Ind vs Pak 1999 chennai,A beautiful passage of play always get missed out amidst the ruins of indias loss and sachins brilliance.Day 1 india restrict pakistan to some 230 odd.India has 8 overs to face against wasim & waqar{useful bowlers i think}and probably saqlain .India has this newbie opener called ramesh who i think would dead bat a few and probably get lbw.but no ,he smashes{ wristpunches would be a better term} wasim and waqar for 30 of the most glorious runs ive seen. This on debut has to rank among the finest "little beginnings" in every sense.

S. Ramesh, in his debut Test, against Pakistan at Chennai. India ended the day 48/0 after 8 overs, in response to Pakistan's 238.

Kamran Akmal Epic Century India from 39/6 (Karachi 06). In that first session the way kami attacked the bowlers who were on top , will remain etchted in memory forever.

Second test Australia V West Indies, Perth, 1975. Australia bowled out on second day before lunch as I remember it. Roy Fredericks then tore into them from ball one. First ten overs or first five take your pick because Fredericks gave it to them. Australia scored over 300 but lost I think by an innings. It was the only test the Windies won on that tour.

Refer the Hobart Test, Australia vs Pakistan, in 1999, when Pakistan had posted a match-winning fourth innings target of 369 runs. They reduced the Aussies to 3 for 81 (and 5 for 126) in a couple of brilliant passages of play; preying on Slater, Blewett, the Waughs and Ponting. And yet, Australia found a way back into the Test, nabbing the 3-Test series 2-0.

Also "Sherwin Campbell's" Test versus New Zealand in Hamilton in the same season (1999-00) was a precursor to the West Indies' atrocious modern game. Lara won the toss and put his team into bat. Adrian Griffith (114) and Campbell (170) post 276 for the first wicket in less than 90 overs, with Chanderpaul, Lara and Jimmy Adams yet to bat. But they get dismissed for 365; then, they remove the Kiwis for 393--Cairns top-scores with 72. In the following passage of play, the hosts pry out four top-order wickets for 36 runs: West Indies get all out for 97!!! New Zealand proceed to win by 9 wickets.

I forgot to mention, Cairns took 7 wickets in the third innings of that Hamilton Test.

Sorry Samir, my instances didn't fit your criteria at all. But I remember those Tests as turning on their heads in the cited passages of play. Here is a more obvious example: of Sehwag in India's pursuit of 387 against England in Chennai, 2008. His first 46 runs shot us to 63 in eight overs -- that was with 30 overs to play in the day, though. It left us actually thinking of a win on the penultimate day of the Test.

it has to be nathan astle's 22 vs. england at christchurch , he was viv richards, gilchrist,sehwag,jayasurya and afridi rolled into one. i don't remember any innings being more destructive

WELL INFORMED TALES.WELL TO READ AND ENRICHED.

Adam Gilchrist in Perth 2010. The second fastest test century, he was under pressure to score runs and logic dictated that he work his way towards a fifty having not made too great an impact in the series thus far. Then he came out and took the poms all over the park. The Poms still had a chance to win the ashes had they won that test. But Gilly's innings broke them

I think he was looking for opening batsmen, most of these examples are blokes coming in down the order and having a swing.

For mine, Michael Slater's opening assault against England at Brisbane in 1994. 16 off the first over of the first test, he went on to score 176, and Australia never looked back that series.

I was at all 5 days (yes, we turned up and waited on the rainy day 5 too :() of that oz/india chennai match. We remain convinced McGrath and Warne would have run through India on day 5. A cameo like that is all well and good, doing it for a whole session quite another thing entirely.

It happened twice in the same match - Pakistan at Bangalore in 2005. Ten overs late on day 2 saw Sehwag hit Razzaq out of the attack and carry that momentum into the next day in making 201. Interestingly, Gambhir outscored Sehwag in six overs on the evening of day 4 to set up what looked like a bold attempt at chasing 380, but India shut up shop on the last day (after Sehwag was run-out) to lose all ten wickets and end up sharing the series.

Adam Gilchrist in Perth 2010? He might have been there as a spectator, but he certainly wasn't on the pitch. And that was the Ashes series England won 3-1, you may also recall...

Aus v SA at Melbourne in 2008/09. SA had won in Perth to go 1-0 up, and victory in Melbourne would secure their first series win down under in my living memory. The winning target of 183 was always doable, but never easy, and with 6 overs for SA to face at the end of day 4 Australia had the chance to strangle a wicket or two.

Smith hit Lee's first ball for 4, and had hit four more by the time he and McKenzie walked off at 30/0 off 6. Smith himself had 25* off just 19 balls.

The tone was set, and the chase on day 5 was never in doubt.

The Chennai test link's not working.

I remember a test match between india and Pakistan in chenni where on the fourth day close in second inning Pakistan have a lead of 57 runs with 6 wickets down on a pure turning pitch.
it was quiet cleat that on fifth day pakistan loose the match. but kamran akmal and abdul raqqak was on the crease and kamran scored a centchery and razzak scored the slow fifty with strike rate of less than 30. pakistan was able to draw the match

Edgbaston 2005 - Trescothick and Strauss wander out onto the pitch at the end of Day 2 with a handful of overs to bat out. England had a substantial lead and everything pointed to a few overs of blocking. It duly plodded along until Warne produced a magic ball from nowhere that spun about half a mile to bowl Strauss. England suddenly looked vulnerable, and the match went down to the wire.

I do not recall the exact test now but I remember onslaught by Brijesh Patel - one of the original hard hitter - changing equation from draw to a win in India's favor in circa late 70s.

Not an opening stand but I will never forget it.
Lancaster park Christchurch(sadly in a bad way after the quake)many years ago. Kiwis playing the West indies. Hadlee had knocked the top off and out swaggered Viv!!!Kinda reminds me now of an Ali/Frasier epic.
Viv proceeded to peel off 4/5 consecutive spanking boundaries from Hadlee. Ironically Viv was picked up a little later at the other end!!

Just wanted to say your Blog is in my rss you got a way with words.. Cheers,
Acheter vimax en France.2011AVEF