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A Draw as Good as any Victory Roshan Paul The Australian team that visited India in October, 1964 was on their way back from regaining the Ashes against a strong English team. Led by Bobby Simpson, they were confident and formidable opponents, and could well claim to be the best team in the world. The Indians were led by Tiger Pataudi, and it was during this series that his captaincy blossomed; eventually he became arguably India's greatest captain, if not statistically, then as a leader of men. Besides Pataudi's captaincy and batting, and some wonderful bowling from Bapu Nadkarni, the series also saw the advent of B. S. Chandrashekhar as a match-winning bowler. In the first Test at Madras, the Aussies immediately asserted their superiority with a 139-run victory. However, this Test was the first time that India had managed to achieve a first innings lead against an Australian Test side. This achievement was made possible solely by a tremendous captain's innings by Pataudi, who defied the rampaging McKenzie to make 128 not out in a team effort of 276. In the end, however, Bapu Nadkarni's match figures of 11/122 did not prove enough as India collapsed to 193 in their second innings.
Australia
1st innings: 211
India
Australia The Australians suffered a setback before the first ball when Norman O'Neill fell very sick just after the teams had been exchanged. So, the Australians had to bat with only 10 players in each innings. The Australians started badly but recovered to 297/5 before Chandra sparked a collapse to bowl them out for 320 with half-centuries from Burge, Veviers and Jarman. India, in turn, collapsed to 188/6 despite a 112-run partnership for the third wicket between Jaisimha and Manjrekar; and a defeat loomed in the horizon. But Pataudi again played a captain's innings and inspired the tail to stay with him. Thus, the last 4 wickets added 153 runs and India had a lead of 21. This match was one of sudden collapses as Australia fell for 274 in their second innings after having been comfortably placed at 246/3. The collapsed was due to some fabulous bowling by Nadkarni and Chandrashekar in tandem. Nevertheless, India had to reach 254 in a little over a day against a strong bowling line-up. Although they lost wickets at regular intervals, India proceeded calmy towards the target through substantial but not match-winning knocks from Sardesai, Durani and Manjrekar. However, the innings was given its impetus once again by the 'Tiger' as he and Manjrekar put on 93 runs for the seventh wicket. However, they both fell thereafter with India needing 30 runs to win. The disease of the collapses threatened to strike again and the vociferous Bombay crowd was silenced. At this point, Chandu Borde farmed the strike and batted confidently to lead India to a stunning 2-wicket victory. Many said it was the most exciting Test match to date in India and compared it to the Tied Test in Brisbane.
Australia Photographs: Allsport
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