Indias eight-wicket wins in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Tuesday was only the eighth time in 50 Test matches they have beaten Australia in Australia. Half of these wins — four, have come at the MCG. India has won one in Perth (2008), one in Sydney (1978), and two in Adelaide (2003 and 2018) besides.
IANS looks at India’s wins at the MCG:
1978
Leg-spinner Bhagwat Chandrashekhar took 12 wickets for 104 runs — six each in the two innings — to help India register a 222-run victory, their first-ever win at the historic venue. Bishan Bedi was the captain. India made 256 runs in the first innings but bowled the Aussies out for 213. India then made 343, thanks to Sunil Gavaskar’s 118, and bowled out the Aussies for just 164.
1981
A crumbling fifth-day wicket and an inspired spell of fast bowling from Kapil Dev helped India beat Australia by 59 runs. Australia was set a small target of 143 which, on the MCG wicket, looked big enough as there were cracks on the surface. India had made 237 in the first innings with Gundappa Viswanath scoring 114. Aussies replied with 419. India then made 324. A spell of five for 28 from Kapil helped India bowl out Aussies for 83.
2018
Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, touring Australia for the first time with the Indian team, picked nine wickets for 86 including six in the first innings to help India thrash Australia by 137 runs. India had ground the Aussie bowling attack for 169.4 overs in the first innings while making 443/7 (declared) and then Bumrah’s six-wicket haul bowled Australia out for 151. India was then reduced to 106/8 before they decided to declare as the first innings lead was big enough. The Aussies, chasing 399, were bowled out for 261.
2020
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane made a brilliant 112 to lead India to a 131-run lead in the first innings after they were reduced to 116/4 and looked like folding below Australia’s first-innings total of 191. The Indian bowlers then dismissed the Aussies for just 200 and India chased down the 70-run target losing just two wickets on Tuesday.
