Against an Australian total of 674 — built on Bradman 201 and Hassett 198 not out — Vijay Hazare made 116 and 145 in successive innings to become the first Indian to score twin centuries in a Test. He did so against Lindwall and Miller at their fastest, watching wickets fall constantly at the other end (six teammates failed to score across his second-innings 145), and earned an oft-quoted compliment from Bradman about his batting. India still lost by an innings and 16, but Hazare's innings remain a touchstone of Indian batsmanship.
By the fourth Test India were 0-2 down. The Adelaide pitch was true; with Bradman 201 and Hassett unbeaten 198, the only Indian counter-narrative was likely to be individual.
Bradman's Australia, in their last Test summer at home, were dismantling Lala Amarnath's tourists with mechanical efficiency. At Adelaide, Bradman and Hassett added 236 for the fourth wicket; Australia declared at 8/674.
Hazare came to the crease with India 70-odd for 3 in reply. He drove and pulled with classical balance off the back foot, taking 23 fours in his first-innings 116, made out of 187 added while he was at the crease. Forced to follow on 293 behind, India lost five wickets quickly. Hazare, batting at three, made 145 — a more punishing innings against the second new ball — out of 277. Six of his team-mates were dismissed without scoring.
Bradman, talking to journalists afterwards, said Hazare was 'one of the most graceful batsmen I have seen', a remark cited often in later Indian cricket-writing.
23 Jan 1948 — Australia 8/674 declared (Bradman 201)
25 Jan — Hazare 116; India 381 all out
26 Jan — India follow on; Hazare comes in early
27 Jan — Hazare 145; six team-mates score 0
28 Jan — Australia win by an innings and 16 runs
23 Jan 1948
Australia post 8/674 declared (Bradman 201)
25 Jan 1948
Hazare 116
27 Jan 1948
Hazare 145 in the follow-on
28 Jan 1948
Australia win by innings and 16
“One of the most graceful batsmen I have seen.”
The first authentic Indian Test masterpiece on Australian soil. Hazare's twin tons against Lindwall and Miller, made amid wreckage, gave India a story to carry through the post-Partition decade.
Hazare's twin tons remained the only Indian instance of two centuries in a Test for almost two decades and are still cited as the prototype for India's later Adelaide hundreds (Sehwag, Dravid, Pujara, Kohli). The Bradman quote is engraved at the Vijay Hazare gates at Sangli.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.