Here are some gems from INDvAUS history we guarantee you won’t find elsewhere
By Kersi Meher Homji
In 1960, India’s handsome batter Abbas Ali Baig (then aged 20) had just scored 50 and evaded a loss to Australia, when a pretty young girl ran out to him. “I was returning to the pavilion at tea when this girl jumped the fence and kissed me!” Abbas would recall years later. The incident inspired a Cadbury’s ad years later.
Audacious Adam Gilchrist had an incredible series in 2001. He followed his match-winning 122 in Mumbai with 0 and 0 in Kolkata (the Test Australia lost despite leading by 274 in the first innings) and 1 and 1 in Chennai. His last four Test innings (0011) resembled an overseas phone prefix!
India’s medium-pacer Ajit Agarkar played six innings in the 1999-2000 series against Australia in Australia and scored five ducks in a row, four of them ‘golden’ (out first ball) and one ‘silver’ (out second ball). A year later he scored an unbeaten century against England in the Lord’s Test.
Until 2013, Ricky Ponting was the only player to score double centuries in successive Tests against India, having scored 242 and 0 in Adelaide followed by 257 and 31 not out in Melbourne in 2003-04.
In the 111th over of the Chennai Test of February 2013 against Australia, India’s captain MS Dhoni was 111 not out and Harbhajan Singh 11 not out.
Michael Clarke became the third batsman after Don Bradman (Australia v England in 1930 and 1934) and Wally Hammond (England v NZ 1932-33) to hit a triple and a double century in the same Test series.
How much difference can two years make? Ask Virat Kohli. Against Australia in Australia in 2014-15 he amassed 692 runs at an average of 86.50 hitting four centuries (highest score 169) in four Tests. Against Australia in India in 2017, he struggled to 46 runs at 9.20 in three Tests, highest score 15.