JP Duminy celebrates the famous India-Australia tied test with a laugh

South African all-rounder JP Duminy today shared an interesting memory from the cricketing annals which would evoke a slight frustration among Indian cricket fans.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the only second tied match in the history of Test cricket. On September 22, 1986, a hot gruelling day (this description remains mandatory for this Test match) in Madras witnessed an epic encounter which ended in a very very rare result. Duminy celebrated this occasion with a laugh re-tweeting the video which was captioned – “When the umpire hates you.”

Here’s the tweet:

???? https://t.co/pCuR7p2Gz2

— JP Duminy (@jpduminy21) September 22, 2016

A draw and a tie are two different terms. When play concludes without victory by either team except where a game has been formally abandoned, it ends in a draw. But, when the chasing team ends up scoring the exact amount of lead the opposition team gained in the 3rd innings, then the match ends in a draw.

Off-spinner Greg Mathews was bowling really well and had already registered a 5 wicket haul in the first innings. He was approaching towards his second five-wicket haul having already taken 4 wickets in the second innings and was chosen to bowl the remarkable last over on the final day that would be remembered for many many years to come. India needed four runs off the last over and everything looked perfect and fine in India’s favour for the first four balls.

1st ball: To Shastri: no run. Four runs required off five balls.

2nd ball: Shastri takes two runs and retains the strike. Two runs required off four balls.

3rd ball: Ravi Shastri pushes the ball to deep square leg for a single. The scores were now tied. India now needed only one run for the victory. However, there was one matter of concern that the 11th man was now on strike.

However, Ravi Shastri in an interview which he gave, later on, said that he wasn’t worried at all and had advised Maninder to try and take a single off that delivery; if unsuccessful in doing so he had told him to just slog the next ball. Shastri, Maninder, Indian team and the 30,000 spectators at the venue felt that India was safe at this point and in the worst scenario the team could escape with a draw. However, the unexpected then happened.

4th ball: Mathews bowls to Maninder Singh: defended bit uncomfortably for no run. The equation now boils down to one run off the last ball.

Then comes the fifth ball of the over where one of the most controversial decisions in the history of Indian cricket was waiting to happen.

Mathews trapped Maninder lbw with off the penultimate ball and the jubilant Australians broke into wild celebration. But, the controversial fact was the umpire Vikram Raju who raised the finger in a hurry even before the bowler had even turned to appeal! This irked Shastri and Co badly but there was little they could have done at that time.

There have been only two occasions in the entire history of Test cricket that the test ended in a tie both involving Australia. The first was against England 1960 against West Indies at the Brisbane Cricket Ground in Woolloongabba. While, the second as we all know was the infamous ‘Uncle’ Vikram Raju incident.

Watch the video here: