The Eden Gardens, which is the location of towering stands and the lively Kolkata atmosphere, has testified to some of the Test cricket’s most legendary moments. However, despite this glamour, the place has been a burial ground for fourth-innings knocks and even small targets have become extremely difficult to manage. In a total of 44 Tests played at the famous ground, only five teams have ever been successful in executing run chases.
A week after Shubman Gill’s Team India got dismissed for 124 runs against South Africa on November 15, we look at five of the highest successful run-chases in Test cricket that the Eden Gardens has ever seen.
Highest Successful Run Chases at The Eden Gardens
5. England 16-0 vs India, 1977
In just 3.4 overs and with all their 10 wickets intact, England achieved the target of 16 runs in the second Test of their five-match tour of India, back again in January 1977. The openers were Dennis Amiss and Graham Barlow who scored seven runs each in the innings after the Indian bowlers (Derek Underwood and Chris Old) had demolished the opponents. But it was Bob Willis on the first day at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata who created the condition for England with his five-wicket haul.
With bat, the captain Tony Greig took his team along with him and made a majestic 103 runs, which was the only hundred of the match and the cricketer had the pleasure to be in the field for over seven hours.
4. England 41-3 vs India, 2012
Just a week later, after surprising India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, England presented another all-round delight, but this time it was at the Eden Gardens in December 2012 during the third Test of their four-match tour – their other two matches had been played in the same month. After the first four wickets had fallen, England, requiring only 41 more to win the Day 5 target, had lost three top-order batsmen at the end of 12.1 overs, mainly due to the superb bowling of James Anderson, Steven Finn, and the spinners Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, as well as the 190-run batting poetry from their captain Alastair Cook.
3. Australia 42-0 vs India, 1969
The Australian team of 1969 stared at India’s 39-run target and without any difficulty chased it down at the Eden Gardens with all 10 wickets remaining. Captain Bill Lawry and his opening partner Keith Stackpole scored the winning runs together in just 5 overs on the 4th Day to take Australia 2-1 leading in the five-match Test series.
Graham McKenzie the pacer took six wickets in the first Indian innings and his fellow pacers Eric Freeman and Alan Connolly took three wickets each in the second innings to bring about the victory of Australia. Ian Chappell also scored 99 to lead the batting for Australia and made Bishan Singh Bedi’s seven-wicket haul ineffective.
2. India 82-2 vs England, 1993
Mohammad Azharuddin’s leadership saw Team India win over England by eight wickets at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in the first Test of the three-match series back in January 1993. India was to get 79 to win on the 5th day after Anil Kumble and Venkatapathy Raju had six-wicket match hauls among them. India lost both openers but childhood friends Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli guided their team to an easy win in 29.2 overs.
Azharuddin was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ title for his innings of 182 runs in just 197 balls in the first innings of which he was the captain.
