The List - per Jaunty

In a continuation of my previous post, I now present the top 10 Test innings by an Indian batsman (post-1980), according to me.

10. VVS Laxman's 75 in Brisbane against Australia in 2003. This was more important than his two centuries in the series. He not only stayed in there but calmed Ganguly down in the early part of the captain's innings. When he got out playing a cut shot to point off MacGill, it taught him a lesson that held him in good stead for the rest of the series and helped India hold its ground against the Australians - every time he crossed 50 after that, he scored a century, 5 in all (2 in Tests and 3 in one-dayers).

9. Mohinder Amarnath's 91 at Bridgetown against the West Indies in 1982 (out of a team score of 209). Of all his innings I remember this one the most. He got hit on the face, spat out blood, stayed in, and kept batting bravely. The bowling attack in the Test….Roberts, Holding, Marshall, and Garner represent, arguably, the greatest collection of 4 fast bowlers in one Test side!!

8. Mohammad Azharuddin 109 at Faisalabad against Pakistan in 1989. This changed the face of Indian cricket for the next decade. Why? Because he was dropped for the Test and made it in only because Raman Lamba was sick and could not play. He was out first ball in the first innings and appeared headed for obscurity. In the second innings he gloriously counter-attacked and, amazingly, two Tests later he was captaining the Indian team in New Zealand, and then resurrected India’s home fortunes with an unlikely troika of Kumble, Chauhan and Raju!

7. Sachin Tendulkar 122 in Birmingham against England in 1996. Important because the next highest score was 18, and it was in the 2nd innings of the Test match. Unfortunately, the others did not support him and we lost the match. Much more significantly, because of this batting debacle the selectors decided that Tendulkar desperately needed help from other batsmen. Their solution would alter the course of Indian cricket history. Two new batsmen made their debuts in the next Test at Lords – Ganguly and Dravid.

6. Sachin Tendulkar 114 at Perth against Australia in 1992. He was just 19 years old, playing on the bounciest pitch in Australia against a team determined to crush him. He had scored a century in an earlier Test in the series at Sydney, too, but this is the one that Richie Benaud often brings up when he reminisces about Tendulkar. Coming in at 69 for 2 he was 9th out at 240.

5. Sachin Tendulkar's 241 at Sydney against Australia in 2003. He was in the worst TEST slump of his career, and responded by grinding out an innings that Geoff Bocott would have been proud to claim as his own. He wore down the Aussies, and did so without hitting a SINGLE cover drive in the whole innings. Amazing restraint for him, and later on when historians try to figure out the innings that changed the master blaster into the master accumulator, they will point to this one. His Test hunger has changed colours – now he no longer looks to dominate attacks but rather to simply score off them, and this one showed even Tendulkar that he could do it sucessfully.

4. Rahul Dravid's 180 at Kolkotta against Australia in 2001. Not many people give it the credit it deserves. Laxman’s innings would have ended up being like his 167, a desperately brilliant one. It reached epic proportions because of Dravid’s stay at the crease with him. Also, Dravid continued on after Laxman was out, scoring some more runs that proved vital in the end.

3. Rahul Dravid's 233 at Adelaide against Australia in 2003 set up a monumental win by sheer will and perseverance, combined with a great technique against the Aussie bowling (which in hindsight, barring Gillespie, was not-so-great).

2. Gundappa Viswanath's 114 at Melbourne against Australia 1981. Set the stage for Kapil’s heroics with the ball and an away win in Australia. And also, the only century of Vishwanath’s that I can recall vividly, though I was at school when he scored the runs and my elder brother holds me responsible for him getting out.

1. VVS Laxman's 281 at Kolkatta against Australia in 2001. This is the innings by which his whole career will probably been defined, but it also represents a “turning point” innings not only for him, but also for Indian cricket. It is a testament to his drive that the 281 will be remembered by me as ONE of his great innings. I may be biased because he is from my home town but I think we have not heard the last of this Hyderabadi's exploits in the Test arena.