5 thrilling draws involving India affected by rain or bad light
The beauty of Test cricket, as opposed to limited overs cricket, is that a match that cannot be won must not necessarily be lost due to the possibility of a draw. While the draw is often panned for producing drab games, it can often lead to hugely exciting contests.
On the other hand, Test matches which are often left for dead by viewers since it has been delayed by rain ultimately lead to exciting draws, with one or the other team in with the chance of enforcing a result.
This sot of uncertainty is what makes Test cricket such a thrilling game. On the other hand, bad light can often play spoilsport and end a game abruptly that might have been heading for an exciting finish. Over the years, India have been involved in plenty of such games, with the one against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens a few days ago being the latest one.
In some cases, they might have escaped with a draw while in others they might have been at the wrong end of the results. Here is a look at 5 such Test matches.
#5 Australia v India, Melbourne, 1985
India have never won a Test series in Australia but it was perhaps during the tour of 1985-86 that the team came closest to clinching a series win, and it was the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne in 1985 that will go down as a missed opportunity.
That being said, the match was far from over when rain stopped play and the umpires called the game off on the last day.
After dismissing Australia for 262, India replied with 445 and after dismissing the hosts a second time for 308, India were left to score 126 runs on the final day. They had two sessions to score those runs to win an absorbing Test match that they had dominated. However, after a steady start, India lost Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth, to give Australia a sniff in the game and while it was looking like the game might turn out to be a classic fight, rain intervened to rob the spectators of a thrilling finish.
That being said, there is no doubt that India were firmly on top when the rains arrived. They were 59/2 when play was called off.