In my last weekend blog, I had written the top 5 best batting performances in test matches in the losing cause. Continuing with the same, here are balance five best performances from no.6 to no. 10.
TRAGIC HEROES-THE BEST BATTING PERFORMANCE4S IN A LOSING CAUSE- Part 2
#6 Vinoo Mankad (Ind) 184 runs – Ind v Eng Lords 1952. Played between Jun 19-24 1952.
India won the toss and opted to bat first. Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy opened the innings and batted sensibly and added 106 runs when Mankad fell for 72, and soon India were 118 for 3, except for captain Vijay Hazare, who scored 69 not out, no other batsman contributed, and India was all out for 235.
England replied very strongly with Len Hutton 150, RT Simpson 53, Peter May 74. Tom Graveney 74 and TG Ivans 104, and England were all out for 537 and got a lead of 302 runs. What was Mankad’s bowling analysis 73-24-196-5.
Mankad after bowling 73 overs, again came to open India’s 2nd inning with Pankaj Roy. India was soon 7 for 1 with Roy back without scoring, and at 59 Hemu Adhikari departed. It was then Mankad’s brilliance caught everybody’s attention as he in the company of Vijay Hazare took the score to 270 when he got out for 184 runs, 2 runs later Hazare got out. Hazare had scored only 49 runs and so in their partnership of 211 runs, Mankad was the major scorer. In the total of 270, his contribution was 184. After that only GS Ramchand scored 42 runs and India was all out for 388.
England needing just 77 runs for victory, which they achieved by losing only 2 wickets.
In Cricketing history although India ended on the losing side, this test match is always known as Mankad’s Test match, as his contribution with both bat and ball was remarkable..
#7 G Hick (Eng) 178 runs- Ind v Eng 1993. Played between Feb 19-23, 1993.
England won the toss and elected to bat first. They opened with Gooch & Stewart and were soon 30/3. There were no major partnerships except for the 7th wicket between Hick and Lewis for 93 runs. Eng was all out for 347 with Hick being the last wicket, and he scored 178 runs.
India replied very strongly with an opening partnership of 109 between Prabhakar and Sidhu. Then Sidhu and Kambli continued, Sidhu fell at 174 after scoring 79. Then Kambli was joined by his schoolmate Sachin Tendulakar and they took the score to 368 when Sachin fell for 78. Kambli was 8th out at the score of 563, and his contribution being 224 runs. India was all out for 591, getting a lead of 244 runs.
In 2nd innings England could score only 229 runs, with major contributions from RA Smith 62, Mike Gatting 61, and Hick 47. Kumble taking 4/70 and Prabhakar 3/28. Thus India winning the match by innings and 15 runs.
As a consolation, Hick was declared Man of the Match for 178 runs, from the total 347.
#8 Sachin Tendulkar ( Ind) 177 runs – Ind v Aus at Bangalore 1998. Played between Mar 25-29, 1998
Ind won the toss and opted to bat. They opened with Laxman & Sidhu and lost the early wicket of Laxman at 24. Then Dravid joined Sidhu and they took the score to 109 when Sidhu fell for 74, Enters Tendulkar, Dravid departs one run later and India was reduced 110/4. Sachin & Azhar took the score to 249 when Azhar fell for 40. Sachin was 7th out at 390, after scoring 177 runs. After that India was all out for 424.
Aus replied very strongly and they made 400 runs, with contributions from Slater 91, Mark Waugh 153, Lehmann 52, Warne 33. Kumble took 6/98.
In their 2nd innings India was all out for 169 runs, just Sidhu 44, Sachin 31 were the major contributors. Kasprowicz was the main destroyer on Indian innings with 5/38.
Aus had a victory target of 194 runs, which they achieved by losing 2 wickets with Mark Taylor scoring 102 not out.
Kasprowicz was declared man of the match for his devastating spell in India’s 2nd innings.
There is one more match involving Sachin Tendulkar when he scored 136 runs against Pakistan during the Chennai test in 1999. His effort was in the 2nd innings when chasing a victory target of 271 runs, and India lost the match by 12 runs.
#9 Virat Kohli (Ind) 149 runs- Ind v England at Edgbaston 2018. Played between Aug 1-5.
England won the toss and elected to bat. They could score only 274 runs with JE Root 80, Bairstow 70, and Jennings 42 being the main contributors. Ashwin taking 4/62 and Shami taking 3/64.
