5 moments that changed Indian cricket forever

3. The 2001 Test series win against Australia

India had lost just one Test series at home for more than a decade, the Australians hadn’t won in this part of the world since 1969. Steve Waugh’s side was on a 16-match winning streak when they toured India in 2001, prompting the skipper to declare the tour as ‘The Final Frontier’ for his bunch of ‘invincibles’. Australia routed Ganguly’s men in the first Test in Mumbai in under three days, prompting the likes of Bishan Singh Bedi to declare the imminent death of Indian cricket.

And, when the Aussies asked India to follow-on in the second Test at the Eden Gardens, it looked like the ‘death’ of Indian cricket with coincide with Australia breaching the ‘final frontier’. Enter VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. And, an all-time great partnership ensued. Both batsman, battling form, fitness, and fever [in Dravid’s case] put on a masterclass of skills, patience, artistic strokeplay, and most importantly character to defy the Aussies for a day and a half, helping India to set 370 odd for the beleaguered visitors to chase on the last day.

Most wickets for India v Australia, Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2001

Harbhajan Singh: 32 wickets in six innings at 17.03 

Zaheer Khan: 3 wickets in 4 innings at 63.00

Sachin Tendulkar: 3 wickets in 5 innings at 50.33

But, as they say, batsmen set-up the matches but its the bowlers who win you games. Laxman and Dravid had ensured India couldn’t lose the game but the bowlers still had to take ten Australian wickets. And, remember it was a bowling attack without Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble, both of whom were out of the series due to injury. It puts into perspective the contribution of Harbhajan Singh in that 2001 series; a bowler who single-handedly walked past the famed Aussie batting line-up throughout the series, taking 32 of the 49 Australian wickets that fell in the series with the second-best being Zaheer Khan and Sachin Tendulkar with three wickets each.

Bhajji took six out of those 32 wickets on that historic last day at the Eden Gardens including the final wicket of McGrath to help India become only the second team in history to win a Test match after following on. And, he did not stop there. The off-spinner went on to claim 15 wickets in the next match before scoring crucial runs at the end with Sameer Dighe [22] to seal a memorable series win for India and deny Waugh’s dream of breaching the final frontier.

That win against Australia not only gave Team India two superstars in VVS Laxman and Harbhajan, both of whom when on to play over a hundred Test matches, it also gave Ganguly’s men the confidence that they can compete and win against any side in the world. It gave the much-needed cutting edge; one that would help them beat England in England in 2007, stay competitive with Australia Down Under [1-1 in 2003/04 & 1-2 in 2007/2008] and scale a lot of unchartered territories [ a maiden Test win in South Africa in 2007] in the years to follow.