Indian cricket was going through a turbulent time at the start of the 21st century. The match-fixing scandal had shaken the faith of the fans while India were struggling to win both at home and away. The unbeaten Australian team under the leadership of Steve Waugh landed in India during that period. The next few days of Test cricket defined the future of India in red-ball cricket.
In the first Test in Mumbai, Australia secured a thumping 10-wicket win to make it 16 consecutive wins. Heading into the second Test at the Eden Gardens, India were staring at another defeat. Despite Harbhajan Singh hat-trick, Australia managed to post 445 all out.
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India were bowled out for 171, with VVS Laxman, who was not supposed to play the match due to a back injury, making 59 as India trailed by 274 runs. In the second innings, they had reached 232/4 before Laxman, along with Rahul Dravid, stitched together a partnership that would change the course of not only the match but also Indian cricket.
They added 376-run partnership for the fifth wicket was the third-best in Test history for that wicket helping India stage a target of 384 runs. VVS Laxman amassed 281 runs while Dravid departed for 180. Harbhajan picked 6/73 as Australia collapsed to 212 all out to give India victory by 171 runs and level the series which brought a revolution in Indian cricket.
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Meanwhile, VVS Laxman has recently opened up on what John Wright had said after the historic Test. The then India coach had motivated the team and warned them against complacency on the eve of the Chennai Test.
“It was very clear that the whole country was talking about Kolkata, but as a team, it was important that we didn’t get carried away. At the team meeting, John lauded our Kolkata heroics, with a caveat, ‘That Test will go down in history as an epic, but our aim is to win the series. Let’s not dwell on Kolkata, this is a fresh game and we need to start afresh.
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People will remind you about that Test, but you have to forget about it now. Australia will come hard at us, we need to stay strong and aggressive’. Whatever complacency might have lingered quickly disappeared,” Firstpost quoted Laxman as saying.
