Two closest games which involved India on December 6th

On 6th December, India involved in two of the closest and exciting matches on Australian soil with a dramatic finish, that go down in the history books. In 1977, India nearly chased down 341 at the Gabba and avoided a defeat even after getting bowled out for just 126 in the 1992 Triangular series in Perth.

December 6, 1991 – B&H World Series, 1st Match, India vs Windies in Perth:

Windies elected to bowl first after winning the toss on a Perth track which had excessive seam off the air as well. The decision did work in their favour of the Caribbean side as their pacers chipped in with wickets to make the life tough for the Indian batsmen. Three runout dismissals in the innings added to the misery of India as they were bowled out for a mere 126 after batting 47.4 overs. Ravi Shastri (33) and Pravin Amre (20) were the only ones to go past 20 runs while the Windies bowlers gave away 24 extra runs.

Chasing a low total, Windies struggled from the very first ball with Kapil Dev dismissing Desmond Haynes. Subroto Banerjee’s 3-wicket haul helped to reduce Windies to 76/8. But Sir Curtly Ambrose (17) and Anderson Cummins (24) took their side close to the target with a 37-run stand for the 9th wicket before Ambrose got run out. Along with Patrick Patterson (8*), Cummins ensured they levelled the scores. With India’s specialist pacers completing their 10 overs quota, Captain Mohammad Azharuddin handed the ball to young Sachin Tendulkar when Windies needed six runs. After conceding five runs, Sachin got the wicket on the last ball of the over with Cummins edging in Azharuddin in slips.

December 6, 1977 – Australia v India in Brisbane, 1st Test, Day 5:

India stepped on Australian soil fancying their chances of a series win in the 5-match Test series as the Parker’s World Series Cricket caused the absence of Australia’s regular players and Bob Simpson coming out of a 10-year retirement to lead the team. Brisbane hosted the first match of the series on an overwatered track used for the tour game between the Indians and Queensland which the visitors won by an innings margin.

Indian skipper Bishan Singh Bedi’s 5-wicket haul bowled out Australians to 166 after they elected to bat first. Peter Toohey, one of the six debutants for Australia in the game, top scored for his side with an 82 while no other managed to go past 20 runs. The Aussie bowlers Jeff Thomson, Wayne Clarke and Tony Mann shared ten wickets to clean up India to 153 in the first innings. A better performance with the bat by the home team in the 2nd innings extended their lead to 340 with Simpson leading from the front with an 89.

India hoped to repeat their successful chase of 403 against Windies earlier in 1976 with that game’s hero Sunil Gavaskar anchoring India’s 341-run chase. Gavaskar, with a 113-run knock, put on small but useful partnerships with Mohinder Amarnath, Gundappa Viswanath, Ashok Mankad and Syed Kirmani before getting out at the score of 243/6. Kirmani added crucial 43 with Bedi for the 9th wicket before he miscued a pull and got out when India were only 23 runs away from a win. No.11 batsman BS Chandrasekhar couldn’t last long as India lost the game by a 16-run margin.