Could India have won this 1979 match?

[vvvslaxman]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63245.html Did Kapil turn into a good all rounder by then? Yashpal looked like went after the total.

[kirkutfan]

Didn't India have the series won by this test? If that was the case, India was playing not to lose and Australia was trying to force a result.

[Crookbond]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63245.html Did Kapil turn into a good all rounder by then? Yashpal looked like went after the total.

247 runs in 245 minutes - difficult in those times particularly considering Narshimha Rao didn't get going at all. India scored 52 runs in the first 73 minutes.

[singhprakash72]

Didn't India have the series won by this test? If that was the case' date=' India was playing not to lose and Australia was trying to force a result.[/quote'] Gavaskar was Dhoni ka Baap in defensive school of cricket. He played bunch of 6 test series in late 70s & early 80s ( with WI, Aus,Pak & Eng) where he would play for draws after winning earlier test match.

[vvvslaxman]

247 runs in 245 minutes - difficult in those times particularly considering Narshimha Rao didn't get going at all. India scored 52 runs in the first 73 minutes.

yea. Credit to Yahspal for making a game of it.. That is quiet a task even now. Not long ago we abandon a chase in West Indies pretty quickly.

[Crookbond]

Gavaskar was Dhoni ka Baap in defensive school of cricket. He played bunch of 6 test series in late 70s & early 80s ( with WI' date=' Aus,Pak & Eng) where he would play for draws after winning earlier test match.[/quote'] I'm not sure if you meant that in a condescending way but even drawing a Test match was quite an ask for India in the earlier decades.

[FischerTal]

I'm not sure if you meant that in a condescending way but even drawing a Test match was quite an ask for India in the earlier decades.

Under tony it's the same situation. No progress

[jf1gp_1]

10yrs from now when a 18yr old looks at agarkars stats he is going to wonder why this potentially great all rounder didn't play more for india. Now most of us who have seen him in all his glory know how s-hit he would be on most days

[-Robin-]

Gavaskar was Dhoni ka Baap in defensive school of cricket. He played bunch of 6 test series in late 70s & early 80s ( with WI' date=' Aus,Pak & Eng) where he would play for draws after winning earlier test match.[/quote'] he even played for drawn in a world cup match lol http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/65035.html

[Crookbond]

Under tony it's the same situation. No progress

Gavaskar knew how to "draw" - Dhoni doesn't, even Azhar was better.

[singhprakash72]

I'm not sure if you meant that in a condescending way but even drawing a Test match was quite an ask for India in the earlier decades.

If this was overseas it would have been commendable but these series were against the second string WI and AUS side impacted by Kerry Packer cricket at home. His worst captaincy was in England series of 1981-2 (English side though not that bad ), when he won the 1st test and then played dull excruciating draws for next 5 test...so much so that even king of tuk tuk cricket Boycott left the team mid way.

[Crookbond]

If this was overseas it would have been commendable but these series were against the second string WI and AUS side impacted by Kerry Packer cricket at home. His worst captaincy was in England series of 1981-2 (English side though not that bad )' date= when he won the 1st test and then played dull excruciating draws for next 5 test...so much so that even king of tuk tuk cricket Boycott left the team mid way.

In this match, India scored the first 52 runs in 73 minutes. Ironically, it is after Gavaskar ad Vengsarkar got out that India slowed down.

[singhprakash72]

Gavaskar knew how to "draw" - Dhoni doesn't' date=' even Azhar was better.[/quote'] I would agree on that piece...Gavaskar and his brigade were quite accomplished on drawing test matches even in difficult overseas condition. Both him and Azhar had probably worst bowling attacks among test playing nations of that time, but they had great batsmen in Amarnath, Vengsarkar, Viswanth etc. Dhoni in this series showed that in the last 3 test matches even if English school kids had shown up (with anderson/Broad/Ali face mask), they would have still surrendered meekly.

[Marut]

Pretty difficult. 247 in a 4th innings chase is tough, lack or availability of time is a secondary factor. The risk of getting bowled out is high if you go for these targets. In fact, India has successfully chased 250 in a test match only seven times in history and five of those instances are after 2000. 250 is seen as a chaseable 4th innings target only for the past decade or so, before that these incidents happened very rarely.