photo credit : BCCI tv
After scoring his third Test
hundred of the tour, Virat Kohli brought his attacking form to the press
conference too, saying he was left with no good reason to respect Mitchell
Johnson and some of the other Australia players after verbals flew
"throughout the day" at the MCG.
Cricinfo reports that the squabbling reached its peak when Johnson
fielded in his follow-through and threw back at the striker's stumps. Unlike
with Mohammed Shami and Steven Smith on day one, there was a genuine case for
Johnson trying to run Kohli out, and the throw was headed for the stumps when
it hit Kohli, who was trying to get back into his crease. Kohli believed it was
an attempt to hit him and an argument ensued, which needed the intervention of
the umpires. "I was really annoyed with him hitting me with the ball, and
I told him that's not on," Kohli said. "'Try and hit the stumps next
time, not my body.'
Kohli said this attitude from
Australia helped him play better, which he said might be one of the reasons why
five of his nine hundreds have come against them. – hopefully, Indians salvage
a draw by extending some more time on day 4 – and not allowing Aussies to make
quick runs and most importantly, do not fold on day 5.
As most know, this test at
Melbourne started on Boxing day. Boxing
~ pugilism is a combat sport – known as contest of strength, reflexes, speed
and more… but can be quite nasty. Boxing Day perhaps has nothing to do with
pugilism but traditionally the day following Christmas day when people would
receive gifts from their employers known as Christmas box over there … understand that it is most popular down
under; but in South Africa, Boxing day was renamed to day of Goodwill in 1994.
The Indian cousin to Boxing day tests at Melbourne was ‘Pongal Tests’~ the matches at Chepauk which
has been in existence from imperial days
– the first ever test here was in 1933-34 when Douglas Jardine played CK Nayudu
led team. Crowds have always come in
large numbers ~ it is not only the
numbers – they are reputed to be most knowledgeable and appreciative……….
Understand that the first ever
Test match involving Boxing Day took place in 1950. Prior to that, Boxing Day
at the MCG had been the domain of Sheffield Shield cricket, often the highly
popular Victoria-New South Wales encounters.
Today, there is a report by Ashley Mallet that way back on Dec 26, 1866,
the legendary Tom Wills pitted his team of Aboriginal cricketers against the
Melbourne Cricket Club at the MCG. This game was the genesis of the nation's
most-loved summer fixture, the Boxing Day Test, and the catalyst for Australian
sport's first major overseas tour - the 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of
England.
Looking back, the last time
Chepauk hosted a test was in Feb 2013 against Aussie and India won that match
quite easily. Bhuvneshwar Kumar debuted in that match. Sachin Tendulkar ending the day with 71 raised
great expectations – next day, he got out adding just 10 more – but a double-century
from Dhoni had eclipsed everything else. India had dropped slow left-armer Pragyan Ojha (who has
since been banned now!) preferring instead the off-breaks of Harbhajan Singh,
who earned his 100th Test appearance against his favorite opponents.
For long – connoisseurs had the pleasure of seeing Pongal
Tests at Chepauk – pitch for sure would assist spinners and surer still were
the results. The famous Indian spinners would be virtually unplayable in the
4th innings. In 1975 Andy Roberts and
Gundappa Viswanath shared honours in a match which India was to win by 100 runs
(massive in those days); in 1979 it was a good performance of Kapil Dev as
India beat Windies led by Kalicharra...... and in the twilight of Viv Richards
– India led by Ravi Shastri (his only Test as Captain) had 3 debutants : WV Raman,
Ajay Sharma and Hiru. Phil Simmons
debuted for Windies. At Chepauk in Jan
1988 - India won an important toss, made
382. Hirwani took three of the five West Indian wickets to fall on the second
day. On the third morning, Hirwani clean-bowled Vivian Richards with a
googly went on to finish at
8 for 61; in the Second against a huge target of 416, Vivian Richard’s
WI were dismissed in 40 overs. Hirwani
was the wrecker-in-chief again with 8 for 75 and overall match figures of 16
for 136. Sadly, Chepuak was to become a
batsmen’s paradise with hundreds and doubles flowing later……..
~ and statistically that Hirwani
debut, Shastri led Test was the last Pongal Test. Returning to Melbourne, in Test No. 812 in Dec
1977, Indians led by Bishan singh Bedi
were off to a worse start losing both the openers without a run on board. The bowling attack was Jeff Thomson, Wayne Clark,
JB (Sam) Gannon, Gary Cosier and AL Mann and the captain RB Simpson. Mohinder,
Vishwanath, Vengsarkar and Ashok Mankad took the score to 256. Craig Serjeant made 85, while rest Dyson,
Coiser, Ogilvie, Simson, Toohey, Rixon went out cheaply and were bowled out for
213. Chandrasekhar took 6 for 52. In the second
India made an imposing 343 with Gavaskar making 118. Set an improbable
387, Aussies mustered only 164 giving Indians their first win – a big one at
that. The accomplishment of the first win in 12 tests in Australian soil
was outrightly due to Chandra’s magical figures of 12 for 104 in the match. Then
in 1981 Kapil Dev demolished Greg Chappel led Aussies for 83 taking 5/28
fashioning a remarkable win. When
will we see another spirited performance and another Indian win ?
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
28th Dec 2014.
