March 15, 2001 – India's fairy tale win that ended Australia's record winning streak

On March 15th in 1877, the Test cricket took birth when England took on the hosts Australia in the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Exactly 124 years later, Australia were involved in a Test match that witnessed the greatest ever comeback. The Australian team were a team to beat in any format during the late 1990s and 2000s. The Aussies toured India for a 3-match Test series in 2001 with 15 consecutive wins in the Test format.

They began the tour by thrashing Indians by ten wickets in the first Test at the Wankhede and were in a commanding position in the 2nd Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Australian skipper Steve Waugh elected to bat first and scored a 110 as Australia made 445 in the first innings despite a 7-wicket haul by Harbhajan Singh. India collapsed against Australia’s pace attack as they were bowled out for just 171. VVS Laxman (59) added 42 runs for the final wicket to avoid the following-on which didn’t happen.

Australians didn’t hesitate to enforce the follow-on and register a series win after they took a big 276-run first innings lead. Indian batsmen put on a better show but were four down for 254 runs at the end of day three and still needing 22 runs to avoid a follow-on. India promoted VVS Laxman at No.3 who scored an unbeaten century at the cost of Rahul Dravid (unbeaten on 8) who was going through a lean patch. No one would have imagined that the same pair will be resuming on the final day unless a complete washout of 4th day’s play.

Laxman and Dravid did create that miracle by cashing on the chances they got on the field. The pair not only survived through the day but also scored runs at a very good rate to finish with 589/4. Laxman finally fell on the fifth day morning after scoring 281 off 452 balls with 44 boundaries. He battled for 631 minutes on the field and put on a 376-run stand with Dravid, a partnership for the future to talk about. Sourav Ganguly declared at 657/7 after Dravid was run out for 180 and set a 384-run target to the Aussies in approximately 75 overs.

The visitors went to the lunch at 24/0 after 12 overs and needed further 360 runs in the last two sessions. Australia started to aim at the target after lunch as they scored 49 runs in 11 overs after the lunch break. Harbhajan Singh broke the 73-run opening stand with the wicket of Michael Slater. Justin Langer took on the Indian spinners scoring 28 off 21 balls with three fours and two sixes before falling to Harbhajan. Mark Waugh returning for a duck slowed down Australia’s scoring rate as went to Tea at 161/3.

India started with Harbhajan and Sachin Tendulkar after the break which worked well in their favour as Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist got out in space of eight balls. Tendulkar got the big wicket of Matthew Hayden and Shane Warne in consecutive overs as Australia succumbed to 174/8 with 24 overs still to be played. Bhajji claimed his 2nd 5-wicket haul of the game and dismissed Glenn McGrath with seven overs left in the game as India registered a famous win by 171 runs.

Thus, India became only the 3rd team to win a Test match after following-on and brought an end to Australia’s world record of 16 consecutive wins in Test cricket. Australia won 16 consecutive Test matches again between 2005 and 2008 before India once again bringing an end to the streak of the top cricketing nation. India went on to win the 2001 series by a 2-1 margin after a 2-wicket win in the decider Test match in Chennai. Harbhajan Singh finished the series with 32 wickets to his name.