‘The Wall’: Rahul Dravid shared the epic partnership with VVS Laxman which stopped Australia’s record run of 16 consecutive Test wins at Eden Gardens. Australian Cricket Summer Guide

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‘For hour after hour, under the pressure of knowing that if he got out, the series was lost, he produced batsmanship that was beyond the imagination…’

VERY VERY SPECIAL

Michael Slater pulled a box of cigars from his kitbag and theatrically started smelling one: ‘Oh yeah baby,’ he said. ‘Tonight… here we go tonight.’ Captain Steve Waugh had his customary celebratory bottle of Southern Comfort at the ready. His 2000–01 Australians, on their ‘Final Frontier’ tour, were poised to inflict the knockout blow at Eden Gardens, Kolkata and win a series in India for the first time in more than 30 years.

Having forfeited the first Test in under three days and been asked to follow on 274 runs behind in the second, the Indians had already lost two of their main men, Sachin Tendulkar and captain Sourav Ganguly. At 4–254, it seemed inevitable that the confident, all-conquering Australians would extend their unbeaten streak to 17 wins in a row, especially with champion pair Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne in the XI.

Most in the rooms, even wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, giggled as Slater clowned around. Gilchrist had played 15 Tests and not lost even one. Normally, though, he was the last to show any sign of complacency. But he, like everyone else, honestly thought the Australians were ‘home’.

India’s two not-out batsmen overnight were VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, one an exhilarating shotmaker and the other a master of organisation with such a tight defence that he was known as ‘The Wall’.

Matchwinner: Cricket’s iconic wrist spinner Shane Warne delivering one of his signature leg-breaks. He amassed more than 700 Test wickets having been fast-tracked into the Test team before he’d truly deserved selection.

Laxman had been last man out in the first innings for 59 and was told by coach John Wright to keep his pads on after the Australians enforced the follow-on. Waugh had sought the opinion of his players on whether they should bat again – or bowl again. Only one, opener Michael Slater, reckoned they should set a huge target and bowl when the wicket was at its most weathered. The rest wanted to go straight back out again. As Waugh was walking across to the Indian rooms to inform Ganguly, Wright was in a confab with Laxman. He wanted a strokemaker at No. 3 – someone to come in and dominate. Dravid, who normally batted three, was classy and focused, but he could be slow.

‘We need to take the Australians on,’ Wright said to ‘VVS’. Having been so easily beaten in Mumbai and again been comprehensively outplayed in the first two days in Kolkata, he wanted India to be proactive and take risks. Wright particularly remembered Laxman’s inspired 167 against the Australians in the New Year Test 15 months earlier, an innings of carefree genius which saw him dubbed ‘Very Very Special’ by the Australian cricket media.

Despite going into the second Test with a troublesome back injury, which made it impossible for him to stand upright, the clean-hitting Laxman was clearly his team’s in-form player. Having top-scored in the first innings, he duly went in at No. 3 and rocketed to three figures, striking seventeen 4s in his second century in three Tests against the Australians. Wright’s hunch had paid off beautifully, with Laxman 109 and Dravid 7 overnight.

Despite Laxman’s brilliance, the Australians were still virtually unbackable favourites, especially with the second new ball due almost immediately on the fourth morning. Many were in party mood as they trailed onto India’s most famous ground, smiling and cracking jokes. None had any idea that they were about to field through an entire day without even a half-chance.

Laxman set the tone early by taking four boundaries from one over from Jason Gillespie. The first was an inside edge but the others were right out of the screws, two through the covers and the third to the square boundary, backward of point.

Having caressed Michael Kasprowicz through mid-on, he danced at Warne bowling around the wicket and hit him ‘inside out’ over the top of extra cover. It was exhilarating batting.

‘For hour after hour,’ said Wright, ‘under the pressure of knowing that if he got out, the series was lost, he produced batsmanship that was beyond the imagination, let alone the capability of most batsmen. It was the greatest innings I’ve ever seen.’

The only genuine appeal from the Australians all day came when Ricky Ponting, bowling slow mediums, struck Dravid’s front pad just before lunch.

‘It was our nearest thing all day,’ said Gilchrist. ‘They just didn’t give us a sniff.’

The Indians advanced their score from 4–254 to a massive 4–589, Laxman adding 166 and Dravid 148. Warne kept aiming for the rough outside Laxman’s leg stump and he kept running at him and hitting him over the infield. When he wasn’t slapping him to the extra cover boundary, he was going high over mid-wicket. It was electrifying batting. At intervals, India’s physiotherapist Andrew Leipus worked feverishly on Laxman’s back, trying to ‘re-align’ him. When Dravid seemed out on his feet from dehydration and was cramping, Wright yelled at Leipus to ‘Get him fit!’ Wright gave him a red tablet, said it was for anti-cramping, and Dravid carried on. As the pair turned one century into two and two into three, they constantly urged each other to maintain focus and not play a poor shot.

‘There were times when I was tiring and not timing the ball well,’ said Laxman, ‘and Rahul would exhort me to keep going. I did the same when he started tiring. Our teammates, the crowd, everyone was involved.’

Both were clearly discomforted after tea but refused to relent, Laxman continuing to throw haymakers at the Australian bowlers. When Waugh stacked his offside with a seventh fieldsman, Laxman power drove a ball with such speed that even the boundary rider at point had no chance. Waugh used nine bowlers, Justin Langer, in his only over in Test cricket, being the last before stumps.

Back in the rooms Laxman and Dravid were placed on saline drips. It had been a titanic fightback and against one of the greatest teams in Test history. Australia’s remarkable winning streak was all but over. With a lead of 315, India was now the hunter.

Over dinner at Ganguly’s Kolkata mansion that night, Ganguly and Wright agreed India should continue batting for another hour, totally taking the game away from the Australians and yet still having five hours in which to bowl them out.

After Dravid was run out for a brave 180, ending their epic 104-over stand, Laxman was last out at 281 before the declaration at 7–657. Together they’d added 376, the second-highest stand by any set of Indian batsmen in Tests. Four of the Australians had conceded 100 runs and more, Warne the most expensive at one for 152.

Australia’s target was an unassailable 384. Many thought Ganguly had unnecessarily delayed the declaration, especially when the Australians were none down at lunch. By tea, it was three down and the Indian spinners were starting to press. Steve Waugh was out almost immediately afterwards, triggering a collapse. ‘The Turbanator’ Harbhajan Singh took six wickets and Tendulkar three, including Gilchrist for a king pair. The crowd had swelled to close to 100,000 and the noise level was amazing as the Australian big names departed. When Waugh was the first out after the interval at 4–166, the Australian room went deathly quiet and the last six wickets fell for just 48, India winning with half an hour to spare, dozens of celebratory fires being lit all around the ground. Only two other Test teams had won following on.

Before boarding the team bus, Gilchrist saw one of Slater’s celebratory cigars and snapped it in half. It had been the one that got away.