EPIC

Yesterday, I thought that to win, India would need someone to play an innings of the kind Gordon Greenidge played at Lord’s in 1984, or Mark Butcher played at Headingley in 2001. Shubman Gill provided half of that for India at the Brisbane Cricket Ground today. Rishabh Pant provided the other half.

But at the heart of everything, was Cheteshwar Pujara. Australia were well ahead after the first three innings of this game. They took the first innings lead and then set India 329. There have been only 8 successful chases between 320 and 340 in 154 years of Test cricket. Such targets have been set 74 times. The chasing side has lost 31 times. If India had been in Australia’s place after 3 innings, they would have taken it happily. India’s chase was the 9th successful 4th innings chase of that magnitude. Ever.

Pujara denied Australia for 211 balls out of India’s 582 in the 4th innings, and 928 out the 4115 balls in the series. He played 255 balls from Pat Cummins in the series, made 55 runs and was dismissed 5 times. Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins ran in 2705 times at Indian batsmen during this series. Cheteshwar Pujara was facing 627 times. The three Australian quicks dismissed Pujara 7 times in the series - once every 90 balls.

Josh Hazlewood took 17 wickets at 19.4 in the series. Pat Cummins took 21 wickets at 20.0. These two fast bowling performances would be sufficient to win most series. But this has been a series of outliers.

At Sydney, India survived 131 overs to save the Test match. Among all visiting teams to Australia, only 4 have batted longer in the fourth innings without losing. England, with a top order of Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Hammond, Jardine and Hendren, chased 332 at the MCG in 1928, South Africa survived 117 eight ball overs at the SCG in 1964, and again in Adelaide in 2012, and England survived 100 eight ball overs against Lindwall and Miller in January 1947.

Having produced an outcome which has been matched only four times before at Sydney, India went on to produce only the 3rd ever successful chase in excess of 300 by a visiting team in Australia. Apart from England’s chase above, South Africa chased 414 at Perth in 2008. And that’s about it. South Africa chased 298 at the MCG in 1953 and England chased 282 there in 1908 to win by 1 wicket. After than, the best chase in 239 by West Indies in 1982.

Oh, and India also matched the lowest total by a visiting team in Australia. Ever.

These things don’t even happen in every decade. But they did in this covid infested season under multiple lock downs. Perhaps this is a season for outliers.

India have now beaten Australia in Australia on two consecutive tours. To get a measure of the quality of teams which have managed this. England did it on two consecutive tours in 1928/29 and 1932/33, the West Indies under Lloyd and Richards did it in 1984/85, 1988/89 and 1992/93, and the South Africans did it in 2008/09, 2012/13, and 2016/17. India could match these teams on their next Australian tour.

Sometimes the inches accumulate in Test cricket to produce epics. These are not scripted in some writer’s imagination. They emerge when the greatest players of the day compete against each other. The season the protagonists and the conditions have conspired wonderfully. Given the quarantines and lock-downs, it is perhaps indecent to wish there was a 5th Test. And maybe a 6th. But I find myself wishing it. And I’m not sorry. We got to watch Pat Cummins bowl, and Steve Smith bat. We’ve seen the emergence of Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Mohammad Siraj as generational talents. And we saw a cameo by Washington Sundar which reminded me of stories I’ve read about the beginning of Gary Sobers’ Test career.

I wish there was a 5th Test.