When one talks about the most memorable spells of Test cricket bowling by Indian pacers in Australia, the names that often come to mind are...
When one talks about the most memorable spells of Test cricket bowling by Indian pacers in Australia, the names that often come to mind are Jasprit Bumrah in 2019, Ajit Agarkar in 2003 or maybe Ishant Sharma in 2008.
But the best bowling figures in an innings by an Indian in Australia belongs to a certain Kapil Dev, who snared eight wickets back in 1985 to start the Test series with a bang.
Five years after his historic 5/28 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground helped India win just their third Test in Australia, the captain delivered a masterful show with the ball in the first Test in Adelaide. Dev single-handedly ran through the Australian batting even as after David Boon and Greg Ritchie scored centuries.
Australia had complete control on the first day, ending with 248/4 with Border’s ton and Ritchie batting on 55. But on the second day, their batting innings was done in by Kapil Dev’s lethal swing bowling and despite two centurions and Allan Border falling one short of his fifty, Australia were dismissed for 381.
The Indian all-rounder’s victims that day included the likes of David Boon and Allan Border, but it was the manner in which he provided the final flourish that...
