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The Second Test in the
Australian cricket team's tour of India in early 2001 was a
Test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
match played over five days at
Eden Gardens
The Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata, India. Established in 1864, it is the oldest and second-largest cricket stadium in India and third-largest in the world. The stadium currently has a capacity of 66,000.
Eden Gardens is often re ...
in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
from11–15 March 2001.
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
won the match by 171 runs after being forced to
follow-on
In the game of cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team ...
, only the third time this has happened since Test cricket began in 1877.
The Australian team, rated as the best in the world, had won 16 Tests in a row, a
Test cricket record, including the previous Test at
Wankhede Stadium in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
by 10 wickets.
The match is remembered for
VVS Laxman
Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman (; born 1 November 1974) is a former Indian international cricketer and a former cricket commentator and pundit. A right-hand batsman known for his elegant stroke play, Laxman played as a middle-order batsman in T ...
and
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...
's batting performance,
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...
's hattrick and last day wicket-taking,
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...
's wicket-taking spell on the final day and
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
's aggressive brand of captaincy in deciding to go for the improbable victory and not just a draw. Also of note were Australia's first innings performances, particularly that of captain
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a medium-pace bowler. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Australi ...
and
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed batting order (cricket)#opening batsman, opening batsm ...
. The Test is most noted for its fourth day. After India trailed by more than 250 runs in the first innings, Dravid and Laxman batted the entirety of day four to build up a lead of 384. In the process, Laxman also posted what was, at that time, the highest individual score by an Indian (later to be surpassed by
Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic c ...
's two triple centuries and
Karun Nair
Karun Kaladharan Nair (born 6 December 1991) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in Indian Premier League. He is a right-handed top order batter and occasional off break bowle ...
's triple century). It is widely considered to be one of the greatest test matches in cricket history.
Summary
Day 1
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a medium-pace bowler. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Australi ...
won the toss and decided to bat first.
Michael Slater
Michael Jonathon Slater (born 21 February 1970) is an Australian former professional cricketer and former television presenter. He played in 74 Test matches and 42 One Day Internationals for the Australia national cricket team.
Early life
Sl ...
and
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed batting order (cricket)#opening batsman, opening batsm ...
gave the visitors a strong foundation putting on 103 for the opening wicket. Slater was dismissed by
Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...
but Hayden, given a life on 67 when he sliced a drive to
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...
off Zaheer continued to score freely. He added another 90 runs with
Justin Langer
Justin Lee Langer (21 November 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the former coach of the Australia men's national team, having been appointed to the role in May 2018 and leaving in February 2022. A left-handed ba ...
to take Australia to 193/1 by tea, and another Australian romp seemed imminent.
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...
then dismissed Hayden for 93 immediately after tea, sparking a dramatic collapse from 193/1 to 252/7 and subsequently 269/8. Khan had Langer caught behind, and Harbhajan dismissed the dangerous
Mark Waugh
Mark Edward Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International (ODI) debu ...
to make it 236/4; he then proceeded to take the first ever international test hat-trick by an Indian bowler as he dismissed Ponting, Gilchrist and Warne off successive deliveries.
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its "golden era", between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 20 ...
was the first to go, beaten by one pushed quicker through the air. Gilchrist was adjudged lbw off a similar delivery but had cause to be aggrieved; replays showed the ball pitched well outside legstump and that he had some bat on the ball. With Harbhajan on a hattrick,
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Australia ...
was surrounded by men around the bat, with Sadagopan Ramesh at short leg the man who eventually claimed the catch from a tentative prod. The on field umpires referred it to the third umpire, who took a long time making the tough decision before finally declaring Warne out. An emotional Harbhajan later remembered his father in the post match interview; his captain
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
called it a performance that brought India back into the match.
Forced to bring himself on to bowl when Zaheer Khan walked off with cramp, Ganguly dismissed Kasprowicz lbw to leave Australia at 269/8 by the end of Day1 with
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a medium-pace bowler. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Australi ...
batting on 29 with
Jason Gillespie
Jason Neil Gillespie (born 19 April 1975) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. A right-arm fast bowler, he was also a competent lower-order batsman whose unbeaten 201 in his last Test matc ...
for company. Australia, having dominated the first two sessions, had lost 7 wickets in one session to squander the advantage.
