VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid
VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid (Credits: Twitter)

March 15 is a very special day in history of Indian cricket. This is the day when India famously defeated the all-conquering Australian team in 2001 at the Eden Gardens. Australia had arrived in India on the back of 15 consecutive wins in Tests. The Steve Waugh-led side was looking nothing less than invincible.

Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting were some of the players of that famous Australian team. Their 10-wicket victory in the first Test in Mumbai further enhanced their reputation. It was all looking gloomy for the Sourav Ganguly-led side as they were asked to follow in the second Test at the Eden Gardens too.

But what happened instead was arguably the greatest fightback in Test history. Australia made 445 in their first innings on the back of the Steve Waugh’s 110 and 97 from Matthew Hayden. For India, an young Harbhajan Singh stole the show by claiming 7 for 123 including the first hat-trick in the country’s Test history. In reply, India were all out for just 171.

Australia were looking set to be marching towards a 17th straight Test win as India were reeling at 115 for 3 and then 232 for 4 after being asked to follow on. Enter VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid and the rest is history. For the next 104 overs, the pair sent the visitors on a leather hunt as they staged a miraculous fightback.

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By the time the partnership ended, Laxman and Dravid had shared a 376-run stand for the fifth wicket, and put their team 334 runs in front. Laxman was out for 281 which was the highest Test score by an Indian before it was broken by Virender Sehwag.

India eventually set Australia a target of 384. With little more than two sessions remaining in the game, a draw was looking likely. But the visitors just could not get going in the second innings. They began brightly enough courtesy of a 74-run stand from Hayden and Michael Slater, but capitulated and were eventually all out for 212. Harbhajan was the star again, adding six wickets to his seven from the first innings as he rounded out one of Test cricket’s most famous victories.

Here is a snippet of that famous win by India at the Eden Gardens: 

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