If India defended 143 by dismissing Australia for just 83 runs in the fourth innings of a Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, one would expect the result to be spoken about and remembered for generations to come. Well, that is exactly what happened at in 1981 when India won the second of a three-match Test series that was held along with the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup in Australia. And yet, the most talked-about aspect of that game was an incident that happened early on Day 4.
It was a rare thing, which is the reason why it has gone down in the folklore of the Test rivalry between the two nations. India captain Sunil Gavaskar threatened to walk off the field and pull his team out of the match altogether after sharply disagreeing with an LBW decision that went against him. The visitors had complained about what they felt was dodgy umpiring earlier in the series as well and this, combined with the choice words that fast bowler and fellow all-time great Dennis Lillee used to convince Gavaskar to accept the decision, led to the Indian captain asking his opening partner Chetan Chauhan to walk off with him. The Test was in the end saved by India manager Shahid Durrani and assistant manager Bapu Nadkarni intervening at the boundary and asking Chauhan to walk back while pulling a fuming Gavaskar into the pavilion.
Gavaskar has said in the years since that he regretted his actuons on the day. “It was a big mistake on my part. As Indian captain I was not supposed to act in that manner. In no way I can justify my act of defiance. Whether I was out or not, I should not have reacted that way,” he had said in 2014.
Now that we are done with that part of the story, let us take a look at the rather extraordinary Test match in which took place, shall we?
India’s extraordinary MCG victory
Australia were leading the series 1-0, with the second Test being drawn, going into the third and final match. India batted first and were reliant on a one-man show from Gundappa Viswanath, who scored 114 runs to lead India to a score of 237. Viswanath was the only player who could score more than 25 runs in that first innings, with Lillee taking four wickets and Len Pascoe taking three. Australia scored 419 in reply with Allan Border scoring 124.
Inda had a strong second innings, with openers Gavaskar and Chauhan putting a 165-run stand before Lillee ended it amid the aforementioned dramatic events. There were further contributions from the rest of the top five of Dilip Vengsarkar (41), Viswanath (30) and Sandeep Patil (36) but India ended up being all out for 324, thus handing Australia a measly target of 143 to chase. Moreover, India’s lead pacer Kapil Dev was injured.
But the visitors’ start was a troubled one, being reduced to 18/3 and this included a rather deflating dismissal for Chappell, the captain and the batting talisman. It was a rather inocous delivery from spinner Karsan Ghavri, a long-hop that was there to hit for Chappell anywhere on the off side. He ended up missing it altogether and the ball almost bounced a second time before hitting the stumps. Australia were 24/3 at the close of play.
India then convinced the injured Kapil to bowl the next day and well, he made the most of a pitch that had started helping pace and spin by that point. He bowled 16.4 overs and recorded figures of 5/28 and Australia were bowled out for just 83 runs in 48.4 overs. Doug Walters’ 18 not out was the highest score by any of the hosts’ batters. Three years earlier, India had beaten Australia by 222 runs at the same ground to record their first ever Test match win in the country. They ended up coming from behind and making it two wins in a row at the MCG in 1981.
