No.6 on our list is the 2014 Adelaide Test, where Australia and India paid tribute to the late Phil Hughes
Best Border-Gavaskar Tests: No.6
To whet the appetite of fans ahead of the first Test of the summer, cricket.com.au is counting down the best eight Australia v India Test matches since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was introduced in 1996.
The two nations have played out some absolute classics in those 22 years, and they'll add another chapter to the rivalry when Australia host India over the next couple of months.
Image Id: 42D38631BF5142D0BE45FF685DF3C4DABest Border-Gavaskar Test
8) A masterclass from the Little Master
7) Lyon's eight can't stop India
6) An emotional tribute to a lost mate
6. First Test, Adelaide Oval, 2014
Australia 7-517 declared (Smith 162no, Warner 145, Clarke 128) and 5-290 declared (Warner 102, Smith 52no) beat India 444 (Kohli 115, Pujara 73, Lyon 5-134) and 315 (Kohli 141, Vijay 99, Lyon 7-152) by 48 runs.
While the tragic death of Phil Hughes saw this Test postponed and almost called off entirely, the late dashing batsman could hardly have asked for a more fitting match to be played in his honour.
In the most emotional Test of them all, 22 grieving cricketers played out a captivating contest, with a handful of stunning individual efforts, from both sides, ensuring it would leave a permanent mark on the game’s collective conscious.
Image Id: D77C42B173F24348823F5F0960A79CA3Despite battling a severe back injury, one that would eventually play a role in his retirement, Australia skipper Michael Clarke defied medical staff, India’s bowlers and perhaps even himself in compiling one of his most courageous knocks.
His 128 under obvious physical duress, along with centuries to Steve Smith and David Warner, all dedicated to their ‘little mate’ up above, helped the Aussies rack up 517 in their first dig.
Image Id: 1D75501E7851462AB448CEE5D34D762CBut the defiant Virat Kohli, in his first Test as captain following an injury to MS Dhoni, struck a vital hundred of his own to keep India in the game.
And while Warner crashed his second ton of the match to set India 364 to win, as the game rolled into its fifth day, the drop-in Adelaide Oval wicket was showing few signs of any demons.
But this Test, already one that would be never be forgotten by players and spectators alike regardless of its climax, had one more stunning individual effort to unveil.
Nathan Lyon, who’d wrangled out four of India’s top seven in his first-innings five-wicket haul, was now tasked with spinning his side to victory against the finest players of slow-bowling on the planet.
With the knowledge that the criticism most often aimed at him at that stage of his career was that he’d never taken a five-for in the fourth innings of a Test.
Image Id: C740A6E34656487FAAB733C50F32449CThough as Murali Vijay and Kohli took India to 2-242, Lyon’s hopes of ending that run and Australia’s dream of a fairytale fifth-day victory looked slim.
But after trapping a devastated Vijay lbw for 99, the off-spinner went on to cut a swathe through India’s middle-order.
He then had Kohli, who had anchored the run chase with a century even more impressive than his first-innings effort, caught on the midwicket fence to dramatically change the complexion of the contest.
And when Ishant Sharma became Lyon’s seventh fourth-innings scalp – and 12th for the match – it sparked passionate celebrations from Australia around the ‘408’ inscribed on the Adelaide Oval turf, in turn imprinting Hughes’ Test number in the memories of all those watching.
Image Id: 3C7680E8602A4B5CB0ED24DA7F945F51Domain Test Series v India
Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval
Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium
Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG
Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG
Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain
India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar