Indian Cricket: Mesmerizing Fans since 1976

The Gabba test had not even started when everyone started predicting a rainfall during the last session of the final day as per the weather forecast. But the rain gods had something else in mind because by the time Rishabh Pant hit the winning runs, the sky was clear, the sun was shining – even the Gods wanted to watch this miracle happen at the Gabba.

India’s miraculous victory reminded the opposition of never underestimating the men in blue, even if the odds stacked against them. History tells us that it has happened many times, and each time India replied the way a cricket team would. It all started from the 1976 test match at the Queen’s Park Oval.

West Indies had underestimated India by setting an improbable target of 406, buoyed by the spinner arsenal they had and the 5th-day pitch, which had started to show its true colors. But the belief in the Indian team, which boasted of players like Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, and Brijesh Patel, was there not to save the test match but to win it. And they did chase down the target creating the world record for most runs chased that would remain unbroken for 27 years.

In the final of the 1983 cricket world cup, India was bundled out for just 183 runs. According to critics, it was only a matter of time when the West Indies would chase down these runs and become the champions for the third consecutive time. But captain Kapil Dev’s pep talk in the dressing room during innings break had changed the Indian team completely. They made 183 look like 283 with terrific bowling and fielding performance, and hours later, Kapil Dev had the Prudential World Cup – the cricketing world was once again stunned by the performance of the Indian team.

During 2000-01 Indian cricket was tainted by match-fixing allegations. The team had a new captain in the form of Sourav Ganguly and a new-look team and were challenged by Steve Waugh’s Australia which was on a winning streak of 15 matches. Winning the first test of the three-match series and leading by 274 runs after the 1st innings of the 2nd test, Waugh underestimated India by enforcing a follow on. The Indian team with the help of some attacking innings by VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, not only brought the team in a position to save the test match but also raised hopes of an unlikely victory. An Australian collapse during the final session of the test match helped India level the series, from which they went on to win it, stopping the Australian juggernaut.

Indian team showed that the belief to win was always there with them. It did not matter for them when they were 5 wickets down for 152 chasing a huge target of 326, as two newcomers would stitch a historic partnership to chase down the target and make the captain take off his T-shirt to signal that he owns the so-called Mecca of Cricket.

The Indian victory at the Gabba – dubbed as Australia’s fortress – was a phenomenal one, to say the least. The team was already suffering from injuries that forced them to field players who had very little or no experience in test cricket.  The cricketing world did not know the names of Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, and T Natarajan when they took the field on the 1st day. But by the end of the 5th day, not only they became heroes in India, people from all around the world were showering praises on the new Indian players. It all happened because they had the belief to win.  They knew that on the cricket field, how one performs on a given day matters the most rather than how much experience one is having.

The entire match had evoked emotions, not only in the younger generation but also in older ones. The reason being that this match had moments in which they could relate to their times as well.

During India’s 1st innings, the match was all but over when India had lost six wickets for only half the runs scored than what Australia had made. But like it happened in 2002 – when newbies Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif got involved in a historic partnership – here it was the turn of Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur, batting against the world’s best bowling attack. They made batting look so easy with their immaculate shots, be it the cover drive from Shardul off Mitchell Starc or the no-look shot from Sundar off Nathan Lyon. This partnership made sure that India got closer to Australia’s total and suddenly the game was right back in balance.

Australia then set a target of 326 for India, which was not even close to the most runs chased at Brisbane, and given the 5th-day pitch and Australia’s record, India’s victory was mostly out of sight. There was only one thing people were after – will India be able to save the test?

But this was the Indian team, which had previously chased down enormous looking targets when no-one expected them to. Teams changed over the years, but one thing was common in all those players- the vision to win.

The chase started well with Shubman Gill, who played an innings filled with classic strokes, scoring runs all over the ground. The youngster had the license to play those shots as Cheteshwar Pujara had held up one end and put a heavy price on his wicket by taking blows after blows on his body. After Gill was dismissed, Captain Ajinkya Rahane made sure that the scoreboard kept ticking. He was out there to play his strokes, giving a clear signal that India is aiming for the target. Rishabh Pant then played an innings which will be etched in cricketing folklore for years to come. He immortalized himself at the historic Gabba with a historic knock of 82 runs, and with the helping hands of Washington Sundar, the runs were chased down in the final moments of the test match.

Unforgettable contributions were also made by the bowlers Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and T Natarajan, who played their parts and picked important wickets. Navdeep Saini unfortunately, injured his groin early on in the 1st innings. However, that injury did not keep him out of the entire match, as he came back in the 2nd innings to bowl a few overs, and also during the chase, he had his pads on. That shows what these players are made of.

It highlighted the same determination which was showed by Hanuma Vihari and Ravi Ashwin at the Sydney test because of which the series was alive. Both were battered and bruised, but they stayed on the pitch and never bowed down to the Aussie bowlers. In some way, it also evoked the same emotions from the cricket fans that they must have got when Anil Kumble took Brian Lara’s wicket with a broken jaw.

Someone said it correctly that the recently concluded test series deserves a documentary. It had all the elements – teamwork, courage, determination, and the belief to defeat all the odds.