The Best of Indian Cricket in Australia: Kapil Dev's Five-Wicket Haul and Sunil Gavaskar's Memorable Walk-Off at the MCG

In a rare and memorable moment in Test cricket history, India captain Sunil Gavaskar created quite a stir during a Test match against Australia. Frustrated by an LBW decision that went against him, Gavaskar threatened to walk off the field and withdraw his team from the match. This incident added to the intense rivalry between the two nations. The Indian team had been at odds with the umpiring decisions throughout the series, and Gavaskar's outburst was the culmination of their grievances. Fast bowler Dennis Lillee played a key role in calming Gavaskar down and convincing him to accept the decision, preventing a potentially historic walk-off. Despite Gavaskar's initial intention to leave the field, India manager Shahid Durrani and assistant manager Bapu Nadkarni intervened just in time. They persuaded Gavaskar to retreat to the pavilion, while ensuring that opening partner Chetan Chauhan stayed put on the field. This dramatic incident has since become a legendary tale in the folklore of the India-Australia Test rivalry, showcasing the passion and intensity that both teams bring to the cricket field.

Gavaskar has said in the years since that he regretted his actuons on the day. "It was a big mistake on my part. As Indian captain I was not supposed to act in that manner. In no way I can justify my act of defiance. Whether I was out or not, I should not have reacted that way," he had said in 2014.

Now that we are done with that part of the story, let us take a look at the rather extraordinary Test match in which took place, shall we?

Australia were leading the series 1-0, with the second Test being drawn, going into the third and final match. India batted first and were reliant on a one-man show from Gundappa Viswanath, who scored 114 runs to lead India to a score of 237. Viswanath was the only player who could score more than 25 runs in that first innings, with Lillee taking four wickets and Len Pascoe taking three. Australia scored 419 in reply with Allan Border scoring 124.

Inda had a strong second innings, with openers Gavaskar and Chauhan putting a 165-run stand before Lillee ended it amid the aforementioned dramatic events. There were further contributions from the rest of the top five of Dilip Vengsarkar (41), Viswanath (30) and Sandeep Patil (36) but India ended up being all out for 324, thus handing Australia a measly target of 143 to chase. Moreover, India's lead pacer Kapil Dev was injured.

But the visitors' start was a troubled one, being reduced to 18/3 and this included a rather deflating dismissal for Chappell, the captain and the batting talisman. It was a rather inocous delivery from spinner Karsan Ghavri, a long-hop that was there to hit for Chappell anywhere on the off side. He ended up missing it altogether and the ball almost bounced a second time before hitting the stumps. Australia were 24/3 at the close of play.

India then convinced the injured Kapil to bowl the next day and well, he made the most of a pitch that had started helping pace and spin by that point. He bowled 16.4 overs and recorded figures of 5/28 and Australia were bowled out for just 83 runs in 48.4 overs. Doug Walters' 18 not out was the highest score by any of the hosts' batters. Three years earlier, India had beaten Australia by 222 runs at the same ground to record their first ever Test match win in the country. They ended up coming from behind and making it two wins in a row at the MCG in 1981.