India were on the verge of creating history against England in the final Test of a four-match series at the Oval on September 4, 1979. Chasing a target of 438 runs, India were just nine runs short before the Test match was called to be a draw. It was Sunil Gavaskar, who guided India and made 400-plus target look attainable with his famous double century.
After England won the first Test match by an innings and 83 runs, the next two games ended in a draw and now India needed to win the final Test in Oval to prevent the series loss. However, things didn’t go well for India in the starting as the hosts England took a lead of 103 runs in the first innings. Graham Gooch was the top scorer with 79(205), while Ian Botham shone with the ball taking four scalps.
Coming to bat in the second innings, Geoff Boycott came up with 125 runs off 293 balls as England declared on 334/8 giving India a mammoth target of 438 runs. However, the visitors got a great start as Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan put up a partnership of 213 runs before the loss of the first wicket. Chauhan got out after scoring 80(263) runs hitting seven boundaries. After that, Dilip Vengsarkar came up with a well-made 52(139) runs.
Middle-order failure made things difficult for India
Despite an impressive start, India failed to get big runs from the middle-order and kept losing wickets. Sunil Gavaskar took India closer to a target with his 221(443) runs with the help of 21 fours. However, he ended up giving his wicket to Ian Botham when India needed just 49 runs from 7.4 overs on the final day of the Test match.
After Gavaskar’s wicket, India kept losing at regular intervals and the match went down the last where India needed 15 runs to win. However, India could score only six runs in the final over of the Test match finishing at a score of 429/8, just nine runs short of the target. The match ended in a draw and England ended up winning the four-match by 1-0. India couldn’t win the match but Sunil Gavaskar was awarded Player of the Match for his fighting double ton that took India closer to a big target.