After 5 days, no daylight between the teams

The third Test between India and West Indies at Mumbai ended in a draw but with an exciting finish right down to the last day, last over, and last ball. Let’s look at some other similar results in Test history.

After 4 days of sheer boredom, the third Test between India and West Indies sprang to life on the fifth day and transformed itself into an unforgettable match with an unusual draw, with the scores level. Instead of castigating Ashwin for not starting early for his second run, one should admire his coolness at ensuring at least a draw in the previous ball. Anyhow, he would have been run out 99%, even if he had started a couple of seconds earlier.

In the history of Test cricket, this phenomenon of finishing dead equal on runs has happened four times. Two have been termed as draws since all 10 wickets had not been lost and two had been termed as ties since the last batting team were all out. In this article, as homage to the last day at Mumbai, I have looked at these four Test matches.

These are in reverse chronological order. The first is the match which ended a few days earlier. So no comments are needed.

The second was a match a few years back when England toured Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, batting first, scored a respectable 376, through the efforts of Andy Flower and Campbell. England finished with a lead of 30 runs, helped by centuries from Hussain and Crawley. Then Zimbabwe recovered from 111 for 6 to 234 through a valuable 50 by Gary Whittall. England had only 37 overs to score 205 to win, a tougher task than the one faced by India at Mumbai. They tried gamely and needed 3 to win off the last ball. Two runs were taken and Knight was run out while running for the third run. Shades of Mumbai.


The first Test during 1986 between India and Australia, played at Chennai ended in a tie. Australia had a huge first innings lead of 177 and finished the fourth day at 170, leaving India to get 348 to win in a day’s play. India batted brilliantly, led by Gavaskar and scored at 4 runs per over. They looked like winning at 331 for 6. However, panic set in and they lost 4 wickets for 16 runs, leaving the match tied, with 3 overs still to go. Bright and Mathews shared the 10 wickets.


During 1960-61, the two first innings were huge 450+ ones, leaving Australia with a useful lead of 52 runs. West Indies scored 284, leaving Australia to get 233 to win in plenty of overs. Australia slumped to 92 for 6 and then recovered to 226 for 6, looking certain to win. The West Indian fielding effected three run-outs and Australia finished at 232, with one ball to go. Truly one of the greatest Test matches of all time.