1992-93 vs England: My first taste of a Test series win
Your first Test on your home ground has to be special. We had won the series so we came into the game on high. The atmosphere was excellent.
It was excellent feeling having clinched the series in Chennai and we ended winning here too. Vinod got a brilliant double hundred. The mindset was fine after my hundred in the previous Test. I was looking for a big score here and I scored 78 – lbw Tufnell.
Sachin Tendulkar, Praveen Amre and Vinod Kambli celebrate India's 3-0 win over England at the Wankhede in 1992-93
At one stage people thought I was batting slowly when Vinod was blazing away but you have to figure out who’s bowling and the kind of field setting.
I thought Vinod was going great guns and there was no need to take any undue risk.
To get into a huge partnership was crucial.
Brief scores
England (first innings) 347 all out (G Hick 178, C Lewis 49;
A Kumble 3-95)
India (first innings) 591 all out (N Sidhu 79, M Prabhakar 44,
V Kambli 224, S Tendulkar 78, P Amre 57; P Tufnell 4-142)
England (second innings) 229 all out (R Smith 62, M Gatting 61,
G Hick 47; A Kumble 4-70)
Result: India won by an innings and 15 runs
1994-95 vs WI: Wind in our sails
West Indies had a good attack of Courtney Walsh and Kenny Benjamin. My 85 in the second innings was a crucial one and that allowed us to put up a decent total to chase in the fourth innings. We were not in a great position on the third evening when Benjamin got a couple of early wickets. I would put this innings as extremely important.
It was Sanjay Manjrekar’s comeback into the Test team and he had a good partnership with Nayan Mongia. Walsh was a challenge and when we are talking about him, you are talking about one of the greatest bowlers of all time.
With his ability, it did not matter what type of track you are playing on for he could generate pace and bounce. It was tough to tackle him and Benjamin was hostile.
Javagal Srinath went and scored some important runs and the huge six he hit off Carl Hooper which landed on the roof of the stadium.
Brief scores
India (first innings) 272 all out (N Mongia 80, S Manjrekar 51; C Walsh 6-79)
West Indies (first innings) 243 all out (S Williams 49, K Arthurton 42; V Raju 5-60)
India (second innings) 333 all out (S Tendulkar 85, S Manjrekar 66, J Srinath 60; K Benjamin 4-82)
West Indies (second innings) 266 all out (J Murray 85, J Adams 81; J Srinath 4-48)
Result: India won by 96 runs
1997-98 vs SL: Ton for Sara but draw for India
I was captain of India this time. The thing which I can never forget of that Test is that we had a chance to win and it rained at that time of the year (December).
I scored my first Test hundred at the Wankhede. It was an important innings for me because I had not got runs in Nagpur. The ball hit my thigh pad and went on to hit the stumps after I started well – the first ball I hit Muralitharan for a six.
The first two games were drawn. I remember we were on top but couldn’t pull it off. The first two sessions were very good on the last day but we dropped some crucial catches and bad light and eventually drizzle stopped the game which was disappointing.
I got 148 – bowled by Pushpakumara. I was going great guns I thought and was looking to get a boundary every now and again. Spontaneously, I dedicated my ton to Sara, who was born a few days ago then.
Sourav played very well for his 173. He played some wonderful shots.
It was inspiring to see him blaze away.
Brief Scores
India (first innings) 512 all out (S Ganguly 173, S Tendulkar 148, R Dravid 93)
Sri Lanka (first innings) 361 all out (M Atapattu 98, Aravinda de Silva 66, S Jayasuriya 50; R Chouhan 4-48)
India (second innings) 181 for nine decl (R Dravid 85,
N Sidhu 43; K Dharmasena 5-57)
Sri Lanka (second innings) 166 for seven (S Jayasuriya 37;
A Kumble 3-56, R Chouhan 3-59)
Result: Match drawn
1999-2000 vs SA: Proteas power shows the way
I had announced that I wouldn’t be captain after this Test series but I was not thinking about all that when the game started. All that was on my mind was winning the Test. I made the decision after consulting people close to me and I was sure of what I was doing.
South Africa were well organised with a good attack. I made 97 before I was caught behind by Mark Boucher. Once the ball left Kallis’s hand, I said to myself ‘my boundary ball’ and I flicked it. I don’t think the umpire nor the non-striker picked it and I walked.