Day 2
Led from the front by Steve Waugh, Australia began the day at a precarious 291/8 but that was the high of the day for India. The 35 year old Waugh batted well with Gillespie and then
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath (; born 9 February 1970) is an Australian former international cricketer who played international cricket for 14 years. He was a fast-medium pace bowler (cricket), bowler and is considered one of the greatest international ...
, crossing numerous landmarks on the way, as he took Australia to a total of 445. In the process the Australian captain notched up his 25th Test century, crossing
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...
's tally of 24 hundreds at the time. Having never made a Test hundred in India, Waugh was more emotional than normal as he tugged at the red handkerchief in his pocket, took off his helmet and raised his bat to a full house Eden crowd. He also passed
Javed Miandad
Mohammad Javed Miandad PP SI (Urdu: ; born 12 June 1957), popularly known as Javed Miandad (Urdu: ), is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. ESPNcricinfo desc ...
to become the (then) 4th highest run getter in test cricket.
Waugh was given able support by Gillespie, who batted for over 3 hours, facing nearly 150 deliveries to score 46, his then-highest test score. He helped add 133 with Steve Waugh – Australia's highest 9th wicket partnership in tests against India.
After Gillespie was dismissed with the scoreboard reading 402/9, Waugh rubbed more salt into the wound to add 43 more with McGrath and take Australia to a formidable total of 445. The last 2 wickets had added 176 and day 1 seemed a distant memory. Worse, however, was to come.
India began their innings poorly. Steve Waugh, with runs to work with, attacked from the beginning with as many as 7 men catching.
Opener
Sadagoppan Ramesh
Sadagoppan Ramesh (சடகோபன் ரமேஷ்) (born 13 October 1975) is a former Indian cricketer and actor who appeared in Tamil movies. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler. In September 1999, he became t ...
duly obliged to Jason Gillespie, edging one to Ponting in the slips without a single run on the board.
Shiv Sunder Das
Shiv Sunder Das (born 5 November 1977) is an Indian cricketer and 3rd player from Odisha cricket team, Odisha to represent India national cricket team, India. He is a right-handed opening batsman. In first-class cricket he played for Odisha cr ...
and
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...
played out the remainder of the session to take India to 32/1 at tea. The final session was again the most dramatic, as India then collapsed from a cautious 34/1 to 113/8. Wickets fell regularly as Das was soon followed by the celebrated Indian middle order. Tendulkar played across one from McGrath and was adjudged lbw, Dravid lost his stumps to Warne and Ganguly was snapped up brilliantly by Steve Waugh at gully. India ended Day 2 on 128/8 with the two Hyderabadis
VVS Laxman
Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman (; born 1 November 1974) is a former Indian international cricketer and a former cricket commentator and pundit. A right-hand batsman known for his elegant stroke play, Laxman played as a middle-order batsman in T ...
and
Venkatapathy Raju
Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju, sometimes spelt Venkapathy Raju (born 9 July 1969) is a former Indian cricketer , cricket administrators & cricket coach. He came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic seaso ...
at the crease, still needing 118 more to avoid the follow-on. India had lost 7 wickets in a session, just like the Australians the previous day, and Australia looked odds-on favourites to extend their winning streak to 17.
Day 3
India showed more determination than they had done in 5 days of test cricket before this one3 of them an abject 10 wicket humiliation in Mumbai. First the tail wagged (if not in Australian proportions); the last two wickets added 58 runs in the company of VVS Laxman who batting at No.6 stroked a fluent and graceful 59. Laxman was the last man out, a tad unfairly perhaps – replays showed the ball popped up off his arm – as India were bowled out for 171, 274 in arrears. As expected, Steve Waugh asked India to follow-on.
This time though, the openers began solidly; putting on 50 for the first time in the series. When Ramesh was dismissed, Ganguly sent in
VVS Laxman
Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman (; born 1 November 1974) is a former Indian international cricketer and a former cricket commentator and pundit. A right-hand batsman known for his elegant stroke play, Laxman played as a middle-order batsman in T ...
