To reverse England’s four days of dominance in Chennai and achieve an unlikely victory, India will have to make history on Tuesday. Chasing 420 to win, India is 39/1 and needs another 381 to take a 1-0 lead in the four-round series.
HIGHEST SUCCESSFUL TESTS
418/7: West Indies beat Australia, St John’s, 2003: Brian Lara led the biggest chase in Test history with a superb 60. Both Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored centuries to put WI on top before of the fifth day. Omari Banks and Vasbert Drakes accompanied them.
414/4: South Africa beat Australia, Perth, 2008: A ton from Graeme Smith and 50 from Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis got a glimpse of Proteas, but an undefeated 106 from AB de Villiers sealed the win.
406/4: India beat West Indies, Port of Spain, 1976: Sunil Gavaskar (102) and Gundappa Viswanath (112) helped India force a decisive series. The West Indies unleashed a four-front attack, which began its decade of dominance from the next test in Kingston.
404/3: Australia beat England, Leeds, 1948: Don Bradman scored 173 unbeaten and the visitors took an impregnable 3-0 lead at the Ashes. Arthur Morris (182) and Bradman put up a 301 run stand for the second wicket.
395/7: West Indies beat Bangladesh, Chattogram, 2021: On Sunday, Kyle Mayers scored an undefeated 210, the first rookie to hit one in the fourth inning, to help the West Indies pull off a surprise.
INDIA’S 4TH ENTRY HIGHEST SCORE
445: It is India’s highest score in the fourth inning, in Adelaide in 1978. It was not enough to seal a victory. India lost by 47 runs despite the fifty of Mohinder Amarnath (86), Viswanath (73), Dilip Vengsarkar (78) and Syed Kirmani (51)
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PERSECUTION IN CHENNAI
387/4: INDIA WON ENGLAND IN 2008: A 117-race starting spot between Virender Sehwag (83) and Gautam Gambhir (66) installed him. An undefeated 103 by Sachin Tendulkar gave way to India
FOR THE RECORD
R Ashwin became the first spinner in over a hundred years to take a wicket on the first ball of a test inning. The others are Bobby Peel (1888) and Bert Vogler (1907).
Ishant Sharma became the third Indian pacemaker after Kapil Dev (434 wickets) and Zaheer Khan (311) to reach the 300 wicket milestone.
PROBABLE HEROES OF THE FOURTH INNINGS
Virat Kohli is averaging 49.78 while batting in the final test innings, with 896 runs in 23 innings, including two tonnes. But he only has fifty in a winning cause.
Rishabh Pant is averaging 87 in the 15 tests he has hit in recent testing innings, with 896 hitting in the fourth inning. His general average is 45.34. His 97 in runs in 23 innings, including two tons. But Sydney’s tie test and an unbeaten 89 in the win at Brisbane (India chased 328) make it the best bet if India seeks victory.
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