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Test Cricket Tours - India to
Australia 1977-78
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Tour of Australia
1977-78 Captain: Bishan Bedi
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India’s sixteenth Test tour
Third Test-playing tour of
Australia by India
(October 1977 –
February
1978)
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Although it was
previewed as a second-rate tour on which India would be playing against a 'best
of the rest' Australian side stripped of its 'Packer' players, this visit
to Australia soon captured the interest of the Australian watching public.
They turned away from Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket and attendances
at the 'fair dinkum' Test matches were always higher than at W S C's 'supertests'.
It turned out to
be a fascinating series with Australia narrowly winning the first two Test
matches before going down heavily in the next two. The final Test was
everything the Australian Cricket Board could hope for, with the sides level at two-all, and India making a tremendous
effort to score the 493 runs set to win the match and failing by only 47
runs. Australia won the series 3-2 and this gave a fillip to the
establishment version of the game.
Bob Simpson had
been recalled to the Australian captaincy after nine years in retirement
and he proved just the leader the new team needed, as well as showing he
had retained all his batting skills.
Bedi was just as positive in his
captaincy, as well as being India’s most successful bowler. However, it was
Chandrasekhar who, after a slow start, was the match-winning bowler when
India prevailed.
Kirmani produced the sort of
performances India had hoped for since he was on the schoolboys’ tour of
England ten years before. Yet the players of the series were Bedi and Gavaskar, although
at one time it had looked as if they would not be chosen for the tour for
disciplinary reasons.
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Other Indian tours
Previous tour
West
Indies 1975-76
Next tour
Pakistan
1978-79
Next Australian tour
1980-81
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Members of the Test tour party (16 + 1)
Opening batsmen: Sunil Gavaskar, Chetan Chauhan
Middle-order batsmen: Dilip Vengsarkar, Gundappa Viswanath, Ashok
Mankad, Surinder Amarnath,
Brijesh Patel (plus Anshuman
Gaekwad replacement)
Wicket-keepers: Syed Kirmani, Bharat Reddy.
All-rounder Mohinder Amarnath
Spinners: Bishan Bedi,
Bhagwat Chandasekhar, Erapalli
Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghaven.
Fast bowlers:Karsan Ghavri, Madan Lal.
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M B Amarnath
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D
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27
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RHB RM
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S Amarnath
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D
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28
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LHB
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B S Bedi
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D
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31
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SLA
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B S Chandrasekhar
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K
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32
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LBG
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C P S Chauhan
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D
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30
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RHB opener
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S M Gavaskar
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B
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28
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RHB opener
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K D Ghavri
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B
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26
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LHB LFM
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S M H Kirmani
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K
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27
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WK
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S Madan Lal
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D
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26
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RFM
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A V Mankad
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B
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31
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RHB
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B P Patel
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K
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25
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RHB
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E A S Prasanna
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K
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37
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OB
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B Reddy
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TN
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23
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reserve WK
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D B Vengsarkar
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B
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21
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RHB
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S Venkataraghaven
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TN
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32
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OB
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G R Viswanath
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K
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28
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RHB
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Zonal representation
Duleep Trophy teams
C: Central Zone (0), E: East (0), N: North (5), S:
South (7), W: West (4)
Ranji Trophy teams
B- Bombay (4)
D - Delhi
(5)
K - Karnataka (5)
TN - Tamil Nadu (2)
Average age of team at time of first Test match
(2 December 1977):
28 yrs 8 months
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Test Appearances made before the tour
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Bedi 53,
Chandrasekhar 45, Prasanna
43, Viswanath
38, Venkataraghaven
36, Gavaskar
32, Patel 19, Mankad 18, Kirmani 15, Madan Lal 14, M Amarnath
13, Gaekwad
13, Ghavri
8, Vengsarkar
6, S Amarnath
5, Chauhan 5, Reddy
0.
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Tour Officials
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Polly R Umrigar
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Manager
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R Sriraman
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Treasurer
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Selectors
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J M Ghorpade (chairman), Raj Singh, M L Jaisimha, C D Gopinath chose
the team at a 3½-hour meeting.
Umrigar
was appointed to the manager's role on 10 September and Bedi
to the captaincy on 9 October. They
were co-opted on to the selection committee.
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Selection
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29 players were invited
to a 16-day practice camp in Madras. Six players engaged in English cricket
- Bedi, Abid Ali, Doshi, Madan Lal and Mohinder
and Surinder Amarnath -
would be considered for the Australian tour even if they could not attend
the physical fitness camp at Madras.