. Rahul Dravid had been struggling for runs for a while and Laxman had been stroking the ball well before his unfortunate dismissal. Laxman had been asked to open the innings in this match but had refused. He seemed to pick up from where he had left off, batting serenely, and at times aggressivelya reminder that there were no demons in the pitch. Das departed, unfortunate to hit the stumps with his heels whilst executing an immaculate pull shot to end a promising partnership with Laxman. Tendulkar soon followed, for a second failure in the match, but Laxman found a willing ally in
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
. The pair set about repairing the damage done by raising a hundred for the 4th wicket, but just when it seemed India was going to end the day with some semblance of balance, McGrath induced an edge that was lapped up gleefully by Gilchrist to dismiss Ganguly 2 runs short of a deserved half century. Out came
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...
, with the scorecard reading 232/4. Laxman duly completed a hundred in Dravid's company.
India ended the day with 252 on the board for the loss of 4 wickets. Laxman had scored a masterful unbeaten 109 and keeping him company was the woefully out of form Dravid on 7. India were still trailing by 20 and while Laxman may have given India some joy, it seemed only a matter of time before the inevitable happened.
Day 4
The fourth day was one in which numerous records tumbled and the game changed dramatically with an incredible partnership between Laxman and Dravid. Laxman struck 44 fours on his way to a record-breaking double hundred. With a single off Matthew Hayden, he crossed the mark of 236 set by Sunil Gavaskar against West Indies at Chennai in 1983 for the highest score by an Indian batsman in tests. Dravid, meanwhile, also reached his century and celebrated in uncharacteristic fashion gesturing to the press box, having been criticised in the media for his recent poor form.
Astonishingly, the two batted out the whole day without being dismissed and took India to 589/4, leading by 315.
Day 5
Laxman (281) and Dravid (180) both departed to standing ovations from the capacity Eden Gardens crowd. The two eventually added 376 in that game-changing stand. Zaheer Khan then scored some quick runs as India declared on 657/7 13 overs into the final day, setting Australia a target of 384 in a minimum of 75 overs. With a required rate of over 5 runs, an Australian win was almost certainly out of the question. The openers Hayden and Slater again began well as Australia reached 166/3 in 45 overs. With only 30 overs remaining in the day and Steve Waugh looking solid, a draw seemed to be on the cards. But Harbhajan Singh dismissed Waugh and Ponting in quick succession to trigger a dramatic Australian capitulation. Tendulkar then removed Gilchrist for a first ball duck, completing Gilchrist's first and only king pair. It was only his 16th game, and he had won all 15 previous games. In his next two overs, Tendulkar dismissed Hayden and trapped Warne lbw with a perfectly pitched
googly
In the game of cricket, a googly refers to a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is different from the normal delivery for a leg-spin bowler in that it is turning the other way. The googly is ''not'' a variation of the ...
. Harbhajan then took the final two wickets to take his match tally to 13 wickets and complete a sensational 171 run Indian victory. It was only the third instance of a team winning the match after following on in the history of international cricket, with Australia on the losing side on all 3 occasions.
Scorecard
Australian innings
Indian innings
Notes
*
Harbhajan's first innings
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
was the first ever by an Indian in Test cricket.
*
Laxman
Lakshman or Laxman is a common Indian name, most commonly used as a masculine given name. It derives from Lakshmana, the character of the Ramayana epic.
Given name
* Lakshmana (Chahamana dynasty), 10th century Indian king
* Lakshman Kadirgamar, S ...
's innings of 281 was the highest, at the time, by an Indian in Tests, surpassing
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...
's record of 236 not out.
*
Dravid's innings of 180 was his ninth Test century and first against Australia.
*
Gilchrist became the first Australian to be dismissed for a
king pair
This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...
in Test cricket.
* The Indian victory ended a 16 Test winning streak for
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a medium-pace bowler. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Australi ...
's team, which was a world record.
References
External links
Scorecardfrom
Cricinfo
ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Second Test, 2000-01 Border-Gavaskar Trophy
2000-01 2nd Test
History of Test cricket
Test cricket matches
2001 in Australian cricket
2001 in Indian cricket
International cricket competitions in 2000–01