India is facing an uphill task against Australia in the ongoing Test match being played at Brisbane. An even worse situation existed during the 1967-68 tour. On that occasion, the third Test of the series was played at Brisbane in January 1968. India had been decimated in the first two Tests. But what was different in the third Test was that M L Jaisimha played one of the best matches of his life and almost took India to victory.
Ultimately India lost by 39 runs but had any of the Indian batters followed the example set by Jai, the story could have been different.
The noteworthy fact was that Jai had not been originally selected in the team. In the first two matches, India had been demolished at Adelaide and routed at Melbourne. India’s batting was looking extremely fragile.
Leave for Australia immediately
All the while Jai was sitting in Hyderabad and his talent at tackling fast bowlers was being wasted. But after the second defeat (a resounding one), an SOS was sent by the BCCI to Jai in Hyderabad. “Please travel to Australia immediately and save India,” was the crux of the message.
The message was sent at the behest of India’s skipper M A K Pataudi and he knew Jai’s capabilities only too well. The captain felt that if anyone could rescue India then it was his friend Jai.
Jai had no time to prepare himself, mentally or physically. He just grabbed his kit and set off. He had to take several connecting flights and finally reached Brisbane after a long and tiring journey.
Action begins
The next morning, Pataudi won the toss but decided to put the Aussies in to bat first. Captain Bill Lawry (64), Bob Cowper (51), Paul Sheahan (58) and the incomparable Doug Walters (93) took the home team to 379. But India’s reply began in a disastrous fashion. Three batters–Abid Ali, Ajit Wadekar and Farokh Engineer were back in the pavilion with only 9 runs on the board.
But then Pataudi (74) and Jai put up a fight. Finally Jai was caught by Lawry off Cowper for 74. He had defied the Aussie fast bowlers for almost six hours. However, India conceded a first innings lead of 100 runs to the home side. In its second outing Australia scored 294. So India was given a target of 395. It was quite a tall order everyone felt.
Fighting again
But that was not what Jai felt. When he walked in at number six, he began another fight. This time his form was even better. The faster the Aussies bowled, the faster they were dispatched to the boundary. He found able partners in Pataudi (48) and Chandu Borde (63). When India crossed 300 with five wickets down, it looked like the impossible may happen because Borde and Jai were going great guns at that stage. The Aussies were jittery and confused.
But after Borde was caught by Redpath off Cowper, the tail caved in. Jai began running out of partners. Eventually, he was the last man to be dismissed. Jai scored 101 that day. Had he received a little more support at the end, India may well have won the Test. It would have been a fitting climax to Jai’s lion hearted effort.
Praise from Aussies
But the Aussie experts were full of praise for Jai. Jack Fingleton, writing in The Hindu, heaped accolades on him. Bill O’Reilly raised the question that if this was what Jaisimha was capable of, why was he left out in the first place? It was an unsolved mystery, said the legendary leg spinner.
The scores of the match:
Australia 379 (Lawry 64, Redpath 41, Cowper 51, Sheahan 58, Walters 93) and 294 (Lawry 45, Redpath 79, Walters 62, Prasanna 6 for 101) beat India 279 ( Pataudi 74, Jaisimha 74, Surti 52) and 355 (Abid Ali 47, Surti 64, Pataudi 48, Jaisimha 101).
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