New DelhiWhenever India and Australia teams face each other on the cricket field, Sourav Ganguly’s face comes to mind, Harbhajan Singh’s bowling comes to mind, Gambhir’s anger comes to mind, Virat’s desire to bat with eye contact comes to mind. The picture appears repeatedly. But on top of all this, there is an incident that comes before our eyes again and again when the great Sunil Gavaskar walked out from the field.
During the 1981 tour of Australia, a sensational incident took place at the Melbourne Ground. India’s captain and opening batsman Gavaskar was batting with Chetan Chauhan when Australian umpire Rex Whitehead controversially gave him out LBW.
Gavaskar got angry
In the three-match series, the Indian team lost the first Test in Sydney, the second Test was a draw in Adelaide and when the third Test started in Melbourne, there was conflict between the two teams from the very first day. When the Indian opening pair of Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan took the field for the second innings, Australia had a big lead. The pair of Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan put the host team on the backfoot by making a big partnership of 165 runs for the first wicket. Then the ball thrown by Dennis Lillee hit Gavaskar’s bat and hit his pad and the umpire gave Gavaskar out. Angered by this decision, Gavaskar initially expressed his displeasure. When an angry Gavaskar started leaving the field in anger and tension after a heated argument with Lillee, he signaled his teammate Chetan Chauhan to leave the field in protest against the umpire’s decision. As soon as Gavaskar and Chauhan started leaving the field, Indian team manager Shahid Durrani intervened, defused the situation and convinced Chauhan to continue playing. Gavaskar finally left the field, and along with it he realized that Team India also knows how to show aggression.
Kapil’s killer bowling
Australia had a challenge of 142 runs and Kapil Dev was out of the field due to injury. The atmosphere had heated up due to the Gavaskar-Lilly clash. Captain Sunil Gavaskar knew that this match could not be won without Kapil Dev. Gavaskar then talked to Kapil Dev and prepared him for bowling. Kapil Dev came on the field after taking painkiller injection and then something happened which even Australia was not expecting. Kapil Dev took 5 wickets and India won the match by 59 runs. This was the match which made Australia realize that if you tease the Indians, they will not leave.
Tags: Border Gavaskar Trophy, India vs Australia, jasprit bumrah, Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli
FIRST PUBLISHED : November 13, 2024, 2:07 pm IST