30th anniversary of 1986 Ind vs Aus tied Test: Chennai was my Mount Everest, says Dean Jones

Dean Jones who became a better batsman after the India series in 1986 is seen celebrating a hundred against Pakistan at Adelaide in 1990 PicGetty ImagesWonder what stung Dean Jones more ndash his 1986 captain Allan Border saying that he would get a tough Queenslander in if Jones wanted to return to the Chidambaram Stadium pavilion while he was battling serious health issues against India at Chennai 30 years to the date or Greg Matthews underplaying his 210 in the Australian media on SaturdayIn any case Jones can be proud for playing one of the gutsiest innings in Test cricket history This writer spoke to Jones a couple of days before the 2004 India vs Australia Test at Chennai where Jones was for television commentaryExcerpts from an interviewWhat are the images that conjure up in your mind when you think of ChennaiThe heat humidity that I never experienced before It Chidambaram Stadium was a concrete coliseum I flew in here on Monday with a smile on my face because this city put the Australian team and me on the mapCan you recall what was it like when you went in to bat at number threeI always wore my gloves while waiting to bat Geoff Marsh and David Boon got off to a slow start and I was nervous as hell I had to change my gloves because they were wet already It was my first Test in two and a half yearsWhat made you so nervous mdash the crowd the challenge the occasion or your position in the teamA multitude of things really I did not think I was good enough at that level and against spinners like Ravi Shastri Maninder Singh and Shivlal Yadav I suppose you have to stick to the game plan when under pressure You might not believe in it but that is where discipline comes in and it workedAt what point in your innings you believed you could get a big scoreProbably when I was 60odd not out at the end of the first day I got some easy runs early the next day and reached my hundred pretty quickly But after I reached 125 I was dehydrated I felt pins and needles in my body and just started playing from memoryAllan Border said to you that he would get a Queenslander in if you dont want to continueYes I was so sick that Sunny Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were concerned about my health At the end of the over I would vomit and Sunny would say get some lime soda Id throw up again Sunny was trying to work out things that could help me Can you imagine teams doing that sort of thing now At 176 I had vomited half a dozen times and I said I dont want to be remembered for throwing up on a pitch I told Allan that I am ruining the game and wanted to go off After all people dont want to see this He then called me a weak so and so and a weak Victorian He said I want a tough Queenslander out here referring to Greg Ritchie who was the next batsman I am very loyal to Victoria and I said right I am staying You cant talk to me like that I dont know whether it was pride or stupidity that got me through but I was quite willing to go off then The Chennai Test was my Mount Everest If you want to become a good Test player you have to climb your Mount EverestWhat did this reveal of Allan Border as a captainWhether he meant what he said or not that was an example of telling every player in the squad that these are the standards I expect and sometimes you have to go through a brick wall for your country Thats why I call the Tied Test as the renaissance of Australian cricket We batted our backsides off on a huge turner in Mumbai later in the series I was batting with Border We got through to lunch I went bang bangbang and got to 60 before the new ball was due and Allan said to me now you are a tough Test player What youve done today has impressed me more than the 200 in Madras Gee I felt 10 feet tall on the flight back home that nightThis interview first appeared in midday on October 12 2004