The Sydney Cricket Ground hosts the fifth and final Test between India and Australia that will decide which team gets the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Australia lead the series 2-1 and so a win or a draw would be enough for them to clinch the trophy for the first time in a decade. India, on the other hand, are the holders and so drawing this series would allow them to retain it.
This will be the 14th time that India play a Test at the famous venue, having played for the first time in December 1947 on their first tour of the country. One of the oldest cricket venues in the world, the Sydney Cricket Ground first hosted a Test match all the way back in February 1882, just the sixth Test match to ever be played overall. It was the venue for the second of the five Tests India played on their first-ever tour of Australia in 1947/48. There wasn’t too much action in the match though, with play not being possible for most of the match due to rain.
India lost their second Test at the SCG by 144 runs in January 1968 but notably won their third by an innings and 52 runs on their third in January 1978. The spin trio of BS Chandrashekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and captain Bishan Singh Bedi shone brightest in the match with Australia being all out for 131 in their first innings and 263 in their second. Gundappa Viswanath scored 79, Karsan Ghavri made 64 while Sunil Gavaskar, Chetan Chauhan, Dilip Vengsarkar and Syed Kirmani were all out in the 40s as India declared on 396/8.
Notably, that was the last time India won a Test at the SCG. Of the 10 matches that have been played between the two sides since, Australia won four while the rest have been draws. The four more recent Tests between the two sides at the SCG have been notable affairs for varying reasons.
The 2nd Test in January 2012 was the 100th Test to be hosted at the venue. Australia captain Michael Clarke marked that by scoring an imperious 329 not out off 468 balls in Australia’s first innings. He shared a fourth wicket partnership of 288 with Ricky Ponting (134 off 255 balls) and then an unbeaten fifth wicket stand of 334 with Mike Hussey (150* off 253 balls). Australia ended up winning that match by an innings and 68 runs.
That was the last time Australia beat India at the SCG. The next Test in January 2015 was Virat Kohli’s first as captain, with MS Dhoni having suddenly retired from the format suddenly after the third Test at the MCG. The match was drawn, with David Warner, Steve Smith, debutant KL Rahul and Kohli all scoring centuries in the first innings. The draw in 2019 confirmed a historic series win for India. Australia were well on their way to suffering a hefty defeat with Cheteshwar Pujara’s 193 and Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 159 helping India declare on 622/7. Kuldeep Yadav took five wickets as Australia were all out for 300 and they had scored six runs when rain forced the players off on Day 4. No more play was possible after that.
In the next SCG Test between the two sides though, which was also the last one thus far, Australia had the upper hand for most of it. India were 272/5 chasing a target of 407 and the fall of Pujara and Pant all but confirmed that a win was out of the window for them. However, Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari then shut the door on the hosts, batting out nearly 43 overs despite both players nursing injuries and grinding out a draw.
Sachin Tendulkar is India’s highest run scorer in Tests at the SCG, having made 785 runs in just nine innings at a scarcely believable average of 157.00 with three centuries and two half-centuries. Anil KUmble is the highest wicket-taker with 20 scalps in five innings at an average of 32.95 and strike rate of 56.30.
