Indians have played 5 test matches at Gabba and lost four of them. Two by record margins, getting bowled below 100 runs twice on the same innings, while two by record close margins. The most respectable result was earned by Ganguly and his strong batting line up of Fab 5 in 2003 when India played at Gabba last and earned their only draw. Here is a summary of how India performed in the last five test matches at Brisbane.
2014-2015 Indian Tour of Australia: Schedule
Brisbane Test Statistics for India
- India’s Highest Score: 409 (4 Dec 2003 in 120 overs)
Aus Highest Score vs India: 382/8d in 1947, 379 in 1968
Best Bowling: 6/29 by ERH Toshack in 1947
EAS Prasanna 6/104 in 1968
Indians bowled out twice in same innings below 100 runs.
26 wickets in 5 test by Johnson so far with two 5 wicket haul
Indians under Lala Amarnath in 1947 were bowled out below 100 in both the innings when they first played here. Under Nawab of Pataudi jnr in 1968 they almost reached the target losing by only 39 runs, one of the narrowest wins in India – Australia test series.
1977 saw further improvement as Bedi’s men lost only by 16 runs, the narrowest win in their bilateral series. A complete failure of batsmen in 1991 under Azharuddin saw India lose by 10 wickets, while Ganguly led with a century to ensure a draw when he was the captain in 2003.
Summary of Indian Test Performance at Brisbane
1947: Australia won by an innings and 226 runs
Indian bowlers restricted Australians except Don Bradman. But the batsmen had no answers to Lindwall, Johnston, KR Miller and specially Toshack.
- Scorecard: Aus 382/8d, Ind: 58 and 98
High Scores: Don Bradman 185
Best Bowling: Toshackk 5/2 in 2.3 overs in 1st innings, 6/29 in 2nd innings 17 overs
4/84 by Lala Amarnath
100+ Partnerships: 101 3rd Bradman & AL Hassett
120 4th Bradman & KR Miller
Indian Squad: Vinoo Mankad, Sarwate, Gul Mohammad, Adhikari, Kishenchand, Vijay Hazare, Lala Amarnath, KM Rangnekar, SW Sohoni, CS Nayudu, JK Irani (Wicketkeeper)
1968: India lost by 39 runs
Surti grabbed 3 while UN Kulkarni, PRasanna and Nadkarni grabbed 2 wickets each to bowl out Bill Lawry’s Australian team on 379 runs. In response captain Pataudi Jnr. and Jaisimha scored 74 runs each in first innings as India fell short by 100 runs. In the second innings, Prasanna (6/104), Surti (3/59) and Bedi (1/44) bundled Aussies for 294. Indians needed 395 runs. Jaisimha at No. 5 scored century, Surti (64), Borde (63), Pataudi (48) and opener Abid Ali (47) fought well but India lost after giving Aussies a scare.
- Scorecard: Aus 379, 294, Ind: 279, 355
High Scores: Jaisimha 101 in 2nd innings
Best Bowling: Prasanna 6/104 in 2nd innings
100+ Partnerships: 130 3rd Padaudi, Surti
Indian Squad: Farookh Engineer, Abid Ali, Ajit Wadekar, Surti, Pataudi jnr, Jaisimha, Borde, Nadkarni, Prasanna, Bedi, UN Kulkarni
1977: India lost by 16 runs
5 by Captain Bedi, 2 by Chandrasekhar and Mohinder Amarnath and 1 wicket by Madan Lal saw Bob Simpson’s folding for 166. But, Indian batsmen again failed to surpass the Aussie total in the first innings. 2nd innings was helpful to batsmen. Aussies scored 327 as Madan Lal grabbed 5, Mohinder and Chandra grabbed 2 wickets each. Indians needed 341 runs but managed only 324 runs losing by one of the narrowest margins. Gavaskar (113), Amarnath (47), Viswanath (35), Kirmani (55) and Bedi (26*) fought but fell short by 16 runs.
- Scorecard: Aus 166, 327, Ind: 153, 324
High Scores: Gavaskar 113
Best Bowling: 5/55 by Bedi in 1st innings, 5/72 by Madan Lal in 2nd innings
100+ Partnerships: None
Indian Squad: Gavaskar, Vengasarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Viswanath, Brajesh Patel, Ashok Mankad, Kirmani, Madan Lal, Prasannna, Bedi, Chandrasekhar
1991: India lost by 10 wickets, MOM: Craig McDermott
Azhar’s team collapsed in the second innings and did not leave much for bowlers to do, who had bowled out Aussies in the first innings. As a result Aussies had an easy win. McDermott broke Indian’s back in the first innings with 5/54 and second innings with 4/47 with Merve Hughes who grabbed 7 wickets in the match and Whitney who grabbed 4 wickets. In the second innings, Aussies used only these three bowlers to devastate India.
- Scorecard: Ind: 239, 156, Aus: 340, 58/0
High Scores: Mark Taylor 94, David Boon 66, Prabhakar 54*
Best Bowling: 5/54 by McDermott
100+ Partnerships: None
Indian Players: Ravi Shastri, Srikkanth, Sanjay Manjrekar, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin, Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar, Kiran More, SLV Raju, Srinath
2003: Draw, MOM: Saurav Ganguly
In terms of batting, this was India’s best unit. They had their best captain too and on top of that they had a plan: Aakash Chopra whose job as opener through out the series was to hold an end. He did that. Sehwag and Fab four held their forte too. In the end it was a respectable draw against Steve Waugh’s world champion team.
- Scorecard: Aus 323, 284/3d, Ind: 409, 73/2
High Scores: Langer 121, Ganguly 144
Best Bowling: 5/95 by Zaheer
100+ Partnerships: 146 5th Ganguly, Laxman
140 2nd Hayden, Ponting
128* 4th Martyn, Steve Waugh
Key Indian Players: Aakash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra
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