India's 500th Test: 10 unforgettable home wins

NEW DELHI: Kanpur's Green Park Stadium will host the 500th Test match played by an Indian cricket team, when Virat Kohli's side faces New Zealand from September 22.
Here's a look at 10 of India's most memorable Test victories at home.
By 119 runs v Australia, Kanpur, 1958
The offspinner Jasubhai Patel played seven Tests from 1955-1960 but will always be remembered for one match at Kanpur in 1958-59, when he took 14 wickets against Richie Benaud's team to deliver India's first victory against Australia.At 35, Patel was something of a surprise recall but put in a superb performance to rattle the touring Australians - his 9/69 in the first innings was the best-ever analysis by an Indian bowler until Anil Kumble took all ten against Pakistan almost 40 years later. He added 5/55 in the second innings to bowl India to a 119-run win that leveled the series.

By 28 runs v England, Kolkata, 1972
Against a fluent and sometimes flamboyant England, led by Tony Lewis and carried by the likes of Tony Greig and Keith Fletcher, India edged a competitive series 2-1. After defeat in the first Test in Delhi, Ajit Wadekar's side, buoyed by a crowd of 70,000 on all five days, drew level at Eden Gardens. BS Chandrasekhar - who had taken nine wickets in Delhi - was again the man who troubled Lewis' team the most though Greig, with scores of 29 and 67, batted on a different level against his unorthodox wiles. In a low-scoring match, India's slow bowlers made the difference in a 28-run win: Chandrasekhar took nine more and Bishan Bedi picked up 5/63 in the second innings.
By 10 wickets v Pakistan, Chennai, 1980
India won just eight Tests at home during the 1980s. The first of those came in January 1980, when inspired by Kapil Dev, they beat Asif Iqbal's Pakistan by ten wickets to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the six-match series. Kapil was at the forefront of this win; he started with four wickets to help bowl out Pakistan for 272, and then breezed his way to 84 off 98 balls to ensure that skipper Sunil Gavaskar's 166 wasn't squandered as the others failed. With India ahead by 158 runs, Kapil claimed 7/56 to ensure the target was just 76 runs. It was one of Kapil's strongest all-round performances at home.

By 255 runs v West Indies, Chennai, 1988
On January 14, 1988 a bespectacled legspinner made a grand entry to Test cricket with figures of 16/136 on debut, against a West Indies side boasting of Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes and Richie Richardson. On an under-prepared pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Madhya Pradesh's Narendra Hirwani picked up 8/61 in the first innings and 8/75 in the second to hand India victory. In the process, he recorded the best figures by a debutant, beating Bob Massie's 16/137 from 1972.

By 179 runs v Australia, Chennai, 1998
The series began in Chennai with Shane Warne getting Sachin Tendulkar for 4, caught by Mark Taylor at slip. When Tendulkar came to the crease in the second innings, Taylor understandably tossed the ball to Warne. The batsman began by driving four down the ground, then hit Warne inside-out past extra cover when the bowler came around the stumps. Warne persisted with the change in angle and Tendulkar hit him over midwicket for six. At the end of the over, Taylor asked Warne how he planned to bowl to Tendulkar. The reply was a matter-of-fact: "Tubs, we're stuffed."
Tendulkar went on to compile a commanding unbeaten 155 off 191 balls as India took the first Test by 179 runs.

By 212 runs v Pakistan, Delhi, 1999
On February 7, 1999 at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Anil Kumble became the second bowler in the history of Test cricket to capture all ten wickets of an innings. The settings at the second Test of the short two-game series with Pakistan, with India needing to win to level the scores. Set an improbable target of 420, Pakistan's chances of drawing the match on the final day were utterly smashed by Kumble, who took 10/74 to bowl India to their first win of this opposition in 19 years.
By 171 runs v Australia, Kolkata, 2001
This match is the stuff of legend. India down 0-1 in the series, bowled out for 171 in reply to Australia's 445, forced to follow on ... and then it all turned very, very special. The hero for India was VVS Laxman, whose 83-ball 59 from No 6 inspired the move to send him in at No. 3 when India batted a second time on the third day. Laxman finished the day not out on 109 and with Rahul Dravid (180) batted the entire fourth day while adding 335; the eventual stand of 376 broke a series of records and took India to 589/4.
Laxman batted his way to a marathon 281, the highest Test score by an Indian and one that changed the tone of the match. Sourav Ganguly's declaration with a lead of 383 set Australia 75 overs to bat out a draw; Harbhajan Singh - whose first-innings 7/123 on day one included the first hat-trick by an Indian in Tests - had other ideas and took six wickets to bowl India to an epic win.
By 6 wickets v England, Chennai, 2008
England captain Andrew Strauss was head and shoulders above his batting team-mates in Chennai with twin centuries, but his decision to set India a daunting 387 backfired as Virender Sehwag launched a stunning assault on the fourth evening. Sehwag carved 11 fours and a six during his energetic 83 off 68 balls out of an opening stand worth 117 in 23 overs, and India were 131/1 at stumps. This was followed by an unbeaten 163-run stand between Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh to complete a famous six-wicket win by chasing down the fourth-highest total in Test cricket.
By 8 wickets v South Africa, Kolkata, 2004
Back at the scene of his famous Test hat-trick against Australia in that epic 2001 match, Harbhajan took seven South African wickets in the tourists' second innings to help fashion a series-clinching win on a wearing surface. It was a masterful display of spin bowling, with Harbhajan turning a 106-run lead into a decisive advantage. He took four of the five wickets to fall on the fourth day at Eden Gardens, then made further inroads on the final morning to end with figures of 30-3-87-7. India went on to chase 117 for the loss of two wickets.
By 1 wicket v Australia, Mohali, 2010
While Laxman will forever be synonymous with India's Eden Gardens win that epic 281, he did play several other gems against the Australians. One of those was an unbeaten 73 off 79 balls at Mohali in 2010, an innings which took India to a dramatic and magnificent finish to the first Test. On a dramatic final day, India had slipped from 76/4 to 124/8 but Ishant Sharma (31) stood up to be counted in an 81-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Laxman, before Ojha survived to help seal an exhilarating win. Laxman's contribution, at the age of 35 and with a stiff back, was invaluable and left Australia dazed at how he had again duped them. "These situations get the best out of me," was Laxman's reply when asked about his work after another under-pressure classic.