1 India v/s Australia Test Cricket history goes back to 1947 when they played for the first time against one another in Brisbane on November 28 (coincidentally I was born on 28.11 in 1983)! Some of my earliest cricketing memories are from the (disastrous) Indian tour of..

2..Australia in 1991/92 in which India lost the 5 Test series 0-4. I remember the newspapers and trying to figure out how to read a cricket scorecard! Was barely 8 and I can recall the 206 that @RaviShastriOfc scored in Sydney (from the cricket scorecard in the newspaper).

3 When these two nations met in a Test again in 1996, I was a teenager in Year 8! And so started the history of the Border-Gavaskar series! This is a blog on the almost 25 years of the Border-Gavaskar from my perspective, my life and my memories of the times. Please read on…

Part 1: Year-1996. My life: Year 8 in Patna in SMHS. One off Test played in Kotla, Delhi. I remember the then Indian wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia opening and scoring a 150. Was extremely rare for an Indian keeper to score so many runs back then. Also remember a new Indian pacer..

.. by the name of David Johnson that got me and my friends excited (back then one of our dreams as cricket fans was to see a tearaway Indian quick destroying oppositions as we were envious of other nations, especially Pakistan, blessed with genuine fast bowlers).

All we dreamt of was to have another bowler who could bowl at 150 kph and support Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad. So, Johnson got us really excited but alas, the dude bowled with such an exerting awkward action that he lasted just another Test and so went our excitement

Anyways, as Mr. @anilkumble1074 used to do in India back then, he destroyed the Aussies with 9 Wickets in the match and India won the inaugural Border-Gavaskar Test and started what would become the finest of cricketing rivalries!

Year 1998. My life: SMHS, Patna- Almost in Year 10 (phewwww, big deal CBSE board exams next year afterall). That series was the one in which @ShaneWarne got his nightmares from the way @sachin_rt and @sherryontopp went after him! Sidhu was amazing as an opener

India won the 1st Test in Chennai and then in Kolkata, @azharflicks did what Azhar did usually in Kolkata- that is get a big hundred (163*) India destroyed the Aussies. So far 3 in 3 for India to start the Border-Gavaskar series era! But then came Bangalore- the 3rd Test!

Even though India had won the series, Aussies came out of nowhere to win the game with their captain Mark Taylor getting a superb century in the last innings to chase 190 odd. But the wrecker was Michael Kasprowicz @kaspa369 who destroyed India in their 2nd Innings with 5/28

A funny anecdote- met @kaspa369 in person in Melbourne years later when he was working for @CricketAus and we spoke about his heroics in Bangalore 1998 and later on the tour of 2004! He seemed genuinely chuffed to talk to me about some of his finest cricketing days! Great bloke

1999/2000: My life- Year 11, AF School Agra (new friends, coed school- life was buzzing). Those were the days when it was a pain in the backside to get up early in Indian time zone to watch India play in Australia. Freezing cold and before going to school, quickly watch...

.. some overs while there is pandemonium in the house with Dad getting ready for office, Mom screaming for me to switch off the TV and get ready for school etc etc . Then all day in school can't study as wanting to know the score and the anticipation. Oh my god, what days!

First test of that series was in Adelaide. India started with a bang as Australia was 4 down for 50 odd but then @RickyPonting and Steve Waugh both got hundreds and Australia scored big in the 1st Innings. While the rest of the Test was a disaster for India, the defining memory

.. of that match was surely the way @sachin_rt was given out LBW to @glennmcgrath11. I saw that moment live at a friend's place (must have been a school holiday or I might have bunked). Anyways, it was bizarre as Sachin had ducked but and the ball had hit him on the helmet!!

Then off to Boxing Day for the 2nd Test in Melbourne (little did I know that in just over 2 years from that day, Melbourne will become my home and my life). India struggled as expected and was zapped by a blonde poster boy but ferociously quick @BrettLee_58 making his debut.

@BrettLee_58 took 5 Wickets in his 1st ever innings in a Test whole India had their "one man army" of the time @sachin_rt fighting with a 116 & 52 in the Test. Even rain didn't help much as India lost the series

I mean MSK Prasad was the wicketkeeper in that series, so what hope India had anyways! That was another thing that bugged us as cricket fanatics- while the world had Healy's, Andy Flower etc, we had to do with MSK Prasad, Ajay Ratra, Vijay Dahiya and who knows who all!

So, 3rd and final Test in Sydney. As per script @glennmcgrath11 & @BrettLee_58 destroyed India in the 1st Innings for 150 and current Aussie coach Langer scored a double hundred to bat India out of the game. It was so damn humiliating and depressing to watch.

Didn't even bother to watch India's 2nd Innings (bad bad call in hindsight). And then the magic happened. @VVSLaxman281 who until then had managed about 50 odd runs in 5 innings in the series and was most likely playing his last Test for India (for sometime at least), scored..

.. 167 of 198 balls! When I read about it the next day, was @VVSLaxman281 got 167 out of India's team total of 261 in the 2nd Innings. One of the finest and brutal career saving knocks of all time. A star was born who would torment the future Aussie sides for years to come!

End of Part 1. Next series was THAT series in 2001, right in the middle of my CBSE Year 12 board exams. Another story for another day. Hope you guys read this bit and give me any feedbacks. Thanks. @NAN_DINI_ @rspathania @truebiancaa @roshwrites @moi_maahi @greenhackle11

How can one not be romantic about Cricket! Hopefully some of you guys read and let me know. Straight from my heart indeed. @gauripokhariyal @UnSubtleDesi @bhogleharsha @BCCI @CricketAus @mj_slats