I was unlucky not to score a hundred. Very rarely you edge while playing a flick shot. The positive aspect was that I batted well, moved my feet well and the time I was at the crease, I controlled the game.
To lose any Test match is disheartening and it did not have to be South Africa to feel any different after a loss.
Brief Scores
India (first innings) 225 all out (S Tendulkar 97, A Agarkar 41;
J Kallis 3-30)
South Africa (first innings) 176 all out (G Kirsten 50, H Gibbs 47; Tendulkar 3-10)
India (second innings) 113 all out (R Dravid 37; A Donald 4-24,
H Cronje 3-23)
South Africa (second innings) 164 for six (Gibbs 46; A Kumble 4-56)
Result: South Africa won by four wickets
2000-01 vs Australia: Gilly had us all at sea
The first morning of that Test was pretty lively. There was reasonable life in the wicket. McGrath, Gillespie, Fleming bowled well. Again, I was in terrific nick. I went and started playing my shots and things changed. I got a good ball from McGrath and was caught behind in the first innings.
The ball was seaming around. If you are prepared to play your shots, Wankhede is a good track and you’ll get the balls to put away and they bowled a good spell. I felt good. A good Test match.
The turning point probably was in the second innings when I got out. If we had put up a decent total in the second innings, things would have been different. Again, I was unlucky, pulled a shot one off Mark Waugh which hit Justin Langer’s bat and ricocheted to mid-wicket.
The ten-wicket loss did not reflect the closeness of the game. They won by that margin because they had to chase only 47 runs.
Gilchrist changed the complexion of the game but that was the last significant innings he played in that series.
Brief Scores
India (first innings) 176 all out (S Tendulkar 76; S Warne 4-47)
Australia (first innings) 349 all out (A Gilchrist 122, M Hayden 119; Harbhajan Singh 4-121)
India (second innings) 219 all out (Tendulkar 65, S Ramesh 44)
Australia (second innings) 47 for no loss
Result: Australia won by 10 wickets
2002-03 vs West Indies: When Viru had them for tea
Another early finish to a Wankhede match. I got 35. I was batting overnight. It was hard work with the old ball getting some reverse swing. I missed a cut shot. We won that game quiet comfortably. We on the whole were in good form and our team started to play quite well.
To go one-up after the first Test was important in a three-match series. Zaheer bowled good spells. It was heartening to see Sehwag and Bangar putting on 200 plus runs for the
opening wicket.
Brief Scores
India (first innings) 457 all out (V Sehwag 147, R Dravid 100, S Bangar 55, VVS Laxman 45)
West Indies (first innings) 157 all out (S Chanderpaul 54, Zaheer Khan 4-41, Anil Kumble 4-51)
West Indies (second innings after following on) 188 all out (C Gayle 42, W Hinds 40; Harbhajan Singh 7-48)
Result: India won by an innings and 112 runs
2004-05 vs Australia: We spun them out
I wanted to get back in action after that terrible tennis elbow injury. I did all sorts of things – took injections, went to England for treatment. I was losing patience but I had to follow the doctor’s advise.
When I got that chance to play here, I grabbed it.
The second innings became very important. I got into a partnership with Laxman and added some very critical runs. That gave us a fair chance to get the Australians out on that surface.
The way the track was playing, we always knew we had a reasonable chance if we could get an early breakthrough and prevent any partnerships, we had a wonderful chance. We had the spin ammunition.
I was very intense and it was critical in the second to put up a decent total so that our bowlers could extract whatever was there in the wicket. You get very charged up in those tense games because you want to go out there and make yourself counted. It was very satisfying to win this Test however small the victory margin was.
Brief scores
India (first innings) 104 all out (R Dravid 31; J Gillespie 4-29, N Hauritz 3-16)
Australia (first innings) 203 all out (D Martyn 55; A Kumble 5-90,
M Kartik 4-44)
India (second innings) 205 all out (VVS Laxman 69, S Tendulkar 55; M Clarke 6-9)
Australia (second innings) 93 all out (Harbhajan Singh 5-29, Kartik 3-32)
Result: India won by 13 runs
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March 16, 2006, 09:36:04 PM