@ AP File Photo
Former Indian captain and present BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly has said that the 2001 test match between India and Australia was “a God’s test match.”
Sourav Ganguly, who made his presence in a TV show was asked about the famous test match at Eden Gardens in 2001 when India had beaten the invincible Steve Waugh led Australian side. Ganguly replied, “unreal and only Almighty could have designed by himself”.
It was a 3-match test series, and Australia thrashed India by 10 wickets in the 1st test. Coming into the 2nd test, Indians were absolutely dejected and had no clue to counter the mighty Australians who were dominating the world cricket. Australia batted first and posted a winning 1st innings score of 445 runs on the board. Harbhajan took a Hattrick and finished with figures of 7 for 123.
India then batted and was bowled out for a mere 171 runs in the 1st innings and was asked to follow-on by the Aussies. Then happened one of the moments that changed the history and fortunes of Indian cricket for years to come. Dravid and Laxman stitched a record 376-run partnership and batted the whole of 4th day to give Aussies a target of 384 runs. Laxman belted a mammoth 281 while Dravid notched up 180 to give India a thumping win over Aussies.
Earlier when Dravid and Laxman were batting in the middle, Ganguly told that he just sat in one corner of the dressing room with a towel in hand and prayed the whole day for Dravid and Laxman to not get out and keep going. He also added, “It was one of those test matches where India had no chance of winning it but in the end to finish as the winning captain was just unreal”.