Dominating Australia in their own backyard is every test playing batsman’s dream. While the challenge is no lesser to walking on fire, some of the Indian batsmen have thrived under the pressure of playing down under.
The Indian contingent, who will be going against the Oz in the four-Test series will be confident of recurrent success, having made history by winning their first test series in Australia on their previous tour.
Before we tuned into the action, let us feel proud and honoured to witness the stellar show by Indian batsmen down under. Here are the 4 players who have scored more than 1000 runs against Australia in their own den in Test cricket:
Sachin Tendulkar
When it comes to batting records in the history of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar’s name is a certain necessity. The little master has bossed Australians like no-one else and it had become a normal routine for Tendulkar to pile runs down under.
Tendulkar has accumulated 1809 runs against the Kangaroos in their own backyard and the run-fest began way back in 1992. The legendary batsman smashed 148 and 114 in the Sydney and Perth test respectively in 1991/1992. He continued with the century-scoring spree yet again in Australia as he scored a fine 116 in the Melbourne game in 1999.
The 2003/04 tour was a slight exception to the incredible batsmanship of Tendulkar as runs refrained to shower off his bat in the first three Tests. While the lean patch could have created uncertainty and self-doubt in the minds of every other batsmen, the case was entirely different with respect to Tendulkar as the stalwart converted his shortcomings into strength and scored a career-best 241 not out in the fourth test at Sydney.
There was no stopping Tendulkar after that scintillating knock as he followed it up with scores of 154 and 153 in Sydney and Adelaide in the year 2007.
Virat Kohli
The current best batsman across all formats will leave no stone unturned when India takes on Australia in the first pink-ball test. Being the captain of a successful team, who inflicted a 2-1 series win against Australians, there lies a huge responsibility on the abled shoulders of Kohli to repeat history. The Delhi batsman has garnered 1274 runs playing in Australia and the hunger hasn’t died for any.
He may not be around for the remainder of the 3 Tests, but his performances in the first Test will set a template for the other capable batsmen to emulate. Kohli’s breakthrough series against the Australians came in 2014/15, where he plundered 692 runs at an average of 86 with four blistering centuries, two of them coming in the first test at Adelaide. Interestingly, that was also the first series for Kohli as a full-time captain of the Indian Test team.
The Run-machine’s first international century also came at the Adelaide Oval in 2012, where India was whitewashed 0-4. His 123 against the Aussies at the newly built, Optus Stadium at Perth was one of the best and matured knocks of Kohli. His gritty knock was a rich blend of aggression and composure.
VVS Laxman
Known as the ‘man for the fourth innings’, Laxman has enjoyed playing against the Australians. His highest score of 281 came against the same opposition at Eden Gardens, where the batsman bailed the team out of trouble, owing to his mammoth partnership with solid Rahul Dravid.
His first of many centuries against the Oz at their den came in the year 1999, when he smashed 167 runs at the SCG. He followed that up with another blistering knock of 148, stitching a 303-run stand with Dravid at Adelaide in 2003 and helped India win their first test on Australian soil after 22 long years.
Laxman’s love-affair with Australia continued as he chronicled innings of 178 and 109 both at Sydney in 2004 and 2008 respectively. Laxman amassed 1236 runs in totality against the Australians and the feat will always remain special considering that it came while batting in the lower middle order. He was rightly called the ‘rescue man’ for India as he often prevented the downfalls and took the team towards glory.
Unfortunately, India hasn’t found a batsman of his calibre as yet in the middle order, who can contribute runs on a consistent basis and provide impetus to the innings if it’s lacking.
Rahul Dravid
Dravid doesn’t have a massive success to show against his name batting in Australia. His first and only century came against the Oz in 2003 when he blasted 233 runs at Adelaide which helped India win their first test down under after 22 years. His 619 runs during that series which came at a mind-boggling average of 123 was the best by an Indian batsman in Australia until Kohli broke it during 2014/15 .
The elegant right-hander made 1143 runs throughout his career against the Aussies and turned heads with his near-perfect batsmanship. Dravid was the most technically sound batsman to have ever played the game, who had hardly any flaws for the opposition bowlers to exploit.
Indian test specialist, Pujara has been compared with Dravid and looked upon as ‘Mr. Dependable’ in the multi-day format. Come the gruelling Test series, Pujara would be expected to deliver similar performance with the bat as he did in 2018 and shoulder major chunk of the responsibility in the absence of their illustrious skipper, Kohli.
