India too strong for weak Australian side
Partab Ramchand - 21 February 2001
It was always going to be a tough tour for the fourth Australian team
that visited India in 1979-80. Without the Packer players, the
visitors were probably the weakest of the Australians teams to come to
India. During the previous winter they had been routed by five matches
to one in the Ashes battle down under. In the absence of leading stars
like Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Greg Chappell, Rodney Marsh, Rick
McCosker, Len Pascoe, David Hookes, Doug Walters and Max Walker, the
Australian side wore an emaciated look. India on the other hand had
regrouped under the leadership of Sunil Gavaskar and started as
favourites for the series.
By the end of the 2-1/2 month tour, India had won the six Test series
2-0 besides having the better of the drawn games in three of the four
encounters. Never in India-Australia rubbers in this country has the
superiority been so markedly in favour of the home team. But perhaps
that was only to be expected, given the inexperience of the visiting
side. Ten of the party of 15 had never toured before and all of them
were new to Indian conditions.
India were easily the better side. Gavaskar was then at the peak of
his powers and he and Chetan Chauhan formed a formidable opening pair.
The presence of Dilip Vengsarkar at No 3 and Gundappa Viswanath at No
4 gave style and substance to the batting. Yashpal Sharma proved to be
a sticky customer at No 5. Kapil Dev was already developing into one
of the leading all rounders in the world and he and Karsan Ghavri
formed an impressive new ball duo. Dilip Doshi had just arrived on the
scene and he formed a pretty destructive spin attack with another `new
boy' off spinner Shivlal Yadav even as S Venkatraghavan, the last of
the spin quartet, was nearing the end of his Test career. Syed Kirmani
was back as wicketkeeper after being surprisingly dropped for the tour
of England and he proved his worth both in front of and behind the
stumps. The side had a well settled look - as many as nine cricketers
played in all six Tests - and were clearly capable of getting the
better of better opposition as they proved while beating Pakistan
later in the season. Against the weak Australian side, the Indians
carried too many guns.
It became obvious very early in the series that whatever little the
visitors had to offer was by way of batting and, more precisely, that
of Kim Hughes and Alan Border. Hughes, the 25-year-old skipper
displayed both skill and elegance in finishing with a tally of 594
runs at an average of 59.40. In 12 innings, he got one hundred and
five half centuries, besides doing the best he could as captain.
Border, then 24 and in only his second international season, got 521
runs at 43.41 with one century and three fifties. It was on this tour
that the left hander showed that he was going to be a force to reckon
with in coming years. Graham Yallop, the only other batsman with some
class, had just one breathtaking innings, 167 in the fifth Test at
Calcutta.
The lack of depth in the batting was one chink but the more serious
weakness was the bowling. Rodney Hogg came with a big reputation
having taken 41 wickets in his debut series in the Ashes contest the
previous season but was a big disappointment capturing only 11 wickets
in the six Tests at almost 54 apiece. Spinners Bruce Yardley, Jimmy
Higgs and Peter Sleep were harshly treated and only left arm seamer
Geoff Dymock emerged with some credit bagging 24 wickets in five Tests
at 24 apiece. This included a match haul of 12 wickets in the third
Test at Kanpur, one of the two which Australia lost.
The Indians had a great series, both in batting and bowling. Viswanath
scored 518 runs at an average of 74 with two centuries. Gavaskar got
425 runs at 53, also with two hundreds. Two other frontline batsmen,
Yashpal Sharma and Vengsarkar also got a hundred each while Kirmani
got a three figure knock in the final Test at Mumbai after coming in
as nightwatchman. Chauhan did not get a century but proved his worth
by a number of valuable knocks in almost the Tests. Kapil Dev and
Ghavri came up with useful contributions late in the order.
The bowling honours were shared by Kapil, Doshi and Yadav. The medium
pacer took 28 wickets at 22.32 apiece, being particularly effective in
his opening spells. Doshi and Yadav, carrying the brunt of the spin
attack in their first series took 27 wickets in six Tests at 23.33 and
24 in five Tests at 24 respectively.
© CricInfo
Teams
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India.
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Players/Umpires
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Greg Chappell,
Rodney Marsh,
Rick McCosker,
Len Pascoe,
David Hookes,
Derek Walters,
Max Walker,
Sunny Gavaskar,
Chetan Chauhan,
Dilip Vengsarkar,
Kapil Dev,
Venkat,
Karsan Ghavri,
Syed Kirmani,
Allan Border,
Graham Yallop,
Bruce Yardley.
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Tours
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Australia in India
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