LISTICLE
Follow UsAustralia have set India a massive target of 444 in the World Test Championship final at the Oval, a total that has never been chased down in the history of Test cricket. Here, we look at the five biggest run-chases in the history of Test cricket.
418 - West Indies vs Australia in Antigua
This was some batting performance from West Indies, considering they were 0-3 down in the four-match series. Having been hammered in the first three encounters, West Indies, in the fourth Test, pulled off something nobody could have imagined. Thanks to centuries from Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, Australia set up a target of 418 for Brian Lara and his men.
West Indies didn’t get off to a solid start, losing three wickets with 74 runs on the board. Lara got 60 and put on 91 runs with Ramnaresh Sarwan (105) before falling to Stuart MacGill. However, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (104) walked in next and added 123 runs with Sarwan. The two couldn’t finish the job but Omari Banks and Vasbert Drakes did, and created history.
414 - South Africa vs Australia in Perth
There’s something about South Africa playing in Australia. The 2008-09 tour was always going to be an interesting one but what we witnessed at the WACA left everyone in awe. The target was 414 and that’s when Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers put on a show in the final innings.
Hashim Amla (53) and Jacques Kallis (57) both got fifties but it was the aforementioned two who got hundreds. Smith scored 108 before de Villiers (106*) and JP Duminy (50*) joined hands and got SA over the line with an unbeaten partnership of 111, making Australia the only team to lose twice while defending a 400-plus total.
404 - Australia vs England in Leeds
Australia might have failed to defend a 400-plus total twice but they were the first side to hunt down a 400-plus score in the final innings, that too in 1948. The Headingley turned out to be a batting heaven and almost everyone made the most of it.
England got 496 in the first innings and Australia then amassed 456. The hosts then declared after scoring 365/8 but little did they know that it wasn’t going to be enough. Arthur Morris (182) and Sir Donald Bradman (173*) got massive hundreds and got Australia home with seven wickets to spare.
403 - India vs West Indies in Port of Spain
We often keep talking about what Rishabh Pant and Co. did at the Gabba but that was still not as big as what they did in Port of Spain. Chasing 403 against West Indies in the 70s was always going to need a couple of special knocks and that’s exactly what Sunil Gavaskar (102) and Gundappa Viswanath (112) delivered.
Anshuman Gaekwad played a cameo of 28, while Mohinder Amarnath (85) put on 108 runs with Gavaskar. Amarnath and Viswanath were run out but Brijesh Patel remained unbeaten on 49 and helped India create history. This still remains India’s highest run-chase in Test cricket.
395 - West Indies vs Bangladesh in Chittagong
The most recent one amongst these five but also arguably the best. A double century on debut and that too in the fourth innings, Kyle Mayers couldn’t have asked for a better start to his career. After West Indies conceded a lead of 171 in the first innings, it felt like Bangladesh would run away with the game.
Bangladesh should have always defended 395 in their conditions and everything was going as planned when they had West Indies at 59/3. But, that’s when Nkrumah Bonner (86) and Mayers (210) got going and got 216 runs together for the fourth wicket. Bonner departed but Mayers went on to complete his double century and gave his team a three-wicket win.
