Brendon McCullum has effectively dashed any hopes of victory India would have had in the Wellington Test.
The New Zealand skipper finished Day 4 on 281* and ensured that his side, which was trailing India by over 200 runs in the first innings, may just pull off a win on Tuesday.
To Indians, this fightback is similar to what was witnessed 12 years ago at Kolkata’s Eden Garden when VVS Laxman took Australia to the cleaners with an innings which Wisden rates among the best in Test cricket. India followed on nearly 300 runs behind and thanks to Laxman’s incredible 281 (with tremendous support from Rahul Dravid who made 180) ended up beating Australia convincingly and went on to win the series.
Either ways, this knock, like Laxman’s, will be remembered in the years to come.
Botham, the bombardier In 1981, similarly, Ian Botham led a furious onslaught against Australia after England was made to follow on at Headingley.
His team was floundering in the second innings too till Botham took charge and, with support from the tail, just destroyed the Australian attack. He ended up with an unbeaten 149 and England, which was doomed to die in the Test, ended up winning it.
A couple of years earlier, Sunil Gavaskar nearly achieved victory for his side at the Oval in London when he scored 221.
England had declared setting India an improbable target of 438 with little over a day to spare.
Gavaskar played one of the most memorable innings of his career and it looked as if India was actually going to pull off an unexpected win. Then came a quick collapse of wickets and the team finished at 429-8, just nine runs short of victory. In 1968, cricket’s greatest all-rounder ever played an innings which is remembered to this day. Garry Sobers saw his side crumble for just 143, in reply to England’s 376, on a treacherous Sabina Park wicket at Kingston.
His contribution to this paltry score was a princely duck but, following on, he batted like a champion on this catastrophic surface to make a masterly 113*.
Typically, Sobers then threw down the gauntlet and declared leaving England a target of 159. He then opened the bowling, got Geoff Boycott out for a duck, and the Test ended with England at 68-8. Only Sobers could have drafted such a script simply because he was a genius who also believed the game was eventually about entertaining the public.
Kapil Dev’s win There are so many such instances of cricketers who almost single-handedly changed the course of a match.
An injured Kapil Dev bowled India to a win against Australia at Melbourne in 1981 when the target was a mere 143 runs. He took five wickets and wrapped up the Aussie innings for just 83 after they led by nearly 200 runs in the first innings.
Dev had this never-say-die spirit which played a big role in our 1983 Prudential Cup win.
Thankfully, the likes of Brendon McCullum are carrying this fire in their bellies which is the best piece of news for Test cricket.