Best comebacks ever in a a test series in order of merit?

[Harsh Thakor]

Here I am rating in order of merit the best ever comebacks staged by a team in a test series.I have assessed state of series and game and strength of opposition.Also included drawn rubbers.



1.England in 1981 Ashes

Herculean or miraculous efforts by Botham literally ressurected England from the grave to reach the pinnacle of glory.On the 4th day at Leeds with England still 92 runs in arrears after following on 227 runs behind,it simply looked curtains for England.The subsequent heroics of Botham who scored a dazzling 148 and Bob Willis who ripped through the heart of the Australians with a blistering spell of 8-43 will be remembered til the game exists.History repeated itself at Edgbaston with Botham's 5-1 spell giving England another miraculous escape or turn around.At Manchester Botham again took England out of the Woods with a blistering 118 to seal the Ashes.We must also never forget the role of Mike Brearley as an architect,who instilled anew spirit into England and displayed tactical mastery.He literally turned Botahm into his orginal self .





2.India versus Australia in 2001 at home

Australia seemed on the brink of winning the series and a record 17th test win in the 2nd test at Kolkata before a spectacular rearguard counter-attack of Rahul Dravid and Laxman who put on 376 runs.What looked game set and Match turned into a nightmare for Australia,reminiscent of 360 degree turn in the plot of a climax of an epic.India stole another thriller at Madras in the final test.I give great credit to Ganguly's leadership .





3.Australia against England in 1936-37 at home.


After being 2 tests down,Australia heroically pulled the trigger to win three consecutive tests,to capture the series.Australia virtually looked like a new side after the 2nd test.






4.West Indies in Australia in 1992-93

By prevailing by a mere whisker at Adelaide the Calypsos sqaured the series before trampling all over Australia to retain the Frank Worrell trophy.Australia came within a mere stroke of clinching the rubber in the 4th test before Walsh dismissed Mcdermott.






5.India in Australia in 2020-21



Beset by a series of injuries India took courage,tenacity and chivalry to a zenith or scale rarely reached.Never in cricket have I witnessed a team fight so unflinchingly in the last innings of a test match,to give such a sensational twist.In addition t spectacularly rose like a phoenix from the Ashes at Melbourne.I have never seen such a clinical effort by a team reminding me of a military batallion with perfect co-ordination,performing any repair job to perfection.Very rare have we witnessed such resilience or application in a crisis reminding one of a set of charters shaping a classic movie or play.






6.England against Australia at home in 2019

Ben Stokes looked like an Ian Botham ressurected in the 3rd test taking England to the pinnacle of glory from he deepest depths of despair.The fate of the Ashes looked sealed before England's spectacular resurgence .







7.West Indies against Australia in 1999 at home


Australia looked like rolling over West Indies till Lara ressurected them to glory with a string of spectacular scores.At Kingston and Barbados on the verge of a humiliating defeat Lara took bowling domination to depth s of the divine,on tricky wickets.Rarely in cricket has a single batsmen given such a twist or turn to a tale.







8.India in Australia in 1980-81


Having been outplayed till the very last day of the tour,India launched a glorious ressurection at Melbourne defending a paltry target of 143,to win by 59 runs.It was truly one of sports most sensational turnabouts with the likes of Dilip Doshi, Karsan Ghavri and Kapil Dev blazing guns.India were massacred at Sydney and saved the 2nd test by the skin of their teeth.Great credit to Sandeep Patil and Gundappa Vishwanath.India thus drew its first rubber on Australian soil.





9.Sri Lanka in Pakistan in 1995

The flowering moment of Sri Lankan cricket who capitalised on the internal problems facing Pakistan cricket.






10.England v Australia at home in 2005

England displayed great fortitude of relentlessness facing the tightest of situations,like an army making a spirited move at every juncture .The heroics of Flintoff and Peiterson shaped famous Ashes win for England combined with the agile leadership g Michael Vaughan.Rarely has England ever looked as rejuvenated as here.Edgbaston test was the perfect illustration of how England fought tenaciously at very juncture.




11.Pakistan in India in 2005


Showing relentless determination and spirit Pakistan overhauled one of the strongest Indian teams to square the series at Bangalore.Overcame every barrier with Younus Khan ,Inzamam and Naved Rana at their best.





12.Pakistan in Australia in 1976-77


Fiery bowling by Imran who captured 12-165 and classic batting by Asif Iqbal enabled Pakistan to draw their 1st rubber on Australian soil.Pakistan revived to get their act together after facing a humiliating defeat in the 2nd test at Melbourne.