In reply, India started very badly and were 59/3 and 100/5 and with no major contribution from top-ranking batsmen other than Kohli. He was the main contributor when he scored 149 from India’s total of 274. Curran took 4/74.
In the 2nd innings, Eng could score only180 runs with Curran contributing 63 runs, Ishant Sharma picking 5/51, and Ashwin 3/59.
India had a victory target of 194 runs, but they were bundled out for 162 runs, in this innings also Kohli was the major scorer for India with 51, and the next one was Hardik Pandya with 31. Stokes 4/40. Thus India losing the match by 31 runs.
So in this match, Virat Kohli’s heroic effort was in vain, as it ended up on the losing side.
Virat Kohli was also involved in one more match, and that was against Aus in 2014, when he scored a century in both the innings 115 & 141 and ended on the losing side. The brief score of that match.
Aus 517/7 dec (Warner 145, Clarke 128, Smith 162.
Ind 444( Kohli 115, Pujara 73, Rahane 62, Nathan Lyon 5/134)
Aus 290/5 dec ( Warner 102, Smith 52)
India needing 364 for win could score only 315 ( Kohli 141, Vijay 99, Nathan Lyon 7/152)
The last match is mentioned below is the match which was low scoring and no one scored a century and the highest score was 96 and it ended up on the losing side.
#10 Sunil Gavaskar (Ind) 96 runs- Ind v Pak Bangalore 1987. Played between Mar 13-17, 1987.
Pakistan won the toss. It was the last test match of the series and earlier 4 matches had drawn. The pitch was a turning one.
Pakistan opened the innings with Rameez Raja & Razwan uz Zaman. And soon they were 60/4 with both openers, Javed Miandad and Manzoor Elahi back in Pavilion. Their innings, in the end, folded up for 116 runs with Salim Malik contributing 33 runs as the highest score. Maninder Singh took 7/27.
With turning track it was difficult for India to bat also. They opened with Gavaskar & Srikanth were 71/3 with Gavaskar (21), Srikanth (21), and M Amarnath (13) back in Pavilion, only Dilip Vengsarkar could score 50, and India was all out for 145. Iqbal Qasim 5/48 and Tauseef Ahmed 5/54.
Pakistan in their 2nd innings scored 249 (Rameez Raja 47, Salim Malik 33, Imran Khan 39 and Saleem Yousuf 41 not out. Ravi Shastri 4/69 and Maninder Singh 3/99.)
India needed 221 runs for victory on this turning track, which was going to be a tough task in the 4th inning of the match. Gavaskar and Srikanth opened and soon India were 15/2 with Srikanth and Amaranth back. At 64 even Vengsarkar was out for 19. Another major contributor was Azharuddin(26). Still, Gavaskar was holding one end and slowly building the score. Pakistani spinners were troubling Indian batsmen.
Gavaskar found a gritty partner in Shastri and again Qasim struck at a crucial time, this time having Shastri caught and bowled to make it 155/6. The Indian ship was slowly sinking. Qasim further continued his dream run by bowling Kapil six runs later, the Indian captain playing an unnecessarily bold shot, and now it seemed that even Gavaskar would not be able to save the hosts. The score was 180/7 when the great man’s masterpiece came to an end as he edged one to Rizwan at slip off Qasim.
In what is rightly regarded as one of the best Test innings, Gavaskar scored 96 off 264 balls, batting for five hours and 20 minutes. Roger Binny then tried to stick around a bit, but it was too late. India was dismissed for 204, falling just 16 runs short of a famous win. Qasim (4/73) and Tauseef (4/85) starred again, giving them match-figures of 9/121 and 9/139 respectively.
In the end, Pakistan’s spinners proved more effective than the home spinners, and the final margin would have been much more had it not been for Gavaskar’s classic knock. That no one else managed more than 26 in the innings speaks of the quality of that knock under extremely tough conditions.
Gavaskar was named Man of the Match in his last Test, but sadly he found little support as Pakistan won only their third overseas series. A great career had come to an end even as many wondered why he was retiring when he could play better than anyone else in the team.
This proved to be one of the best ever batting displays in the 4th inning of the match on turning tracks, which ended on the losing side.
So friends, in two-weekend blogs, I described the top 10 batting performances in test matches which ended in a losing cause. Hope you liked this information. In next weekend’s blog, I will describe the 10 best batting performances in ODIs in a losing cause.
Waiting for your views and comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
30th July 2021