India's target of 499 seems huge. Of course, India's own poor batting performance lead to them having such a huge target to chase. But lets actually see what's happened in the past in the fourth innings.
At least on one occasion, England has scored 654/5 in the fourth innings of the test match against South Africa. They were chasing 696 in the 1938-39 series and ended just 42 short. Two centuries and one double century was hit in that epic innings of 218.2 8 ball overs.
Apart from that great effort, there have been 13 other occasions where a team has scored 400 or more runs in the fourth innings, with 3 leading to victories.
Only in this decade did Sarwan and Chanderpaul hit centuries to score 418/7 against - guess who - Australia to win the match. The bowling comprised of McGrath, Gillespie, Lee and McGill. Just a month back, Sri Lanka, lead by a wonderful knock by Sangakkara, scored 410 against Australia and got into 96 runs of victory. Don't forget that India's chase of 406 against the West Indies in Port of Spain is legendary.
Thats not a lot, but enough precedent to go after this target whole heartedly and see if they can get across. Its time to make fresh history....
ps: If they don't make, hope they don't make it to the list of highest margin of victories.
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