Flashback: The first day-night ODI played in India
28th September 1984 is a date that is an important one in Indian cricket history. For, on this date, the first-ever day-night ODI match was played in India in the city of Delhi. And, the two teams that took the field on this historic day were India and Australia. Let us see what happened in this match between the two sides.
In a match reduced to 48 overs per side, the Australian outfit wielded the willow first and posted a total of 220/9 on the board. And, opening batsman Kepler Wessels sizzled with the bat in hand, scoring 107 off 133 deliveries. Apart from Wessels, Kim Hughes scored an attractive 93-ball 72. None of the other Aussie batsmen could score more than 25 runs, and as many as 7 batsmen could not even cross single digits.
With the ball, the likes of Madan Lal and Kirti Azad scalped 2 wickets each for the Indian side. Kapil Dev, Chetan Sharma and Ashok Patel picked up a solitary wicket each.
India’s first day night ODI.
Delhi 1984 Jawaharlal Nehru stadium v Australia. Players stretch.#Cricket #IndvAus @tintin1107 @vijayarumugam @elitecynic pic.twitter.com/5IC4fo2e6g— subu sastry (@suubsy) April 5, 2020
The Indian side produced a poor performance in reply. None of the Indian batsmen could cross the 40-run mark, and the then Sunil Gavaskar led outfit was bowled out for 172. Kapil Dev top-scored for India, scoring 39 off 47 deliveries, while Dilip Vengsarkar scored a slow 33 at a strike rate of 38.37. Gavaskar scored a 54-ball 25 as well.
For the Australian side, the likes of Carl Rackemann and Tom Hogan produced an excellent performance with the ball. While Rackemann picked up 4 wickets in his quota of 10 overs and leaked 41 runs, Hogan picked up 3 wickets in 9.5 overs, giving away 44 runs.
Australian batsman Kepler Wessels won the Player of the Match award for his excellent knock that helped his side beat their opposition by 48 runs. Yes, this match will remain a special one, as this was the ‘first of its kind’ ODI match played in India.
