When a cricket team is set anything more than 400 to win a Test, the target is generally considered out of reach.
The thinking behind this stems from the fact that only on four occasions has a team scored more than this figure in the final innings to win a Test, beginning in 1948 when Australia scored 3 for 404 to defeat England in the fourth Test at Headingley.
Two Australian legends, Arthur Morris and Donald Bradman, made big centuries in the win, and this only made the target seem more difficult: the logic became that unless you had some top-notch batsmen in your side, you had no chance of achieving a target that big
Thus when Australia batted in a defeatist manner against India in the first Test of the current series after being set 534 to win, it was generally accepted as nothing more than normal. No team is expected to bat out two days and more to save a Test.
But the exceptions tell their own tale. It took 28 years for a second team to overcome the 400-run barrier, with India defeating the West Indies at Port of Spain in the third Test of a series that the West Indies won 2-1.
Clive Lloyd was the West Indies captain for this Test and, based on advice that the wicket would take spin, his team included three spinners, two of them debutants: Albert Padmore and Imtiaz Ali. The third spinner was Raphick Jumadeen.
The West Indies, who had a first-innings lead of 131, declared when they reached 271 in their second innings, confident that the 403-run target they were setting India was enough to secure a win. But it all went pear-shaped. Padmore failed to get a single wicket in India’s second innings, bowling 47 overs for 98, while Jumadeen took two wickets for 70 in 41 overs. Ali also failed to get a wicket, bowling 17 overs for 52.
After the game, Lloyd reportedly castigated the spin trio, asking them sarcastically how many runs he should have set India to ensure that the three would bowl the opposition out.
Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath were the heroes as India won, both making centuries. Mohinder Amarnath, another well-known name, contributed 85.
It took another 27 years for a Test to end in a victory for a team that was chasing 400 or more in the fourth innings. This time it was the West Indies, though two lesser-known players were the heroes. Australia was the losing team in this 2003 Test.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul made 104 and Ramnaresh Sarwan 105, with captain Brian Lara scoring 60 as the team made 418 for 7, the highest total chased to date.
The Australians had a strong bowling attack, with Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee. Stuart MacGill was the spinner in that team. Lee took four wickets.
The last time a team chased 400-plus in a Test and won, it was South Africa that did the deed in 2008, winning by six wickets. The target was 414 and Graeme Smith (108) and AB deVilliers (106) were the two top contributors.
There were smaller contributions from Jacques Kallis (57), Hashim Amla (53) and J.P. Duminy (50 not out). Mitchell Johnson took three wickets.
On two other occasions, South Africa has batted through the final day of a Test in pursuit of 400-plus targets and drawn both games.
In 2005, South Africa was set 491 to win by Australia and finished the final day on 287 for 5, with youngster Jacques Rudolph the hero.
He made an unbeaten 102 as South Africa negotiated 126 overs against an attack that included Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Shane Warne. Rudolph faced 283 balls and was at the crease for a little more than seven hours.
And then in 2012, South Africa, set 430 to win by Australia, eked out a draw with captain Faf du Plessis making an unbeaten 110. No other batsmen made more than 46.
Du Plessis’ innings was remarkable; he batted for nearly eight hours and faced 376 balls. South Africa ended the final day on 248 for 8, well adrift of the target, but they could hold their heads high as they left the field.
There have been numerous occasions in other years when teams have been set 400 or more to win in a Test and just surrendered, with Australia’s crumbling to 238 all out and a 295-run loss last week being just the latest such instance.
Batsmen seem to be in an awful hurry to score and lack the skills and patience to fight it out and put a high price on their wickets. Some attribute this approach to the proliferation of 20-over cricket, but then the Indian batsmen who hung around in the second innings against Australia last week play as much of the shorter version of the game as any other country. They stuck around for long enough to put some runs against their names.
Young Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal batted more than seven hours for his second innings 161 – after making a duck in the first innings.
When Australia was chasing 534, only Travis Head faced more than 100 balls. In the first innings, it was a bowler who stuck at the crease the longest – Mitchell Starc batted for a shade more than two hours and faced 112 deliveries.
Modern-day batsmen and batswomen need to learn how to bat time – session to session, hour to hour – when chasing a big target. The reason five-day cricket is a called a Test, is because it is precisely that – a test of skills, a test of character, a test of patience, a test of ability.
Test players are paid enormous amounts because they are expected to be the best and stand the test of a Test.