Edited January 20, 2021 by Harsh Thakor

[Ankit_sharma03]

This goes right at top for me. 

Also i started watching cricket post 1996 , so cant comment on series before that

[ShoonyaSifar]

Nothing, I repeat nothing will come close to this comeback. Multiple factors

1. Achieved away from home vs an opposition which has hardly lost at home

2. vs the ranked 1 team of the time (Aus were no. 1 till the 2nd test)

3. 7 players (Pant with 16 tests, Siraj in his 3rd test, Gill, Saini and Shardul in their 2nd test, Nattu, SUndar on debut in Indian team had a total experience of 25 tests between them 

4. Bruised in the 1st test

5. Played under the cloud of covid which has taken a heavy toll on mental health of athletes

Edited January 20, 2021 by ShoonyaSifar

[Harsh Thakor]

5 minutes ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

Nothing, I repeat nothing will come close to this comeback. Multiple factors

1. Achieved away from home vs an opposition which has hardly lost at home

2. vs the ranked 1 team of the time (Aus were no. 1 till the 2nd test)

3. 7 players (Pant with 16 tests, Siraj in his 3rd test, Gill, Saini and Shardul in their 2nd test, Nattu, SUndar on debut in Indian team had a total experience of 25 tests between them 

4. Bruised in the 1st test

5. Played under the cloud of covid which has taken a heavy toll on mental health of athletes

Do cast your vote kindly.

[Soumo]

This series is best after that I would say the series which england won in india in 2013 or 12 that was one atg performance after getting busted in ahmedabad.

[Trichromatic]

One feature of all such stories is one great day. 

 

There isn't any one great day story for 2021 series. Only day which stands out is when India was bowled out for 36. 

 

Rest all days started with team going down, getting up and striking back. 

[goose]

Not much love for Australia in India 2001.

 

0-1 down against the arguably the best side to have ever played this game, following on 275 behind in the 2nd test, your best batsman out for 10....

[RajBan]

4 hours ago, goose said:

Not much love for Australia in India 2001.

 

0-1 down against the arguably the best side to have ever played this game, following on 275 behind in the 2nd test, your best batsman out for 10....

Its a tie for me between 2001 and 2021 as far as Indian comebacks are concerned.

 

2001 was a miracle inspite of the Fab 4 in our lineup(Sehwag yet to debut), given the stature of that Australian team led by Waugh at that point and overall in history. This is when India decided to deal fire with fire. Ganguly's mindgames with Australia, rise of Harbhajan, Lakshman and Dravid resurrecting the dead after being buried. That was indeed a miracle.

 

2021 is a world class dream becoming a world class reality, specially by the last two tests when India started playing India B players without any drop in quality against the strongest Aussie lineup with a world class bowling unit.  I have never seen such consistent resilience from India with everybody rising and contributing inspite of their flaws. It is collective brilliance at its peak.

[rkt.india]

5 hours ago, goose said:

Not much love for Australia in India 2001.

 

0-1 down against the arguably the best side to have ever played this game, following on 275 behind in the 2nd test, your best batsman out for 10....

TBH, it was at home and we were anyway expected to win that series from the start like we did in 98 and 96. It's just our poor performance in first test made things difficult.

[rkt.india]

55 minutes ago, RajBan said:

Its a tie for me between 2001 and 2021 as far as Indian comebacks are concerned.

 

2001 was a miracle inspite of the Fab 4 in our lineup(Sehwag yet to debut), given the stature of that Australian team led by Waugh at that point and overall in history. This is when India decided to deal fire with fire. Ganguly's mindgames with Australia, rise of Harbhajan, Lakshman and Dravid resurrecting the dead after being buried. That was indeed a miracle.

 

2021 is a world class dream becoming a world class reality, specially by the last two tests when India started playing India B players without any drop in quality against the strongest Aussie lineup with a world class bowling unit.  I have never seen such consistent resilience from India with everybody rising and contributing inspite of their flaws. It is collective brilliance at its peak.

Miracle was winning after big deficit of follow on. We were anyway supposed to win at home but we started poorly.  

[R!TTER]

5 hours ago, goose said:

0-1 down against the arguably the best side to have ever played this game

Nah peak Windies circa 1983 was better, a quartet like no other - as we've seen bowlers win you games & so WI will always be above Oz in that regard.

