane Warne, while the home team awarded a first cap to opener Gautam Gambhir, and employed only Zaheer Khan as a seam bowler. Rahul Dravid won the toss and batted, only for his side to succumb horribly to the four-man attack, all out for a miserable 104. I don’t know what the instructions were to the groundsman, but bowlers were again on top, even if the Aussies did achieve a lead of 99, thanks mainly to that man Martyn again. In their second innings, India fared somewhat better, as Tendulkar and Laxman each struck half-centuries. However, that young batsman Clarke proceeded to wreak havoc, this time with his slow left-arm bowling. He claimed six for nine, leaving his side with a fairly straightforward target of 107 on day three.
Determined not to lose again, this time the home team’s attack took full advantage of the spin-friendly conditions and, slowly but surely, whittled away all the frontline batsmen. Jason Gillespie defended stoutly, but Michael Kasprowicz and number eleven Glenn McGrath weren’t up to the wiles of Harbhajan Singh and Kartik, and they fell agonisingly short on 93 all out. Returning skipper Ponting complained bitterly about the pitch as being “no way near to being Test standard" but at least his team had won the series, something no other managed until earlier this week. Then, as now, creating pitches for a result doesn’t always work to your advantage!
