Top 5 Test performances of the year 2015

2015 had in store some mouth-watering contests like the Ashes in England, India–South Africa Test series in India, New Zealand-Australia Test series in Australia, England-Pakistan Test series in UAE and various others. Many of the Tests played this year showed the world the real worth of Test matches and why Tests are the real litmus test of a cricketer.There were various epic performances this year in both home and away conditions which left numerous fans spellbound. Amongst all the great performances put in this year, let’s have a look at the list of top 5 Test performances of 2015:

#5 Rangana Herath (7/48) against India

Rangana Herath made light work of the Indian batting

12 August 2015. It needed a brilliant innings from Dinesh Chandimal in the second innings to give the Lankan bowlers something to defend at. The target was still gettable and India would have fancied their chances of taking a 1-0 lead in the series. But Rangana Herath came into his own In the fourth innings and bowled a magical spell.

Herath picked up 7 wickets for 48 in an exceptional display of left-arm spin bowling. India were outclassed by the wily left-armer with his guile, flight and spin.

India crumbled to 112 and ended up losing the match by 63 runs. Herath was the star with the ball in the fourth innings for the Lankan team and his spell ensured Sri Lanka took a 1-0 lead in the series.

#4 Dinesh Chandimal (162) against India

Dinesh Chandimal played a brilliant counter-attacking knock

12 August 2015. Sri Lanka were hosting India for a three-match Test series and it was the first Test of the series. Sri Lanka’s decision to bat first backfired when they were bundled out for 183. India got a lead of 192 in the first innings and Sri Lanka were in deep trouble at 95-5 in their second innings.

Dinesh Chandimal then played one of the best counter-attacking Test innings in the last few years. He swept, reverse swept the Indian spinners, attacked the fast bowlers and when the innings ended, he was unbeaten on 162 off 169 balls. He had given his team a slight opening to come back in the match, which was fully exploited by Rangana Herath.

His innings deserved a place in this list ahead of the various double hundreds scored this year on flat tracks because of the pressure he was under when he played his knock and also because of the fact that it came against a quality bowling attack in spinning conditions.

#3 Ajinkya Rahane\'s twin tons against South Africa

Ajinkya Rahane played a couple of special knocks in the Delhi Test

3 December 2015. It was the last Test in the four-match Test series between India and South Africa. India had already pocketed the series but the striking point about the series till now had been that no century was scored by batsmen from both sides.

India won the toss and chose to bat first. At 139/6, it seemed like another low scoring Test match was on the cards. Although Ajinkya Rahane strung together a couple of handy partnerships with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin and completed his century which was also the first one by any batsman in the series. Rahane’s 127 pushed India’s total to 334.

South Africa were bundled out for 121 in their first innings and when India came out to bat in the third innings of the match, they needed a handy score to mount the pressure on the visitors.

Rahane again came good and scored a superb century to back up his first innings ton. India eventually went on to win the match. Rahane’s innings’ were so special because they were the only tons in the four-match series which was dominated by bowlers.

#2 Younis Khan (171*) against Sri Lanka

Younis Khan played a match winning knock in the fourth innings

3 July 2015. It was the last Test of the three-match Test series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. With the series evenly poised at 1-1, Pakistan had a chance to beat Sri Lanka in their own backyard.

Pakistan thought they had done their job well as they bundled the hosts out for 278 after winning the toss and electing to field first. But the visitors were bowled out for 215 in their first innings and handed the initiative back to the opposition.

When Sri Lanka managed 313 in their second innings and Pakistan were set a target of 377 in the fourth innings, the task seemed an arduous one.

Furthermore, Pakistan lost 2 early wickets and were staring at jaws of crushing defeat. Younis Khan came in at number four and did his image of being a fourth innings specialist a world of good.

His mammoth partnership with Shan Masood took Pakistan close and when they finally won the match, Younis was unbeaten on 171. A high-class innings under pressure in the fourth innings cements his place at No. 2 on our list.

#1 Stuart Broad (8/15) against Australia

Stuart Broad wreaked havoc on the Australian batting

6 August 2015. It was the fourth Test in the Ashes and England was leading the series 2-1. If the result of the match went in favour of England then they would regain the Ashes. The biggest blow for England though was that they were without the service of their best fast bowler James Anderson.

England won the toss and chose to field first. All eyes were on Stuart Broad in the absence of James Anderson.

What happened in the first innings was something even Stuart Broad wouldn’t have dreamt of. He ran through the Australian batting and when the first innings finished with Australia all out on a paltry score of 60, Broad had unbelievable figures of 8 wickets for 15 runs.

In a spell of wonderful seam and swing bowling, Broad made light work of the Aussie batting and Australia never recovered from the collapse and ended up losing the match as well as the series.

Notable Mentions:

1.Ravichandran Ashwin: R Ashwin had a brilliant 2015. His 7 for 66 in Nagpur against South Africa was a brilliant display of spin bowling. Also, his 6 for 46 in Galle against Sri Lanka was a performance worth mentioning.

2.Chris Rogers: Chris Rogers was always an unsung hero for Australia. His 173 in the first innings at Lord’s was a knock worth its weight in gold. A performance that brought Australia back into the series deserved a special mention in our slideshow.