On this date in 2001, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman batted record time and helped the Indian side to become victorious in a historical match. The Aussies, who were dominantly inching towards the victory, met a persistent and resilient force in the third innings.
Playing follow-on, Dravid and Laxman batted brilliantly and won India the match from there. They had aces up their sleeve and earlier, it looked a tough act to follow.
In this Test match played in Kolkata, Australia bundled out India for 171 in the second innings after scoring a mammoth score of 445 runs in the first innings.
Finding India in a weakened position, Steve Waugh called for follow on. While playing follow-on, India had lost four wickets for 115, but VVS Laxman, who scored a half-century in the first innings, was had some other plans.
When India lost three wickets while playing follow-on on the third day, Laxman along with captain Sourav Ganguly (48) put on a crucial 117-run partnership for the fourth wicket. India were only 42 runs behind at the time of Ganguly’s dismissal.
By the end of the third day’s play, India had scored 254/4 in the second innings with Laxman unbeaten on 109.
On the fourth day, India had to take the lead and score enough to save the match and for this Laxman and Dravid batted brilliantly. Both had a partnership of 376 runs for the fifth wicket.
India did not lose any wicket on the fourth day and scored 335 runs. Laxman had scored a double century and Dravid had also scored a century. While Laxman was unbeaten on 275, Dravid was unbeaten on 155.
By tea time on the last day, Australia had scored 161/3 and it looked like the match would end in a draw. However, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar together led India to a historic victory.
Harbhajan took six and Sachin took three wickets to wrap up Australia. innings. Australia lost five wickets in 32 balls. India had registered a win just minutes before the end of the match.
At the beginning of the fifth day, Laxman was dismissed after scoring 281 runs in 452 balls. He spent almost 11 hours at the crease. After some time Dravid was also run out after scoring 180 runs in 353 balls. Dravid also batted for more than seven hours.
Due to the strong innings of both of them, India had set a target of 384 runs in front of Australia, declaring the second innings at 657/7.