Teams Losing Tests After Declaring: The WTC (World Test Championship) provides an incentive for an outright win. Teams are forced to push for a win in search of valuable 12 points. There is always a decision that needs to be made if a team is in the position to declare in the 3rd innings. The number of overs needed to bowl out a side, weather conditions all that needs to be factored in.
There have been many games where teams have been ultra-defensive and had to settle for a draw eventually. But there have been few instances where teams have declared quite gamely only to then go on and lose that Test.
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Teams Losing Tests After Declaring – We look at 5 select Tests where teams lost post declaration:
#1 West Indies vs India, 1976
The West Indies team of the 70s and 80s were a bunch of world-beaters. They were the numero uno side and had a certain swagger about them. In the Port of Spain Test in 1976 they set India a seemingly impossible target of 403 in the fourth innings. Nobody including the Indian team would have believed that they could chase this target down. Centuries from Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath ensured that India reached the target with 6 wickets in hand. It remained the highest chase in Test cricket for 27 long years!
#2 Australia vs England, 2001
Australia had wrapped up the series 3-0 heading into the Leeds Test. They batted first and posted a solid total of 447. England in response could just muster 309. Australia declared their second innings at 176-4 setting England a target of 315. Mark Butcher, England’s number 3 produced an innings for the ages. He scored 173 off 227 balls a strike rate of 76.21. England chased down the target at a run rate of 4.29 in just 73.2 overs.
#3 Bangladesh vs West Indies, 2021
The Bangladeshi Test team is a fairly decent side at home. They usually try to choke opponents with spin on carefully curated dustbowls. Bangladesh started favourites in the Test against West Indies at Chattogram. They made 430 batting first and bowled West Indies out for 259 in the first essay. Bangladesh declared at 223-8 leaving West Indies to chase an improbable 395 to win. At 59-3, it seemed that a huge Bangladesh win was on the cards. But debutant Kyle Mayers had other ideas. He scored an unbeaten double-hundred (210) to steer Windies home. It remains one of the greatest Tests in recent times.
#4 England vs India, 2008
The Chennai Test between India and England was played against the backdrop of the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Andrew Strauss captaining the England side scored twin centuries. India conceding a lead of 75 runs in the first innings was doing all the chasing. England declared their second innings at 311-9 setting India a total of 387. Virender Sehwag got India off to a fantastic start scoring a rapid 83 off just 68 balls. Sachin Tendulkar (103*) and Yuvraj Singh (85*) finished the job at hand. It is India’s second-highest run-chase in Test history.
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