The fifth and final test in 1948-49 home series against mighty West Indies is a date that every Indian cricket fans want to remember. As the visitors were already up for 1-0 in the series and India needed to win the last match in order to level the series.
Taking about the match, India were bowled out for 193 with Vijay Hazare top score of 40 runs but Caribbean were the best side back then or in order words they were the bigger force to reckon with.
As West Indies scored 267 runs in their second innings setting a target of 361 runs in order to win the match.
The Indian openers, Mustaq Ali and KC Ibrahim were dismissed cheaply with just 10 runs on the board. Modi led the fightback resurrecting the innings with the captain – the great Lala Amarnath. The pair put together 72 runs for the third wicket before Amanath departed for 39 runs with still more runs to chase in order to win the match.
In came another legend Vijay Hazare and stitched 139 runs partnership for the fourth wicket with Modi. However after the dismissal of Modi derailed things little bit for home side.
Hazare was then joined by Mankad who formed 55 runs on the fifth wicket but both departed in quick succession which made India defensive. Hazare had taken India to the brink of a famous win with a brilliant 122.
Hemu Adhikari was the eight batsman to be dismissed with a team score of 321 runs with still some time left in the match. It was all down to Phadkar and Ghulam Ahmed who stitched 34 runs stand for the ninth wicket.
However India fell short of six runs at the end which means India almost pulled up a win but this effort from India was no less than a victory and It will certainly go down as one of the greatest draws for the host side in the history of Test cricket.