[rkt.india]

8 minutes ago, R!TTER said:

Nah peak Windies circa 1983 was better, a quartet like no other - as we've seen bowlers win you games & so WI will always be above Oz in that regard.

Test matches are won by batsmen.

[goose]

so much depends on your personal definition of a comeback - are we talking about the cricketing distance traveled from the lowest point to the highest point (win) over the course of a series? or is it over the course of a single test? how much weight attached to 'circumstances' like injuries, quality of opposition. if you take the bookmaker odds, i am certain India's odds of winning on day 3 of Kolkata 2001 would be the among the longest (low probability) ever recorded by a team in a test match that went on to win. successfully chasing 328 from 100 overs on the 5th day in of itself is relatively unremarkable as a purely cricketing feat.

[goose]

ultimately, sport is an emotion, and emotions fade over time

[goose]

6 hours ago, RajBan said:

Its a tie for me between 2001 and 2021 as far as Indian comebacks are concerned.

 

2001 was a miracle inspite of the Fab 4 in our lineup(Sehwag yet to debut), given the stature of that Australian team led by Waugh at that point and overall in history. This is when India decided to deal fire with fire. Ganguly's mindgames with Australia, rise of Harbhajan, Lakshman and Dravid resurrecting the dead after being buried. That was indeed a miracle.

 

2021 is a world class dream becoming a world class reality, specially by the last two tests when India started playing India B players without any drop in quality against the strongest Aussie lineup with a world class bowling unit.  I have never seen such consistent resilience from India with everybody rising and contributing inspite of their flaws. It is collective brilliance at its peak.

 

yes i might agree with the tie. just providing some balance. most remember 2001 for the famous Laxman-Dravid partnership, as if the that's where the game was won. How many remember Ganguly declared at lunch on the 5th day!! As a cricket contest, given the game situation, nobody will convince me 2021 beats that.

 

[rkt.india]

38 minutes ago, goose said:

so much depends on your personal definition of a comeback - are we talking about the cricketing distance traveled from the lowest point to the highest point (win) over the course of a series? or is it over the course of a single test? how much weight attached to 'circumstances' like injuries, quality of opposition. if you take the bookmaker odds, i am certain India's odds of winning on day 3 of Kolkata 2001 would be the among the longest (low probability) ever recorded by a team in a test match that went on to win. successfully chasing 328 from 100 overs on the 5th day in of itself is relatively unremarkable as a purely cricketing feat.

You are right but thing is we were always expected to win 2001 test series which wasn't the case here. 

[RajBan]

56 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

You are right but thing is we were always expected to win 2001 test series which wasn't the case here. 

I am not sure how you say that we were expected to win 2001 series. It was accepted that we will lose it, whether we can lose it with dignity was the question. That Australian was as ruthless a team and as gritty a team as you get. Lloyds WI may have been more talented but I have not seen a more resilient team than Waugh's Australia

[goose]

7 minutes ago, RajBan said:

I am not sure how you say that we were expected to win 2001 series. It was accepted that we will lose it, whether we can lose it with dignity was the question. That Australian was as ruthless a team and as gritty a team as you get. Lloyds WI may have been more talented but I have not seen a more resilient team than Waugh's Australia

agree. india expected to win is not my recollection. aus were pumelling everyone home and away

[rkt.india]

38 minutes ago, RajBan said:

I am not sure how you say that we were expected to win 2001 series. It was accepted that we will lose it, whether we can lose it with dignity was the question. That Australian was as ruthless a team and as gritty a team as you get. Lloyds WI may have been more talented but I have not seen a more resilient team than Waugh's Australia

We were expected to win because we were playing at home. Australia lost in 96 and 98 as well. Australia was a great team but that Indian team wasn't a pushover at home. At best, it was always even if not in India's favour. Indian team started poorly was a different matter.

Edited January 21, 2021 by rkt.india

[RajBan]

17 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

We were expected to win because we were playing at home. Australia lost in 96 and 98 as well. Australia was a great team but that Indian team wasn't a pushover at home. At best, it was always even if not in India's favour. Indian team started poorly was a different matter.

There was a difference between Australia of 96 -98 and 2001. The one in 2001 was having their bowlers in prime McGrath, Gillespie, Warne. Couple of additional names all of us might have heard called Hayden and Gilchrist in addition to Ponting and Waugh brothers. So two very different teams, one known as the most ruthless team in the history of the cricket and the other a decent side.