September 22 1986: India, Australia play only the second tied Test in Madras
Current India coach Ravi Shastri took a double of the second ball and a single of the next, that meant India couldn’t lose the game. Singh had three balls to get a single required for a win but on the second last ball of the day, Matthews trapped his man in front, resulting in only the second tied Test ever.
Since the first official Test match took place in March 1877, there have been 2318 more matches till now and nothing has been rarer in those matches than a match ending in a tie.
On this day in 1986 India and Australia played out only the second tie in the history of Test cricket after West Indies and played the very first one in 1960. In the 32 years since there have been no more with that result.
Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Australia piled on the runs in the first innings scoring 574/7 declared with David Boon and Allan Border scoring centuries, while Dean Jones scored a double century. In reply, India were bowled out for 397 conceding a lead of 177 in the first Innings. India captain Kapil Dev struck a typically breezy ton.
Australia started their second innings on the third day and batted quickly and declared overnight on the score of 170/5. Giving India a rather improbable looking target of 348 in a minimum of 87 overs.
Sunil Gavaskar started brightly along with Kris Srikkanth and India on tea were 190/2 at tea on the final day of the Test. After Tea, a string on Indian batsmen batted quickly and the team reached 330/6, requiring just 18 with four overs left.
And the drama began, left-arm spinner Ray Bright removed Chetan Sharma and Kiran More in the very next over to make all results possible. Shivlal Yadav got out in the penultimate over of the day to Bright, but not after he had deposited Greg Matthews for a six.
In walked Maninder Singh, the very epitome of a tail-ender, and played the two deliveries from Bright. The last over of the day saw India requiring four runs off the over with one wicket remaining.
Current India coach Ravi Shastri took a double of the second ball and a single of the next, that meant India couldn’t lose the game. Singh had three balls to get a single required for a win but on the second last ball of the day, Matthews trapped his man in front, resulting in only the second tied Test ever.
Australia’s Dean Jones and India captain Kapil Dev were named men of the match.
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