Best innings in a bad pitch.

[smash84]

Every other ball in the match was an lbw appeal. Both captains said the umpires did a top notch job. Also Imran stated after the game that Gavaskar's Innings was the best he had ever seen.

Reckon Gavaskar's Innings is comfortably better than Tendulkar's itbt, ignoring all the aesthetic viewpoints. Remember seeing highlights of it on TV and Gavaskar was absolutely splendid.

I quote regarding Gavaskar's innings from Javed Miandad's autobiography

"That knock from Gavaskar is one of the finest test batting performances I have ever seen from anyone........For any batsman playing an on drive on that wicket to a ball spinning away from the edge would have been suicide; for Gavaskar it meant getting boundaries. It showed the great depth of and range of his skill."

Even Imran was all praise for that inning saying that it was finest innings he had ever seen IIRC.

 

[vcs]

I have to mention Kallis's hundred in the 2nd innings at Cape Town this year as well. Heroic effort. You had to see the vicious turn, bite and bounce Harbhajan was getting out of the rough. Was virtually unplayable for a spell of 10 overs or so in the first session of day 4. What does Kallis do? Reverse sweeps him for consecutive boundaries.

And the next day, Paul Harris came out, bowled 25 overs and made the pitch look like an Ahmedabad day 1 wicket. /facepalm

 

[smash84]

awesome link posted by vcs.....took me back to that time......what a series that was

 

[Borges]

Sachin's 136 was pretty good too.

Sachin's was a tremendous innings, but it was played on a typical fifth day Chepauk pitch - not one that could really be called a 'bad' pitch.

Btw which is more heartbreaking. Sunny's 96 or Sachin's 136??

I think that for those who saw both, Sunny's would have been the more heartbreaking - I was at the ground on both occasions and it was so for me.

In one case, India just lost a test match; it was a great test match anyway.

In other case we knew beforehand that we were seeing an all time great batsman grace the crease for the very last time. Even if India had won, the gladness of that victory would have been tempered with the sadness, the realization that we wouldn't ever be able to see Gavaskar bat again.

 

[smash84]

I think that for those who saw both, Sunny's would have been the more heartbreaking - I was at the ground on both occasions and it was so for me.
.

That is awesome.........you got to see both thrillers live

 

[Borges]

Ever since I started watching cricket, I have missed very few test matches played at either Chennai or Bangalore - usually, go to the ground for every day of every match.

 

[Sanz]

So this was Sunny's equivalent of Sachin's Chennai '99 knock..

No, Sunny's inning is perhaps the greatest in those situations.

 

[Xuhaib]

agreed with Borges Chennai 99 was a decent track it was a combination of fantastic bowling and daft batting.Seen highlights of banglore 87 that pitch was a real minefield.

 

[Xuhaib]

in recent times Laxman 96 comes to mind as well as Kallis 100's the following test.Kakmal 100 at karachi was also on a grassy track but the ball had gone softer by the time he came still was a quality knock.Remember Imran mentioning about Miandad 100 vs Marshall and Ambrose saying thats the best ever 100 he has seen from a Pakistani batsman not sure how the pitch was playing.

 

[honestbharani]

reckon Lara's 153* is being undersold here.. It was not THAT difficult a track, but it was a difficult track.


I agree that Stewart's 9* is worth the mention.. The pitch was unbelievable.


Laxman's recent 96 possibly among the better ones I have seen.


Best gotta be Dravid's twin efforts in Jamaica.. at least among the ones I have seen, as I don't watch that much cricket outside of India games these days.

 

[Xuhaib]

Steve Waugh should have a few i reckon.

 

[Blaze 18]

Don't remember that pitch being particularly bad, fairly standard day 5 deck from memory.

Was a difficult track to bat on, from what I remember.

 

[Xuhaib]

nah it was an okish track Lara and Mcgrath were in another zone that day to the rest of the players.

 

[Teja.]

Watched the Innings multiple times and it wasn't really a very bowling friendly pitch or anything. Just a normal 5th day track.

 

[robelinda]

Ricky Ponting's 105 and 96 vs Murali on big spinning wickets in 1999 in SL.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Steve Waugh should have a few i reckon.

Not too many in fourth innings...

 

[Burgey]

1. Greentop- VVS Laxman 96 vs RSA 2010 Durban

2. Dustbowl- Sehwag vs Sri Lanka 2008

3. Under pressure- VVS Laxman 280 vs Aus 2001 Kolkata

4. Most memorable- Sachin vs Pakistan 1999 Chennai

Laxman wasn't really under that much pressure tbf. The state of the match was so dire when he started, I can't imagine he'd have had any realistic notion of winning. Plus I don't think the deck was terrible. Australia had scored well on it first dig.

Not decrying from his knock which was one for the ages. Just don't know that it was that poor a wicket (in the context of this thread).

Kim Hughes, day one Melbourne vs WI worth a shout here too.

Sutcliffe in Melbourne 28-29 regarded as a classic.

 

[honestbharani]

Watched the Innings multiple times and it wasn't really a very bowling friendly pitch or anything. Just a normal 5th day track.

lol.. the diff. between youtube highlights and watching the actual game live, tbh..

 

[Cevno]

agreed with Borges Chennai 99 was a decent track it was a combination of fantastic bowling and daft batting.Seen highlights of banglore 87 that pitch was a real minefield.

99 Chennai track was pretty tough ,as usually was the case with the chennai pitch at the time.

By the way it wasn't a 5th day track but a 4th day one as the match ended in 4 days with all team scores about only 250 in each innings.

And the last innings was the toughest with the ball swinging early one ,then reversing and spinning big time of the footmarks.

Here is what Akram did to Dravid when Sachin had come in -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFOjvZaXeQ8

 

[Cevno]

Sachin's was a tremendous innings, but it was played on a typical fifth day Chepauk pitch - not one that could really be called a 'bad' pitch.

The match ended in 4 days actually .

Surprising you don't remember since you were at the ground that day?

That pitch was a bowler friendly one for the whole match with all scores around the 150 mark and was easily at its toughest in the last innings.