India v Australia - Second Test

Green Park, Kanpur

India: SM Gavaskar, +FM Engineer, M Amarnath, GR Viswanath, PR Umrigar, *MAK Pataudi, Kapil Dev, M Prabhakar, S Venkataraghavan, BS Bedi, BS Chandrasekhar.
Australia: WM Woodfull, WM Lawry, GS Chappell, AR Border, SR Waugh, KR Miller, +IA Healy, *R Benaud, AK Davidson, DK Lillee, WJ O'Reilly.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: DM Archer (WI) & CJ Mitchley (SAF)
Toss: India

With Bradman's sore back still relegating him to the sidelines, Australia fielded an unchanged XI in Kanpur despite their first Test defeat, whilst the victorious Indians made two changes, bringing in Engineer for the underperforming Kirmani and Venkat for the crocked Prasanna. Two things remained constant for the hosts though; Pataudi won at the toss, and on a pitch designed to last a fortnight Gavaskar again led the way as India amassed a sizeable first innings score.

At 1-0 up in the series, the Indians were under no compulsion to score quickly, and Gavaskar's 176 was the fulcrum of an innings total of 438 that kept the Australians in the field for the best part of six sessions. Viswanath contributed 43 to his second hundred partnership of the series with Gavaskar, and Umrigar seemed set for a century until he gloved the toiling O'Reilly to Chappell at slip for 72. Benaud again went wicketless as the Indians blunted the tourists' spin threat with relative ease, and after two days the game already seemed destined for a draw.

Australia found it difficult to score quickly in their reply, especially against the spinners, but contributions right down the order - Lawry was the only man who failed to reach double figures - at least kept the scoreboard moving towards India's total. Chappell's second fifty of the series got the innings off to a solid start, then a stand of 161 for the fifth wicket between Waugh - whose 88 was his highest ever score - and Miller took Australia to a commanding 317-4 before both partners fell in sight of stumps on the third day. The score slumped still further on the fourth morning, and at 394-9 India looked like securing a first innings advantage until a spirited last wicket stand raised Australian hopes and took them into a hard earned lead. Lillee and O'Reilly put on 81 runs together, an Australian record for the tenth wicket, and Bill O'Reilly became the first number eleven in ATG history to score a fifty, eventually finishing undefeated on 52 out of a final total of 475.

The Australians now had both the lead and the momentum, but with little more than four sessions remaining in the match and the pitch still playing true, the draw still looked the favoured result. A sparse crowd showed up for the final day, but those in attendance were treated to drama of the highest order as an inspired spell of bowling from Keith Miller suddenly sparked the game into life. Miller removed Viswanath, Umrigar and Pataudi in consecutive overs as India collapsed from 99-1 to 116-5, and had Woodfull managed to hold onto a chance off Kapil Dev two balls after Pataudi's dismissal then India would have surely been reduced to a state of blind panic.

As it was, Engineer and Kapil Dev salvaged the innings somewhat with a partnership of 60, but from 176-5 the innings subsided again, this time terminally, to a meagre 201 all out. Engineer's share was 88, an innings that spanned almost five and a half hours, but the real hero was Miller, whose 5-40 on an unhelpful track was surprisingly his first ever five wicket haul in 39 ATG Tests. Australia now had an outside chance of stealing the match and squaring the series, and even without Bradman a target of 165 off 35 overs seemed very reachable.

Prabhakar delivered an excellent opening spell to see off Woodfull, Lawry and Chappell though, and despite an attacking 45 from man-of-the-moment Miller, Australia struggled to keep up with the rate. 36 runs were still needed from 23 balls when Bedi removed Benaud and Healy with consecutive deliveries, and it was then left to Border and Lillee to bat out time and secure the draw, Australia eventually finishing 30 runs short on 135-8 as India held onto their lead in the series. Both sides could take away positives from this game, but at one down with two to play Australia need to make something happen when the teams reconvene in Delhi for the third Test.

1st & 2nd innings scorecards
(click to enlarge)

Scores
IND 1st Inns 438 (Gavaskar 176, Umrigar 72, Kapil Dev 51, Viswanath 43)
AUS 1st Inns 475 (Waugh 88, Chappell 73, Miller 73, O'Reilly 52*, Benaud 41; Bedi 4-103)
IND 2nd Inns 201 (Engineer 88; Miller 5-40)
AUS 2nd Inns 135-8 (Miller 45)

MATCH DRAWN


Man of the Match: SM Gavaskar