What is India's highest successful run chase in Tests?
India continued their chase on Day 5, with the home side needing to score 420 to win the 1st Test against England. If India manage to win the Test, it will shatter several chase records that have long stood unbroken in the team’s history.
India will register their highest successful chase at the Chepauk if they manage to chase down 420. Their previous best at the stadium also came against England, when they scored 387 in the 4th innings to win the Test by 6 wickets, a victory that came in 2008.
If the hosts manage to achieve the improbable, will it also be India’s highest successful chase ever in the game’s longest format?
India's highest run chase in Tests on Day 5 came in 1976
India’s highest successful chase came more than 40 years ago in the Port of Spain. Set a target of 403, India ended with a score of 406/4 against the mighty West Indies.
They got going with a fighting century at the top by Sunil Gavaskar, who scored 102 from 245 balls. He was admirably supported by Mohinder Amarnath and Gundappa Viswanath, who scored 85 and 112 respectively.
Brijesh Patel played a vital knock of 49*, as India chased 269 runs on the final day to register an unlikely victory.
India's other successful chases have been below 400
Although India have scored upwards of 400 on other occasions, those haven’t ended in victory. India’s highest total in the 4th innings is 445 against Australia at Adelaide in 1978. However, they lost the Test that day.
In other instance, India made 429/8 against England at the Oval in 1979, to famously draw the Test.
All of India’s other successful 4th innings chases have been below 400. Their 2nd highest successful chase was the aforementioned 387 in Chennai against England. Rounding off India’s podium of successful run chases in Tests is their recent feat in Brisbane when they scored 329/7 to breach Australia’s fortress at the Gabba.