The records of Indian batsmen in the final innings of a match aren’t impressive, but the recent form of Sachin Tendulkar in such situations should give the fans the courage to hope
S Rajesh04-Oct-2010The loss of four wickets has left India with plenty to do on the final day in Mohali, but if Sachin Tendulkar and Co. do manage to score the 161 remaining runs, it will be India’s seventh-largest fourth-innings chase. The highest remains the historic 406 for 4 against West Indies at Port-of-Spain, but they have also had some memorable wins more recently. In the last two years, they’ve batted more than 50 overs in the fourth innings three times, and have won twice and drawn once: against England in Chennai they chased down 387 in less than 100 overs, while against Sri Lanka in Colombo earlier this year, they rode on a superb century from VVS Laxman to chase 258. The last time India lost after a fourth-innings run-chase was in the acrimonious Sydney Test, when they were bowled out for 210 in 70.5 overs.
ScoreVersusVenue406 for 4West IndiesPort-of-Spain, Trinidad387 for 4EnglandChennai264 for 3Sri LankaKandy258 for 5Sri LankaColombo (PSS)256 for 8AustraliaMumbai (Brabourne)233 for 6AustraliaAdelaideHowever, the stats for the Indian batsmen in fourth innings might not inspire much confidence. Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid are the only ones among India’s current top order to average more than 40, and both have been removed early in this run-chase. Tendulkar’s overall fourth-innings numbers aren’t impressive, with only three centuries and four half-centuries, but three of those fifty-plus scores have come in his last seven innings – apart from the unbeaten 103 in the Chennai run-chase against England, he also scored fifties in Colombo and against Pakistan in Delhi in 2007.MS Dhoni has scored only one half-century in eight fourth innings, but that was a valuable one, and allowed India to escape with a draw against England at Lord’s in 2007.
BatsmanInningsRunsAverage100s/ 50sGautam Gambhir923647.200/ 2Rahul Dravid47132542.741/ 9Sachin Tendulkar48127637.523/ 4VVS Laxman2980236.451/ 4MS Dhoni822832.570/ 1Virender Sehwag2355629.260/ 4Australia, meanwhile, will fancy their chances after dismissing four of India’s top-order batsmen, with one more severely hampered by injury. Since the beginning of 2006 they’ve successfully defended fourth-innings scores 18 times in 23 attempts, while they’ve lost three times and drawn two. Before their defeat against Pakistan at Headingley, Australia had won on nine successive occasions when they bowled in the fourth innings. However, apart from their Sydney win against Pakistan earlier this year, when they defended 176, all their wins during this period have come when they had a cushion of more than 275 runs to defend. (Click here to see the list sorted by fourth-innings target.)Since 1990, there have been ten occasions when Australia have had to defend targets between 175 and 250 in the last innings of a Test – they’ve won twice, lost five times and drawn three times. Going by the amount of damage they’ve inflicted in 17 overs on the third evening, they have every chance of adding to that win tally.
