5 thrilling draws in Test cricket

In an increasingly result-oriented world, the game of cricket is no different. Draws in Test cricket are seen as a poor advertisement of a format of the game that is alleged to be dying a slow death.

While Test matches still continue to be a much-followed affair as a televised sport, the prospect of them spread over five days and eventually meandering into meaningless draws is keeping the crowds away from stadiums across the world in an era that has made the ‘thrill-a-minute’ T20 games its staple diet.

However, even in the slow and ebbing flows of Test cricket has born many a thrilling drawn game with its fair share of twists and turns.

Here we look at five of those thrillers:

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India vs West Indies, Nov 2011

Wankhede, Mumbai

Skipper Darren Sammy appreciates pacer Fidel Edwards, who conceded just two runs in the final over of the Test match.

After a dominant 2-0 lead by the hosts, the third and final Test of Windies’ tour of India in 2011 turned out to be a cliff-hanger with all four results including a tie possible when Fidel Edwards ran in for the final over of the match on Day 5.

Batting first, West Indies piled on the runs as all of its top six batsmen registered fifties and Darren Bravo topped with a solid knock of 166. Trailing a first innings score of 590, India scored 482 with fifties from Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Kohli and a ton from Ashwin lower down the order.

The track that had yielded more than 1000 runs in just the first couple of innings took a complete U-turn as the game progressed into its second half.

The Windies were bowled out for a mere 134 in their second stint, the spin duo of Pragyan Ojha(6/47) and Ashwin(4/34) sharing all the spoils, leaving a fourth innings target of 243. After scaling down half of it, India kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

When Dhoni departed at 189, India still required another 50 odd runs with only Ashwin and the tail to follow. Dogged efforts from Ashwin and Ishant stretched the game into the climactic final over of the match.

India still needed 3 runs with 2 wickets in hand. Debutant Varun Aaron could hand over the strike to Ashwin off only the fourth ball of the over.

Needing two off the last ball to win, a moment of indecision from Ashwin cost India as a late response to Aaron’s call for a second run ended up in him missing his crease by a fair distance, only the second time a Test had been drawn with scores level.

Despite a disappointing end, Ashwin’s first innings century and his 9 wicket-haul in the game won him the ‘Player of the Match’ honours, in addition to the ‘Player of the series’ in his debut Test series and India just fell short of a 3-0 clean sweep.

South Africa vs India, Dec 2013

The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

The duo of De Villiers and Du Plessis scored tons that not only denied India a famous overseas Test win but gave themselves a chance of winning a record chase.

On a trademark Wanderers track, Indian skipper MS Dhoni’s decision to bat first on pacy and bouncy conditions in the first Test of the series could have backfired big time if a young Virat Kohli on his first tour of South Africa had not steered the team to safety with a century.

Kohli's 119-run knock took India to a decent first innings total of 280. In return, the Indian pace trio of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami ran through the opposition and the Proteas folded up at 244, giving the visitors a slender lead.

Quite unlike the India-Windies game at Wankhede, the second half of this Test turned out to be a run feast. This time, Cheteshwar Pujara notched up a classy 153 and Kohli fell short of another ton by just four runs. India were eventually bowled out for 421.

Faced with the daunting task of chasing down a target of 458 to win in a maximum remaining 136 overs, the hosts seemed to have started steadily as Alviro Petersen and Graeme Smith put on an opening partnership of 108 but a quick fall of wickets thereafter slid them down to 197/4.

Defeat seemed inevitable when the Proteas needed to survive close to a day with almost half their side down.

However, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis added 205 for the fifth wicket and consumed most of the remaining overs, ensuring either a well-earned draw or a miraculous chase.

South Africa needed just 16 to get in just more than 3 overs when du Plessis departed. Strangely, they seemed to play for a draw as Steyn and Philander played out two maidens and left the score at a mere eight runs adrift of the target.

Zimbabwe vs England, Dec 1996

Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo

A dejected Nick Knight walks off at the end of Test cricket's first instance of a match drawn with scores level.

India’s thrilling last-ball draw against the Windies at Wankhede was the second instance of a Test drawn with scores level. The first of its kind came in this 1996 Test between England and Zimbabwe, the first ever Test between the two sides.

