There was a pall of gloom before the first ball was bowled during India's last tour of Australia. The whole of cricketing world was mourning Phil Hughes, who died after getting hit by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match.
This time the predicament is of a different kind for Australia, with two of its best batsmen (Steve Smith and David Warner) serving one-year bans for ball-tampering. In absence of both these players, Australia looks weakened, giving India a realistic chance of winning a Test series for the first time on its soil.
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It is easier said than done. The Australians are fierce competitors and in the present scenario, more eager to emerge from the slump. The tour Down Under won't be a cruise for the Virat Kohli-led Indian side.
1947-48: Australia 4 India 0
It was India's first tour to Australia led by Lala Amarnath after the country's independence. India started off the four-match Test series with a crushing innings-and-226-run defeat in Brisbane after a match haul of 11 wickets by Ernie Toshack. The great Don Bradman slammed 185 in Australia's 382 for 8 declared. In reply, the visitor managed scores of 58 and 98. In Sydney, India bounced back by drawing the second Test by bowling out Australia for 107.
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Moving to Melbourne, Bradman hammered centuries in each innings and Ian Johnson claimed eight wickets. Vinoo Mankad scored a hundred in the 223-run defeat. In the third Test in Adelaide, Australia put up 674 with Bradman scoring a double hundred and India getting bowled out for 381 and 277. Australia won by an innings-and-16 runs. Then the host closed the series in Melbourne by clinching the fourth and final Test by an innings-and-177 runs.
1967-68: Australia 4 India 0
A depleted Indian side touring Australia with all its key players dropped. Pataudi missed the first Test in Adelaide after he picked up an injury on the eve of the match. Abid Ali, playing his debut Test, claimed six wickets in the first innings but it was not not enough as India lost by 146 runs.
A fit Pataudi returned for the second Test and scored 75 but Graham McKenzie's 7 for 66 helped Australia bowl India out for 173. In reply, the host scored a massive 529 with Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell and Simpson slamming hundreds. With a deficit of 356, India could manage 352 with Ajit Wadekar scoring 99 and Pataudi 85, as the visitor lost in Melbourne by an innings and four runs.
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M.L. Jaisimha, flown in as a replacement, impressed in Brisbane by scoring 74 and 101. Erapalli Prasanna took six wickets in the second innings but Australia made it 3-0 by winning the third Test by 39 runs. Australia denied India a consolation win as it completed the clean sweep in Sydney with a 144-run victory.
1977-78: Australia 3 India 2
This was a tour where India came close to clinching a Test series but were unlucky. India required 342 runs to win the first Test at Brisbane. Sunil Gavaskar scored a gritty 113 and India was all out for 324, handing Australia a 16-run victory.
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It was a close battle again in the second Test at Perth but Tony Mann's hundred in the second innings sealed a two-wicket win for the host. For India, Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath struck hundreds and Bishan Bedi took 10 wickets. In Melbourne, India converted the near-misses into victory.
Gavaskar scored a century again, and B. S. Chandrasekhar ran through Australia and India won by 222 runs. India continued the momentum and levelled the series with Chandrasekhar and Prasanna ripping through the Australian batting. India won the fourth Test in Sydney by an innings-and-two runs. At Adelaide, the Aussies bounced back by sealing a 47-run win, with Simpson and Graham Yallop scoring centuries.
1980-81: India 1 Australia 1
Australia started the three-match series by winning the first Test in Sydney by an innings and four runs. Greg Chappell hit a double hundred. Dennis Lillee and Len Pascoe were among the wickets.
The second Test in Adelaide ended in a draw. India won the third and final Test in Melbourne by 59 runs but not before some controversy. Batting first, India reached 237, thanks to Gundappa Viswanath's 165.
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In reply, Australia scored 419 with Allan Border scoring a century. In the second dig, India put up a solid 165-run opening partnership and this is when Gavaskar was trapped lbw by Lillee. The Indian opener protested the decision because he thought there was bat involved and led Chetan Chauhan off the field. Australia chasing a target of 143, was all out for 83, as Kapil Dev rattled the host with a five-wicket haul.
1985-86: Australia 0 India 0
All the three Tests had no result. In the first Test at Adelaide, David Boon and Greg Ritchie struck hundreds, while for India, Gavaskar scored a century and Kapil took eight wickets in Australia's second innings.
India had a chance in Melbourne when its chase of 100 was halted by rain at 59 for 2 and the match ended in a draw. The third Test in Sydney saw India score 600 for 4 - Kris Srikkanth notched up his maiden hundred, Gavaskar and Amarnath also scored centuries. Australia was all out for 396 and following-on, its score was 119 for 6 when the match ended.
1991-92: Australia 4 India 0
India managed only a draw in this series, but not before 19-year-old Sachin Tendulkar left a mark by hammering two hundreds. Australia won the first two Tests at Brisbane and Melbourne by 10 and eight wickets respectively.
In the third Test in Sydney, Australia was denied victory when Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 148, backed by Ravi Shastri's double hundred at the other end. India gave a fight in the fourth Test at Adelaide but couldn't stop Australia from clinching a 83-run win. On the bouncy track of Perth, Tendulkar hit another brilliant century but Australia won the fifth and final Test by 300 runs.
