The highest 4th innings total by a team winning a test match is 418/7 by West Indies against Australia at Saint John’s in 2003. There are only 3 more instances of teams scoring 400 plus runs in the 4th innings to win the match. South Africa’s 414/4 against Australia at Perth in 2008, India’s 406/4 against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1976, and Australia’s 404/3 against England at Leeds in 1948.
I checked up the record books for all kinds of International matches, where 2 nations played in a two-innings-a-side game, and found not a single team raking up over 500 to win in the 4th innings. Afghanistan – yes, Afghanistan – did that yesterday, when they chased 494 against much more fancied (at least against them) Canada, to hit 494/4, after trailing by over 300 runs in the first innings, and after Canada declared their second innings at 191/4, setting Afghanistan an almost unachievable target of around 500 runs.
All I can say is that it is extremely heartening to notice such big scores being chased down. But I’d also like to add that probably Canada played it too safe by not enforcing a follow-on and resultantly lost the game that they should’ve won.
For Afghanistan, this is a day of reckoning where everyone stands up and applauds them for their heroics. For a country tormented by war and terrorists, this is a shining example of the glory the youth can achieve for their nation by treading the right path.
© Shailesh Nigam, Varun Khanna (for respective articles)
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