Centuries from the Zimbabwean wicketkeeper-batsman Andy Flower and England’s Nasser Hussain and John Crawley saw both teams matching each other in the first innings with totals of 376 and 406 respectively.

Zimbabwe was then shot out for 234 in their second essay, leaving England to go for 205 in 37 overs on the final day. In spite of Zimbabwe’s negative tactics of bowling way outside the stumps, England played boldly and were cruising at more than 5 runs per over.

The final over started with England requiring 13 runs to clinch victory. With just five wickets down and opener Nick Knight on an unbeaten 84, England were well on course to win before the strange turn.

A dot ball, a scampered two off the second delivery and Knight smashed Heath Streak over mid-wicket for a much-needed six. Two more came off the penultimate ball and now three were needed to win off the final delivery. Knight hit to deep cover and ran two before setting off for a non-existent third run in pursuit of victory and ending up well short.

Australia vs South Africa, Nov 2012

Adelaide Oval

The versatility of AB de Villiers' batsmanship - to switch his game from having any number of shots to every delivery to not playing one at all - was underlined at the Adelaide Test.

Teams chasing totals either on the lower or higher side in the fourth innings but just missing the target have given us some heart-stopping thrillers. These are games that the batting side ought to have won but just fell short of. At the other end of the spectrum are the survival thrillers.

Many a time, a win is a distant possibility and teams have to rather shed their ego and play boring, dour cricket to achieve the more practical drawn result. These scenarios too have given us some thrilling draws.

One classic of this kind was played out at the Adelaide Oval during South Africa’s tour of Australia in 2012. Michael Clarke’s double ton and centuries from David Warner and Michael Hussey led Australia to a mammoth 550, to which South Africa replied with 388.

The Proteas were set a target of 430 in the fourth innings. First innings centurion Graeme Smith was dismissed cheaply for a duck and the Proteas soon slid to 45/4. At the crease were the experience of AB De Villiers and Faf Du Plessis in his debut Test. The duo traded their stroke-making capabilities for Zen-like defence.

Particularly interesting was the approach of de Villiers, a man who has every shot in the book and can play any ball to any part of the ground. His innings spanning 220 deliveries yielded a mere 33 runs and no boundaries.

Du Plessis, on the other hand, consumed 376 deliveries and registered a very crucial century on debut. Even the injured Jacques Kallis, who had left the field early in the game after injuring his hamstring while bowling, fought through the pain and contributed 58 and 46 in both innings, batting long hours at No’s: 9 and 7 respectively.

The Proteas never came anywhere close to the target but they had batted close to a day and a half or 150 overs to salvage a draw.

Pakistan vs Australia, October 2018

Dubai International Cricket Stadium

In only his second match as Test captain, Tim Paine displayed steely resolve to survive tense moments and lead his team to a well-earned draw

A weakened Aussie side sans their two best batsmen and led by a makeshift skipper, the slow and low tracks of Dubai and Pakistan at their adopted home. Not one would have given the Aussies a chance of a fight at the start of this Test.

The script seemed predictable when centuries from comeback man Mohammad Hafeez and Haris Sohail helped Pakistan post a formidable 482. In their reply, the Aussies flattered to deceive after a 142 run opening partnership by ‘debutant’ Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja and were bowled out for 202 in their first innings.

Pakistan added another 181 to the first innings lead, giving the visitors a huge 462 runs to chase or rather, plenty of overs to survive.

Heavily criticised for his poor returns in the subcontinent, Usman Khawaja churned out a gem of an innings that gave Aussies hope, ably supported by Travis Head’s 72 – the duo batted out close to 50 overs.

Khawaja's 141 runs of resistance was a marathon of 300 deliveries and close to 9 hours at the crease. Yet, once both departed, Pakistan still had more than a sniff at victory.

Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle didn’t last long and captain Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon had to survive another 13 overs to scrape through. Paine, who survived close to 200 deliveries for his unbeaten 61, and Lyon played out the same to end what was Australia’s longest ever fourth innings with a hard-fought draw.