India's 6 greatest away victories in Test cricket since 2000
The Indian Test team has produced some famous victories in overseas grounds, right from the time Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar have played. They have managed to produce some great upsets to teams playing on their home grounds, creating some historic games and memories for all to remember.
Here’s a compilation of 6 of India’s greatest away Test wins.
6. First Test, India in South Africa (Johannesburg, 2006)
India have never lost a Test match to South Africa at the Wanderers. They have a win and 3 draws playing here. This particular Test match belonged to the bowlers, in general, and to Indian pacer Sreesanth in particular. No batsmen got a hundred, the highest run-scorer being Ashwell Prince who scored 97 in the final innings when South Africa were chasing 402 to win and fell 124 runs short.
Man of the match S Sreesanth took 8 wickets for 99, on a damp pitch that was really helpful for the bowlers. Even Pollock and Ntini had a good run, and they took 7 and 6 wickets respectively.
The batsmen had to deal with some crazy bounce and swing, which explains why India’s best trio Sourav, Sachin and Dravid (who was captain that time) were the top scorers in the first innings – 51*, 44 and 32 respectively.
The South Africans who batted next were dismissed for a paltry 84, Sreesanth doing the damage claiming half the side- using the pitch to produce some dangerous swing that really troubled the batsmen. India’s first innings total of 249 suddenly started looking like a tremendous effort on their part and way past a competitive total.
The 2nd innings saw the master of the 2nd innings coming to India’s rescue – none other than VVS Laxman who made a gritty 73 to take India past 200 while wickets kept tumbling on the other end. It was in this innings that Sreesanth, the player most seen in the match, did his dancing act after hitting Andre Nel out of the park after some words were exchanged between them.
South Africa’s chase of 402 began dismally when Gibbs gave a simple catch to Sachin without the scoring opened. Sreesanth claimed 3 this time-Smith, Amla and Kallis, all of whom he had dismissed in the 1st innings as well.
Prince and Pollock did try and get South Africa to the highest total of the match, but it was no good to win the match that was lost then itself when South Africa were dislodged in the 1st innings. On the other hand, a complete team effort saw India win the game, and even Zaheer and Kumble ended with 5 wickets each.