Grab and savour a slice of history!

Karsan Ghavri (top left), Gundappa Viswanath, Syed Kirmani, BS Chandrasekhar, bespectacled Ashok Mankad and Dilip Vengsarkar (right) celebrate India`s victory over Australia in the Sydney Test on January 12, 1978. Pic/Getty Images

It was in Sydney on the last Test tour of Australia, where India made history by clinching their maiden series win Down Under.

The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) provides another opportunity for the Indian cricket team to embellish the history books. This, they can do by becoming only the second Indian side (after Bishan Singh Bedi's men in 1977-78) to win back-to-back Test matches on Australian soil.

After losses in the first two Tests at Brisbane and Perth, the Indians stormed back to win in Melbourne by 222 runs and followed that up with an innings victory over the hosts in the fourth Test at Sydney.

Interestingly, that SCG Test, like today's third Test tussle, started on January 7. Not sure who would win the toss today, but Bob Simpson was lucky then and chose to put his inexperienced bunch of batsmen to the test against the world's best spin attack.

Gary Cosier was sent back by an off-cutter from Mohinder Amarnath and the promising Peter Toohey was run out to have Australia in early trouble at 34 for two. Cosier's opening partner John Dyson was as adhesive as glue and a section of his home crowd was unimpressed. Celebrated writer Ray Robinson found it important to report a Sydney Hill placard that read, "Av a go, Dyson." It didn't seem to have any effect on the young New South Welshman as he put his forward defence to use in his two-and-a-half-hour vigil at the crease before BS Chandrasekhar trapped him leg before for 26.

In came young and exciting Kim Hughes. He clubbed Bedi for a six at the pavilion end; two balls later, there was a straight-driven four. He then tried to cut the Indian captain's quicker one and was bowled. In Hughes's biography Golden Boy, written by Christian Ryan, the author said Hughes's off stump seemed to have almost caught fire.

Ryan informed readers of the award-winning book that a 12-year-old Steve Waugh was watching from the stands. Little did that youngster envisage that he would play for Australia against India at this very ground eight years later and figure for the last time in a Test under his beloved baggy green in 2004. That was when Sourav Ganguly's men prevented Australia from running away with yet another home series win in that era of domination. Of course, India could have won that game too.

Back to the 1977-78 Test. Australia were bowled out for 131 with Bedi claiming three while Chandrasekhar's four came close on the heels of his 12 scalps in the previous Test at Melbourne.

The Indian openers Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan battled the Jeff Thomson-led attack to end Day One at 86 for no loss.

Rain delayed the start of the second day and when play resumed, Thomson continued to bend his back on an unresponsive surface which just about suited him better on Day Two what with the pitch sweating under the covers.

Thomson was near-lethal and had Gavaskar caught behind by Steve Rixon one short of his half century. The Indian master had scored three centuries in the series but had not reached double figures in the first innings in any of the three previous Tests. Also, the 97-run opening partnership was the best in the series. Robinson quoted the great Keith Miller in his Sportsweek's World of Cricket report as saying, "Sunil handles Thomson as well as any batsman I can recall." When Miller was asked by a broadcaster as to how would he have bowled to Gavaskar, he said: "I'd have stood in the slips and let others bowl."

Gundappa Viswanath (79) and Dilip Vengsarkar (48) put on 125 for the fourth wicket and an 81-run stand between Syed Kirmani (42) and Karsan Ghavri (64) for the seventh wicket took the game away from the Australians. Bedi copped a blow from Thomson on his right thumb and declared at 396 for eight before Thomson could end up with a deserving fifer and cause another injury.

India had out-batted their opponents but were also helped by some sloppy catching from the hosts.

Talking about catches, India's substitute fielder S Madan Lal came up with a memorable effort when he held on to Peter Toohey's hook shot off Karsan Ghavri, running in from backward square leg. Simpson, who took 110 catches in his career, reckoned it was the catch of the series and one of the finest outfield catches he had seen during his long stint in the game. Toohey scored 85 with the help of a runner as he had damaged his ankle while fielding on a wet part of the ground.

Bedi claimed two wickets in Australia's second innings to take his match tally to five for a man-of-the-match honour (worth $500), also given for the fine way he led his troops.

Simpson insisted in his match analysis for World of Cricket Monthly that Erapalli Prasanna's 4-51 in the second innings was critical for India. He also felt that the "best off-spinner in the world" was "neglected for most of the series." Prasanna's second innings victims were Simpson himself as well as Craig Sergeant, Tony Mann and Thomson's pace partner Wayne Clark.

Bedi became the first overseas captain to square a series after losing the first two Tests in Australia. That joy was short-lived as India went on to lose the fifth and final Test at Adelaide and with it, the series 2-3.

There is time for the curtains to come down on the current series, but in Sydney, Ajinkya Rahane's India will do well to take that important step towards making the January 15-19 finale a series-capturing opportunity.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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