The Aussies rolled into India like an invincible juggernaut, and demolished Wankhede. But there was Bhajji, a man possessed, and then VVS-Dravid happened…. I didn’t move an inch.
The legendary former Arsenal football manager Arsene Wenger had famously said, “If you do not believe you can do it then you have no chance at all”. Belief stems from faith in one’s ability and during a Duleep Trophy pre-match press conference in Pune in February 2001, I was asked if India can beat Steve Waugh’s Australians, who looked invincible as they arrived on our shores with 15 Test wins on the trot.
I told the media that I wanted to see how the Australians performed under pressure. Cricket is a funny game and I was sure that if India applied pressure, we would win. Ostensibly, the Australian juggernaut continued in India. We lost the first of the three Tests in Mumbai by 10 wickets. But the ‘final frontier’ would not be breached!
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The Indian team was in transition. Sourav Ganguly had become captain; we had a new coach in John Wright; Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble were not available; Zaheer Khan was raw and youngsters were being blooded during a high-profile series. It was a challenging time.
At the Eden Gardens, Australia carried on from the Wankhede. Steve Waugh opted to bat after winning the toss and Hayden opened with Slater to give the Aussies a rousing start. When the opposition is relentless, the only way to keep fighting is by converting half chances—which substitute fielder Hemang Badani did—and minimising the margin for error. We ticked those boxes on day 1 as Harbhajan Singh mesmerised the Aussies with brilliant off-spin bowling. Hayden’s wicket for 97 and then Bhajji’s hattrick (Ponting, Gilchrist and Warne) put the match in balance. A young Harbhajan was like a man possessed. I have never seen him bowling like that in his entire career. The release, loop and bite he was getting from the Eden wicket made him a difficult customer—I got a taste of it at the nets. Harbhajan kept pegging away from one end while we rotated newcomers like Rahul Sanghvi, Nilesh Kulkarni and Sairaj Bahutule from the other.
We were disappointed with our first innings batting. On Day 3, we deplored the position we were in but believed anything was possible. That happened on Day 4. We shuffled the batting order when asked to follow on. V.V.S. Laxman came out at No 3, because he was in rhythm and was last man out in the first innings, scoring a defiant 59.
In my book, Rahul Dravid was best at No. 3. It was under my captaincy in South Africa that I promoted him to No. 3 from No. 6. At the Eden, we needed Laxman to counterattack. He loves scoring off boundaries while Dravid was the quintessential ‘wall’. The 376-run partnership between Laxman (281) and Rahul (180) brought us back in the game.
As Laxman and Rahul kept chugging along, the dressing room was tense. I did not move an inch from my seat on that sultry Calcutta day. Everyone was ready to help the two warriors out there—cold towels, dry gloves and hydrating drinks. Australia were feeling the heat with every run scored. But we were sure they would go for the 384-run target in 75 overs. Hayden and Slater made a good start. Bhajji exploited the Day 5 wicket brilliantly and saw the back of Slater. Mark Waugh’s failure and Langer’s exit gave us a glimmer of hope. Badani took a sensational reflex catch at short leg to see Steve Waugh off and with the Eden crowd cheering us, we had an extra spring in our feet. In sport, results can’t be fully controlled; things just happen. I came in to bowl at a period when something needed to happen. Both Hayden and Gilchrist had scored runs in the first innings and their wickets were a must-have; it was great fun to get Warne out off a googly!
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In our era, Steve Waugh’s Australia was the team to beat. Thus, the Eden win is right up there in my list. Srinath’s six for 21 that won us a Test against South Africa in Motera in 1996-97, Kumble’s 10 wickets against Pakistan in February 1999 at Kotla and India’s sensational six-wicket victory chasing 387 in the fourth innings against England in Chennai in 2008 were great advertisements for Test cricket.
The game is forever changing. We never spoke about strike rates in Tests. It was not even discussed in ODIs! The impact of the shorter formats has made batsmen take more risks. I hope Test cricket retains its long-format grandeur.
(As told to Soumitra Bose)