1999-00: Australia 3-0
India provided no resistance as a dominant Australia blanked the visitor. This series also saw the emergence of Brett Lee. Australia won the first Test in Adelaide by 285 runs, with Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting hitting hundreds.
The action shifted to Melbourne for the second Test and India was skittled out for 238 in reply to Australia's 405. Lee on debut claimed figures of 5 for 47 and Tendulkar fought it out with scores of 116 and 52, but India lost by 180 runs. There was no change to the script in Sydney and only bright spot being V.V.S. Laxman's maiden hundred. Australia swept the series with an innings and 141-run victory.
2003-04: Australia 1 India 1
This was a confident Indian side touring Down Under, led by Sourav Ganguly. On the other hand, Steve Waugh, playing his last Test series, was denied a chance to bow out on a high. Ganguly hit a hundred as India pulled off a draw in the first Test at Brisbane.
Batting first in the second Test at Adelaide, Australia was looking set for a monstrous first innings total until Anil Kumble took five to bowl the host out for 556. India's reply was 523 with Rahul Dravid scoring a double hundred and Laxman a century. Then it was Ajit Agarkar's spell of 6 for 41 that restricted the Australians to 196 and setting India a target of 230 runs to win. Dravid saw the nervy chase through with an unbeaten 72 as India registered a historic four-wicket win.
India reached Melbourne with a 1-0 lead but Australia restored parity with a nine-wicket win. In the same Test, Virender Sehwag scored a fluent 195. The fourth and final Test match in Sydney ended in a draw with both teams having competed on even terms. Tendulkar scored 241 not out, Laxman made 178 as India put up 705 for 7.
Australia replied with centuries from Justin Langer and Simon Katich with the host side falling short of the follow-on score. India decided to bat and set a target of 443 for Australia. But Waugh playing in his last Test had other plans as he forged a 142-run stand with Katich to pull off a draw.
2007-08: Australia 2 India 1
This particular series was marred by controversies and, at times, the contest on the field turned acrimonious. Australia routed India in the first Test at Melbourne by 377 runs. At Sydney, Michael Clarke spun Australia to a dramatic win but not before controversial umpiring decisions and the 'monkey-gate' episode - where Harbhajan Singh was accused of having racially abused Andrew Symonds.
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Mike Procter, the match referee handed a ban of three Tests for Harbhajan, which didn't go down well with India and the team threatened to fly back home. The BCCI had to step in, and convinced the team to stay by managing to remove umpire Steve Bucknor from the Perth Test because of his perceived howlers at Sydney.
A charged Indian team led by Kumble landed in Perth to prove a point and did so by beating Australia. India's momentum didn't change going into the fourth and final Test in Adelaide as it put up 526 in the first innings. An unexpected Australian reply put India on the backfoot but on the final day, Sehwag's hundred salvaged a draw. At the end of the match, Adam Gilchrist announced his retirement.
2011-12: Australia 4 India 0
The series didn't go India's way from the first Test itself at Melbourne. The M.S. Dhoni-led side lost by 122 runs. The Indian batsmen struggled against the quality pace attack in Sydney and added to that Michael Clarke was in prime form, who struck a brilliant triple hundred. India was beaten by an innings and 68 runs.
India floundered in Perth as Australia yet again dominated the Test - with David Warner hitting a century. The host took a 3-0 lead in the series after beating India by an innings and 37 runs. In search of a consolation win, India landed in Adelaide with Dhoni sitting out because of a one-match ban for slow over-rates. Clarke and Ponting powered Australia with their double hundreds in the first innings.
Virat Kohli, who struggled in the earlier Tests scored a hundred - a knock that proved to be a career-changing one, but Australia won by 298 runs.
2014-15: Australia 2 India 0
There was a sense of sadness before the first ball of the tour was bowled. The passing away of Hughes had an effect on both the teams. But once the series got underway, it was good and competitive cricket on the field.
Kohli led the team in the first Test at Adelaide with Dhoni recovering from a thumb injury. Batting first, Australia declared its first innings at 517 for 7 with Warner, Smith and Clarke scoring centuries.
Kohli led the reply with a classy hundred before India was all out on 444. In the second dig, Warner again slammed a hundred with Australia setting a target of 364 for India to win. Kohli scored a fighting 141 and Shikhar Dhawan 99 as India was all out for 315 and losing the Test by 48 runs.
Nathan Lyon bagged 12 wickets in the match. At Brisbane, Australia looked the better team. Murali Vijay's 144 and a half-century by Ajinkya Rahane took India to 408, as Josh Hazlewood claimed a five-wicket haul. Australia's response was 505 with Smith scoring a hundred.
The pace trio of Johnson, Hazlewood and Starc shot India out for 224. Australia chased down 128 to go 2-0 up in the series. The third Test ended in a draw with Kohli, Rahane and Smith scoring centuries. But the highlight was Dhoni's sudden retirement from Test cricket at the end of the Melbourne match.
The final Test in Sydney was a high-scoring one but ended in another draw. In Australia's first innings, Warner and Smith scored centuries while Kohli scored his fourth hundred on the tour with K.L. Rahul also chipping in with an impressive 110. The series started a batting rivalry between two talented batsmen of modern cricket - Kohli and Smith.
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