Unavailable: Dilip
Doshi, who did not play in the Ranji Trophy, was not considered.
Tour Party Announced : 12 October 1977.
Not selected: Of those at the camp : S Abid Ali, S Banerjee, B A Burman, R Goel,
R S Hans, R Jadeja, Kapil Dev, S Krishnan, Narasimha Rao, V Ramnayran, P
H Sharma, J Yajurvindra Singh were not selected
D
J Rutnagur wrote in Wisden’s that “Gaekwad should have been in the touring
party in the first place.â€
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Time between selection and departure from India
12 days
(12 - 24 October)
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Travel
Bombay Q Adelaide
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The team flew from Santa Cruz Airport, Bombay, on
24 October 1977 and experienced a 15-hour long delay en
route to Perth, where they landed ln 25 October, and left for Adelaide by
plane the next day.
Extra security had been arranged because of threats
against Indian nationals in Australia from a terrorist group.
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Time spent in Australia 106 days
(25 October - 8 February)
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On-tour selection committee
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Bishan Bedi
(captain), Sunil
Gavaskar (vice-captain),
Polly Umrigar (manager), S Venkataraghaven.
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Reinforcements
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Gaekwad was needed to replace Surinder
Amarnath who had a hand injury. Gaekwad left India on 23 January and came in to the
side for the Fifth Test.
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Fixtures/Results
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a
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†Port Lincoln
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South Australia Country
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Won 7 w
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b
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Adelaide
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South Australia
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Won 6 w
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c
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†Hastings
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Victoria Country
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Won 5 w
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d
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Melbourne
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Victoria
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Won 6 w
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e
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†Griffith
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Southern New South Wales
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Won 7 w
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f
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Sydney
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New South Wales
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Won 6 w
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g
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†Nambour
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Queensland Country
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Won 9 w
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h
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Brisbane
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Queensland
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Won inns 123 r
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i
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BRISBANE
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AUSTRALIA First Test
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LOST 16 r
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j
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WACA, Perth
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Western Australia
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Lost 150 r
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k
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†Wongan Hills
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Western Australia Country
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Won 4 w
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l
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PERTH
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AUSTRALIA Second Test
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LOST 2 w
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m
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†Launceston
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Tasmania (1-day)
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Lost 3 w
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n
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Hobart
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Tasmania
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Lost 84 r
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o
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MELBOURNE
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AUSTRALIA Third Test
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WON 222 r
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p
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SYDNEY
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AUSTRALIA Fourth Test
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WON inns 2 r
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q
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†Newcastle
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Northern New South Wales
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Won 9 w
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r
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†Canberra
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Australia Capital
Territory
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Drawn
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s
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†Geelong
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Geelong
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Drawn
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t
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ADELAIDE
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AUSTRALIA Fifth Test
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LOST 47 r
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u
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†The Padang
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Singapore
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Drawn
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†not first-class
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Time spent in Australia
before First Test:
38 days
(25 October - 2 December)
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Test appearances on tour
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5 - M Amarnath, Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Gavaskar, Kirmani, Vengsarkar, Viswanath.
4 - Chauhan, Prasanna,
3 - Ghavri, Mankad
2 - Patel,
Madan Lal,
1 - Gaekwad, Venkataraghaven
0 - S Amarnath,
Reddy.
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Highlights
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• Gavaskar as
expected led the batting, scoring centuries in each of the first 3 Test
matches.
• Viswanath did not make a century but scored five
consecutive fifties and topped the averages with 52.55
• At
Perth, after scoring 90 in the first innings, Mohinder
Amarnath scored India’s only other century (100),
adding a record 193 for the second wicket with Gavaskar.
• Bedi took
five wickets in an innings on three occasions and had 31 wickets in the
Test series.
• Chandrasekhar’s 12 wickets at Melbourne
won the match for India; he took 28 wickets in the series.
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Tour Summary
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P
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W
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L
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D
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Aban
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Test Matches
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5
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2
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3
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0
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-
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Other first-class matches
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6
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4
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2
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0
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-
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ϯ Minor matches
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10
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6
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1
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3
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§ One-day internationals
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0
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All Matches
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21
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12
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6
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3
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-
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Return to India
? Q Singapore Q Bombay
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The team left Australia on
8 February 1977, played a match against Singapore on the way home, and
arrived back in Bombay on 12 February.
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Time away from India
111 days
(24 October to 12 February)
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Finances
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Accounts of the tour
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Postscript
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