Given we are less than a week from the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, let us revisit the first-ever game of this history Test series
The year was 1996 when the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was christened to celebrate the record-breaking achievements of Australian great Allan Border and Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar, both of whom were the first to score 10,000 Test runs and remained the highest run-getter in the format for a long time.
Between 1947 and 1996, India and Australia played 50 Tests, but it was in the month of October 1996 when Australia’s one-off Test against India on Indian soil gave birth to one of the greatest rivalries in Test. Not to mention, it is a test series that will remain in the annals of cricketing lore forever.
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At Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, the two rivals clash, Australia taking the crease to bat first. The openers of the Aussies, Michael Slater and Mark Taylor, gave a decent start, adding 44 runs and 27 runs, respectively. Ricky Ponting only lasted 47 minutes to score merely 14 runs, whereas Stever Waugh was gone for a duck. The faltering Aussies line-up got a little more support from two 26-run innings from Steve Wagh and Michael Bevan, but that wasn’t enough for Australia as the lower order couldn’t do much damage.
Australia’s first innings was derailed by the Indian bowlers, especially by spin maestro Anil Kumble, who chucked four wickets in 24 overs with an economy of 2.62.
India quickly lost VikramRathour, but Dinesh Mongia was determined to etch his name in the history books of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Having spent 497 minutes on the crease, Mongia scored 152 runs, including 18 boundaries. He became the first player to score a century in the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Sourav Ganguly also added 66 runs, whereas Rahul Dravid’s 40 was also crucial as India had 361 runs. Unfortunately, Sachin Tendulkar scored only 10 runs and was also India’s first-ever captain in a Border-Gavaskar Test.
While Australia had to suffer Mongia’s wrath with the bat, in the second inning, it was Anil Kumble who further tortured the Aussies with his bowling capabilities. Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan, Ian Healy, Brad Hogg, Paul Reiffel and Peter McIntyre fell prey to Kumble’s deceptive spells. Despite Steve Waugh’s 67, a few more 20s and 30s by the top order could only help the Aussies hit 234.
For India in its second inning, the winning target was merely 56 runs. Yet, VikramRathour walked back to the pavilion with 14 runs, whereas Tendulkar and Mongia were gone for a duck. Finally, both Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin scored 21 runs each to give India a seven-wicket victory over the Aussies in the first-ever Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Head-to-head, India leads the tally with 10 wins in 16 Test series, whereas Australia has only won five and one series in 2003/04 ended in a draw. The first game of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy is scheduled to go live on November 22 at Australia’s Perth Stadium.
