Lowest Unsuccessful Run Chases By India In Test Cricket

Aakash Saini∙ Updated: Nov 4 2024, 5:00 AM | 3 Min Read

Lowest Unsuccessful Run Chases By India In Test Cricket [Source: PTI]

Team India is ideally considered to be one of the biggest powerhouses of batting, especially in Test cricket. With some of the biggest all-time greats of the game having donned the nation’s proud jersey, India has racked up some giant totals in the format throughout its history.

However, batting becomes a different ball-game in a fourth innings of a Test, when teams are required to chase down totals on deteriorating playing surfaces. Here, we take a look at four instances when Team India has failed to chase down a target of less than 200 runs in Test matches, despite featuring some of the biggest names of the game at the time.

India Failing To Chase Test Targets Of Below 200 Runs:

4. 194 vs England, 2018 Edgbaston Test

In the first Test of India’s five-match tour of England back in mid-2018, the visitors failed to chase down 194 runs to concede an early lead to the hosts. As it happened, then captain Virat Kohli punched out a majestic 149 to keep India’s first innings deficit down to just 13 runs at the halfway stage of the match. Ishant Sharma (5-51), Umesh Yadav (2-20) and senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3-59) later skittled the Englishmen for just 180 in their second innings to set a 194-run target for themselves.

In response, Team India enveloped for just 162 in about 54 overs to give England a reason to celebrate their landmark 1,000th Test.

3. 176 vs Sri Lanka, 2015 Galle Test

In a similar instance three years before the Edgbaston affair, another one of Virat Kohli’s centuries was tendered in vain as Team India failed to chase down a target of less than 200 runs in an opening Test of an away series. Facing Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium, centuries from Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan ensured the visitors gained a huge 192-run advantage after the first innings.

However, Dinesh Chandimal belted a near run-a-ball 162* in the second Sri Lankan innings of 367 runs to set a 176-run target for the visitors. Sri Lankan spinners Rangana Herath (7-48) and Tharindu Kaushal (3-47) ended up demolishing the Indian line-up for just 112 in 49.5 overs as the hosts secured a 63-run series-leading win.

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2. 147 vs New Zealand, 2024 Wankhede Test

147 vs New Zealand, 2024 Wankhede Test [Source: PTI]

A Rohit Sharma-led India crashed to a 25-run defeat against New Zealand at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in November 2024. Chasing 147 runs for a win, India’s star-studded batting line-up was blown away by visiting spinners Ajaz Patel (6-57) and Glenn Phillips (3-42). Players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan and Ravindra Jadeja all failed to get going in the Indian innings, with Rishabh Pant alone chipping with 64 runs out of India’s dismal 121-run effort.

To make matters worse, India’s defeat compounded in their 0-3 series defeat to New Zealand, thus securing a rare whitewash at home.

1. 120 vs West Indies, 1997 Bridgetown Test

In one of the most dismal fourth innings batting performance in Indian Test history, Sachin Tendulkar’s troops fell short of their 120-run target by 38 runs against West Indies back in March 1997 at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. Despite gaining a 21-run lead at the halfway stage courtesy of Tendulkar’s majestic 92 and Rahul Dravid’s fluent 78, and skittling out the West Indies line-up for just 140 in 45 overs through a sizzling five-fer from Abey Kuruvilla, Team India squandered all its advantage by folding up for just 81 in the decisive innings of the match.

The consequences of India’s batting debacle in Bridgetown haunted them throughout the remainder of that tour, as subsequent draws in St John’s and Georgetown deprived Team India of securing a rare series win in the Caribbean.

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