Thirty-one, and five not out

India needed 216 to win the first Test at Mohali in October 2010 and were 124 for eight in the 34th over of the last day. They won by one wicket. The card’s player of the match is Zaheer Khan, for five for 94 and three for 43. Laxman’s 73 not out from 79 balls is the innings the match is named for, and the two lines under it are the reason it counted.

How 216 was set

Australia chose to bat and made 428, Shane Watson 126, Tim Paine 92, Ricky Ponting 71. India replied with 405, Sachin Tendulkar 98, Suresh Raina 86, Rahul Dravid 77, Mitchell Johnson five for 64. Australia’s second innings was 192, Watson 56, Zaheer three for 43, Ishant three for 34. India were 55 for four at the close of the fourth day, Tendulkar 10, Zaheer 5 as nightwatchman.

Full scorecard: India v Australia, 1st Test, Mohali, 1–5 October 2010 →

The shape of the match

The close-of-play lines run: Australia 224 for five, India 110 for two, India 405 all out, India 55 for four, end of match. Australia’s first innings took 151.4 overs and 646 minutes; their second took 60.5.

India’s reply of 405 was made at 3.74 an over, Sehwag’s 59 from 54 balls. The card notes Watson’s hundred at 258 balls in the first innings and his fifty at 51 in the second, and the two innings are the difference between a target of 216 and one out of reach.

The fifth morning

Gautam Gambhir had gone for 0 in the first over the evening before. Dravid caught behind for 13 at 31, Virender Sehwag for 17 at 48, Raina for 0 at 48. On the fifth morning Zaheer was caught for 10 at 76. Tendulkar was caught for 38 at 119. MS Dhoni was run out for 2 at 122. Harbhajan Singh was caught first ball at 124. Eight down, 92 needed, and Laxman on 24 at drinks.

Eighty-one

Ishant came in at 124. At lunch India were 162 for eight, Laxman 48, Ishant 14. The card’s note gives the stand’s fifty at 68 balls, Laxman 28, Ishant 20. At the next drinks India were 204 for eight, Laxman 68, Ishant 31. At 205 Ishant was leg before to Ben Hilfenhaus for 31, from 92 balls in 106 minutes, with five fours. Eleven needed, one wicket.

Ojha came in and faced ten balls for 5 not out. Laxman made the rest, and the total reached 216 for nine in 58.4 overs, with six wides and ten byes among the 25 extras. Hilfenhaus took four for 57, Doug Bollinger three for 32.

The other guys

Laxman’s 73 came from 79 balls with eight fours, and it took 182 minutes, which is a long time for 79 balls and is explained by the card’s coverage headline about a runner. The card records the innings without the runner, as cards do.

Ishant’s 31 is the second-highest score in the innings, made by a number ten, and the stand of 81 was more than a third of the target. Ojha’s 5 not out is the last line in the innings and the one without which the result line reads differently.

The award went to Zaheer, for eight wickets. The card can only give it to one man, and it gave it to the one whose figures were biggest. The umpires were Billy Bowden and Ian Gould, and it is Test number 1972, the first of a two-match series India went on to win 2-0 on the card’s series page.

What the card holds

A target of 216 and a total of 216 for nine. A fall of wickets that reads 119, 122, 124 and then 205. A ninth-wicket stand of 81 with a number ten’s 31 in it. A 73 not out that took 182 minutes for 79 balls. And an award to a bowler, in a match remembered for a batter, made possible by two men the card lists last.

••••••

No. 22 in The Other Guy, a series of 24.

NextSix not out, and eight wickets