Its Only Cricket

Current Cricket Series : South Africa vs Australia, West Indies vs New Zealand. Coming Up : India in NZ 2009.

History of India vs Australia One dayers.

Filed under Cricket Article

You ask an Indian cricket lover about what gives him more pleasure - a win against Pakistan or Australia??

And the answer may invariably come as Pakistan because of our inborn rivalry against them but honestly, in today's cricket World, any country who beats Australia feels like the World Champions. And isn't this the rule in Boxing where you beat the World Champion and you get the crown of being the World champion yourself..!!

As I write this, India, West Indies and Australia are about to play in a triangular series in Malaysia where each team will play two ODI's against each team and then top two playing the finals but somehow this series feels like a fight between India and Australia only. West Indies are just a filling in team... or may be a practise team..

Having said that, West Indies beat us 4-1 just 2 months ago and they can't be ruled out. But for the time being, lets forget them and concentrate on the matches that India has played against Australia and find out who stands where..

In last two years, India has played just once against Australia, and that too was a "No Result". That match was at Amstelveen in Netherlands (Holland) when Australia were 175 for 7 in 31.4 overs and rain god came to their rescue. On a wider range, India and Australia has played each other 80 times in ODI's and the record doesn't sound good if you are an Indian fan like me..

Let me break this history of India vs Australia ODI's into three parts, viz

In Australia :-

30 ODI's, 24 to Australia and only 6 to India. Out of those 6 times we have beaten them in their den, the last was when VVS Laxman continued to haunt Australia and scored a brilliant 103 with some help from 86 by Sachin Tendulkar and 64 balls 74 by Rahul Dravid. India had made 303 that day at Brisbane and won that close match by 19 runs.

To find a match before the above one when India beat Australia in Australia, we have to go back all the way to 8th December 1991 when Krish Srikkanth blazed 60 off 60 balls on a hostile pitch of Perth. India made 208 which proved to be very tough for Australian team which included David Boon, Dean Jones, Allan Border, Steve Waugh among others.

Before that, India had beaten Australia in Benson & Hedges World Series Cup in 1986. That too Twice.

Now this is three times Team India did the unexpected, but sadly, they never were able to win any of those series... The series they won in Australia was in 1985 when India easily chased down the target of 163 in just 36.1 overs. That was the World Championship Cup and India went on to win the trophy by beating Pakistan in the Finals.

The only other and the first time ever India won against Australia in Australia was in 1980. That was too long ago so lets just skip the details of that match..

In India :-

Every team plays better at home, be it against any damn team but when it comes to India vs Australia in India, the record is still not smile-able for Indian fans as out of 29 occasions, we have been beaten 14 times and have won 12 times. Australia won the 2003 bilateral series of 5 matches 3-2 and also won the 2000 series of 5 ODI's 3-2. And hence they lead us by 2 matches when it comes to playing them at our home.

It feels too bad to recall those matches that I'm feeling like skipping this as well. As a die hard for of my Indian cricket team, I expected them to have a good record against Australia at least at home, but that is not the case.. so sad..!!

AT NEUTRAL VENUES :-

Now here comes the important statistics - India vs Australia at ground which belonged neither to us nor to them and the result sounds as 11 losses and 9 wins out of 21 encounters with one no result.

Before Netherlands, India had played Australia twice in 2003 World Cup and lost both of those ODI's. And very badly as well. Who can forget the 2003 World Cup final when Australia went on to make 359 and Team India never looked in any chase..

Before that, India played Australia in Nairobi in the ICC Knock Out Champions trophy (now called as ICC Champions trophy) and that was a day when Harsha Bhogle said - " If you are not watching this match, you can't call yourself an Indian cricket fan". And believe me, he was right. Before that match started, the speculation was how India is going to counter the pace of McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie. But after the match ended, everyone talked about how Sachin Tendulkar, after cover driving McGrath for a boundary, came down the track to hit him a six over his head.

And people also talked about the rise of another talent from India called as Yuvraj Singh. That was Yuvraj's second only match but was the first time batted. And did he bat - 84 off 80 balls with as many as 12 fours. And each stroke from his bat sounded like he was 100 ODI's old.... Yuvraj also ran out the prized man Michael Bevan with a direct throw while fielding..

Do I need to tell who was the Man of that Match..?? Here's the scorecard. Cricket Australia logo.JPG

Before that India played Australia in Sri Lanka in Aiwa Cup and lost both of the two matches. Before that, played in England once and lost it again.....

The only time India had the better of Australia at Neutral venues was during 1993 to 1995 when they played in UAE, then in New Zealand and then in Sri Lanka. The UAE match I am talking about is the match that Sachin Tendulkar won single handily. Sachin made 143 alone in that Sarjah Cup finals against Australia and Shane Warne started to have "Nightmares" of Sachin coming down the wicket and hitting him for a six..!!

Well, this is about all. I am sure it wouldn't have been a good read if you are an Indian fan, but this how the history of previous matches between India and Australia stands. We can hope it will get only better from now as Team looks to be in good shape and hungry for wins... while previous Indian teams just played because they had to play.. didn't they??

Its Only Cricket

History of India vs Australia One dayers.

Related Articles

Get new posts in email

feeds