India Chase 406 — Port of Spain, April 1976

India had drawn the first Test at Bridgetown and lost the second at Port of Spain by ten wickets. Lloyd's side, leading 1-0 in the five-match series, was in transition: the four-pronged pace attack of Roberts, Holding, Daniel and Holder was not yet fully assembled, and at Trinidad — where the pitch traditionally took spin — Lloyd had played four spinners and only one specialist quick.

Bishan Bedi captained an Indian side missing several senior bowlers; the slow-bowling triumvirate of Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna had taken India through the Test, and the chase rested almost entirely on the batting.

Lloyd's declaration, with India needing 403, was made on the assumption that no team would chase the target on a fifth-day Trinidad pitch. The second-day pitch had taken sharp spin; he believed the spinners would carry the day. Bedi, asked at the lunch interval whether he thought India could chase, said only that he hoped their batsmen would believe they could.

Gavaskar's century took 245 balls and contained nothing in the way of premeditated aggression; Vishwanath's 112 was the more fluent and the more critical, coming after Amarnath had been dismissed and a wicket then would have ended the chase.

Lloyd had set India 403 on the morning of the fifth day, declaring at 271/6 in the second innings and giving India two sessions plus a full final day to chase the runs. The West Indian attack at Port of Spain leaned on spin — Imtiaz Ali, Raphick Jumadeen, Albert Padmore — and the pitch, by the fifth day, was offering turn but not the variable bounce that would later end the chase early.

Gavaskar and Anshuman Gaekwad opened with 69. Gavaskar reached 102 from 245 balls and was eventually bowled by Jumadeen. Amarnath made 85; Vishwanath 112 — the first time Gavaskar and Vishwanath, brothers-in-law and the two most accomplished Indian batsmen of the era, had each scored hundreds in the same Test. Patel saw India home with an unbeaten 49. The win came mid-way through the final session.

“I declared because I did not believe any side could make 400 on this pitch. I was wrong.”

Lloyd was embarrassed enough by the result that for the fourth Test at Sabina Park three weeks later he discarded his spinners and selected Roberts, Holding, Daniel and Holder. The Sabina Park Test was disfigured by short-pitched fast bowling that hit Indian batsmen repeatedly; Bedi declared India's first innings closed at 306/6 and the second at 97 all out (effectively forfeited) in protest at what he considered intimidatory bowling. India lost the series 2-1.

The Port of Spain chase remained the second-highest successful Test chase until West Indies themselves passed it, scoring 418/7 to beat Australia at the Antigua Recreation Ground in May 2003.