Aussies fall to spin
By A.C. De Silva
CRICKET: Sunil Gavaskar as captain of India did his side great
service by winning the toss on the first day of the sixth and final Test
at Bombay on November 3rd in 1979.
Australia, too, soon was fading from the series. The Aussies bowling
resources were sparse to begin with and with Gavaskar and Chauhan
batting in a professional manner, there was little the visitors could
do. They had to bowl and pray. Finally the Aussies fell to spin and they
lost by an innings and 100 runs.
There is such technical competitive spirit about Gavaskar's
leadership that even when he is not batting fluently, he can still shut
out the bowlers chances of grabbing his wicket.
Chauhan put in another performance that confirmed his place in the
team as an opener for many years to come. He proved in Bombay that he is
quite capable of driving in front of the wicket and it is possibly his
frame of mind that prevents him from launching an attack sooner against
the bowlers. Yet he is the perfect partner to Gavaskar and has put on so
many century partnerships even before the record-breaking effort in
Bombay that he has answered the question that used to crop up so
constantly in Indian cricket at least till a few years ago; who is to
partner Gavaskar?
And Kim Hughes certainly did not hide his envy for India possessing
such a consistent opening pair.
Opening stand 192 runs
The advantage gained by the 192-run opening stand might well have
been thrown away had Syed Kirmani not displayed the actual position of
the match on the second day with the dismissals of Vengsarkar (late on
first day), Visvanath and Yaspal Sharma, the Australians, like the boxer
thrown back to the ropes reeling from punches, were coming back to the
centre of the ring slowly. Kirmani will remember for long his effort
that brought him his first Test hundred. It was the case of the
night-watchman staying on for many hours day duty.
Kirmani had pushed the Aussie tide back and Ghavri sailed into calmer
waters like a battleship with all its guns firing in unison. The
Australians, already battered, bruised in the course of the tour, were
pushed into the dust by that first ever century stand for the eighth
wicket in Tests between the two nations. Ghavri clobbered the bowling
like a man possessed.
He tucked into the bowling with real power and perhaps threw away his
maiden century. But then he had decided to live by the sword and it was
no surprise that he got out. It was a tremendous performance and one
that went a long way to stress India's recently acquired batting depth.
There were so many flowery strokes seen which rarely were witnessed
before in this series - there were many heart pleasing drives and other
pleasing shots seen in such rapid succession.
Aussies fall to spin
After the early good work of Gavaskar, Chauhan, Ghavri, the
Australians had to find a batsman that could hold the Indians at bay.
Graham Yallop in the first innings and Hughes and Border in the second
prayed that the two, despite their obvious merits, could be tackled. But
the batsmen had always to be wary.
The first innings collapse proved only one thing: some of the Aussie
middle order in spite of some wayward performances in previous Tests,
had not learned to cope with spinners in Indian conditions.
The Australians who were all out for 160 in their first innings to
India's massive score of 458 for 8 wickets declared, performed
marginally better in the follow-on.
Hughes (80) and Border (61) proved that even if the particular Test
was all over bar the shouting, there was always scope for a dedicated
performance in view of the larger interests of their future career.
Hughes 80 was an outstanding knock which was punctuated by majestic
drives.
The third wicket partnership between Border and Hughes that realised
132 runs for the third wicket, but these two lacked the support of the
other members of the team and the Aussies had to suffer defeat in this
game.
Once the important men had gone, Doshi came into his own again. In
the first innings he had that rich haul of 5 for 43 and in the second 3
for 60. To Doshi's eight wickets in the Test, there was Kapil Dev with 4
for 39 in the second innings that pushed the Indians through to victory.
 SCOREBOARD
INDIA 1ST INNINGS
S.M. Gavaskar c Hughes b Border 123
C.P.S. Chauhan b Dymork 73
D.B. Vengsarkar c Whatmore b Border 06
G.R. Visvanath c and b Higgs 10
S.M.H. Kirmani not out 101
Yaspal Sharma c Whatmore b Hogg 08
Mohinder Amarnath hit wkt b Hogg 02
Kapil Dev c Whatmore b Higgs 17
K. Ghavri c sub (Porder b Dymork) 86
Shivlal Yadav not out 00
Extras 32
Total (for 8wkts dec) 458
Fall of wickets: 1-192, 2-222, 3-231, 4-240, 5-272
6-281, 7-327, 8-454
Bowling: G. Dymock 31-5-95-2
R.M. Hogg 28-14-53-2
J.D. Higgs 29-4-116-2
A.R. Border 27-7-60-2
P. Sleep 28-7-79-0
D. Whatmore 5-2-11-0
N. Yallop 1-0-12-0
AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS
A.M. Hidditch run out 13
G.N. Yallop c Kapil Dev b Yadav 60
A.R. Border c Vengsarkar b Yadav 23
K.J. Hughes c Vengsarkar b Doshi 14
D.F. Whatmore lbw b Doshi 06
W.M. Darling c sub (Binny) b Yadav 16
P. Sleep b Yadav 01
K.J. Wright not out 11
G. Dymock c Chauhan b Doshi 01
R.M. Hogg c Mahinder Amarnath b Doshi 05
J.D. Higgs b Doshi 00
Extras 10
Total 160
Fall of Wickets: 1-28, 2-77. 3-110, 4-118, 5-124
6-125, 7-144, 8-145, 9-158
Bowling: Kapil Dev 8-0-20-0
K. Shavri 8-1-30-0
D. Doshi 19.5-4-43-5
M. Amarnath 5-1-11-0
Shivlal Yadav 21-7-40-4
AUSTRALIA 2ND INNINGS
A.M. Hilditch b Kapil Dev 09
G.N. Yallop c Mohinder Amernath b Ghavri 04
A.R. Border b Doshi 61
K.J. Hughes c Ghavri b Kapil Dev 80
D.F. Whatmore lbw b Kapil Dev 00
W.M. Darling Retired hurt 00
P. Sleep c Kapil Dev b Doshi 03
K.J. Wright lbw b Doshi 05
G. Dymock c Vishvanath b Yadav 07
R.M. Hogg not out 03
J.D. Higgs b Kapil Dev 04
Extras 22
Total 198
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-17, 3-149, 4-154, 5-159
6-176, 7-183, 8-187, 9-198
Bowling: Kapil Dev 14.1-5-39-4
K. Ghavri 10-0-28-1
D. Doshi 25-6-60-3
M. Amarnath 2-1-1-0
Shivlal Yadav 22-9-48-1 |
