India’s tour to Australia in the season 2007/08 was one of the many historic clashes between the two nations. The 4-Tests series was a riveting contest that showcased a very hard fought game of cricket. The scoreline read 2-1 in the favour of the hosts but it does not reveal the kind of fight India showed.
After losing the first 2 Tests at Melbourne and Sydney, India went to Perth, the fastest pitch on earth. The team morale was down after what had transpired in the Sydney Test. It would take nothing short of a miracle to resurrect the team’s fortunes and win at Perth as the surface had a history of blowing away opposition teams.
But the way Indians revived themselves from the setbacks and dominated the Aussies at Perth became a remarkable episode of Indian cricketing history. And the base of India’s march was set up by none other than the wall, Rahul Dravid. He had a knack of producing magical innings against the mighty Aussies and he turned up with another gem at the WACA.
The infamous build up to the Perth Test
The second Test at Sydney was full of controversies and literally shook the cricketing world. The match was flooded with umpiring blunders as Steve Buckner and Mark Benson made errors by the handful - most of which hurt India. As many as 10 decisions were ruled against India that gave the hosts a huge advantage in the game and the Indians were left clueless from what they witnessed.
The game also involved the ugly Monkeygate incident between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds where the Indian off-spinner was accused of racial abuse against Symonds. Harbhajan was banned for 3 Tests by the match referee Mike Procter. BCCI intervened and threatened to pull out of the tour and as a result, the ban was downgraded to one match and the umpire Bucknor was removed from officiating in the Perth game that followed.
Fearsome bowling line up greets India
It was the WACA where the opposition batting had been known to surrender against the pace and bounce of the pitch and to make matters worst, India hadn’t had a great record on that ground either. The Australian bowling line-up was comprised of four fast bowlers viz. Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark and Shaun Tait.
It was as deadly as it could get as the fastest bowlers in the world were on the show together.
The opening partnership of Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag added 57 runs for the first wicket before Sehwag was picked up by Johnson. Then walked in Rahul Dravid at number 3, the man Indian needed the most at that stage.
He made a cautious start and played in his typical manner. The ball was fairly new and the pitch was playing all the tricks. He shouldered arms to plenty of balls and started constructing a quintessential Dravid innings.
A lovely partnership with Sachin
Wasim Jaffer soon departed and India were 2 wickets down at the score of 59. The master blaster Sachin Tendulkar joined Dravid in the middle and the two best batsmen for India put up a show of artistry. The duo tackled the attacks of the pacers beautifully and built a solid platform for India to get a big score. It had to be the two great men to bail out of India out of trouble at that point of time.
Dravid played some of the most delightful shots in the process and favoured the off side. He reached his half-century with a tremendous cover drive off Symonds that pierced the fielders at mid-off and extra cover. India were standing firmly at 172/2 at that stage but soon, Sachin was trapped in front by Brett Lee at the score of 71. His departure gave Australia a peg back in the game but Dravid was still going strong at the other end cashing in on every possible opportunity.
Fortune favours the brave
The luck was on the side of the Indians this time around as Dravid survived two close shaves in the pursuit of building the innings. First, at the team’s score of 85/2, he flashed at a wide one outside the off stump from Brett Lee and the edge flew to first slip. Michael Clarke was, however, foxed by the pace of the ball and dropped a sitter.
Later, when he was playing at the score of 67, Mitchell Johnson hurled a fast in-swinging yorker at him that hit Dravid on the foot. The following big appeal from the bowler was, however, turned down by the umpire Billy Bowden. The replays suggested that the ball had struck him bang in front of the wickets. As they say, you got to make the most of the chances and indeed Dravid made that happen.
An uncharacteristic shot leads to Dravid’s downfall
The first day’s play was nearing the stumps and Dravid was closing in on a century. The fast bowlers had worn out of all the bowling earlier and as a result, Symonds was into the attack. The order of the day would have been to play out the remaining few overs and come back next day to extend the innings.
But Dravid did something that was never expected of him at that stage. Looking for a big shot, he tried to slog a ball over long on and the extra bounce induced a top edge. Ricky Ponting at extra cover took an easy catch and Dravid was left fuming at the mistake. He departed for 93 and was most disappointed after losing his wicket at such a crucial juncture of the game. His was the 5th wicket to fall in the innings at the score of 278 and soon the remaining wickets fell too and India were dismissed for 330.
Indian bowlers clinch the match to script history
Dravid’s innings was followed by an inspired bowling performance from the Indian bowlers who dismissed a mighty Aussie batting line-up for just 212. RP Singh bagged 4 wickets where Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, and Anil Kumble got 2 apiece.
In the second innings, VVS Laxman led the way with a fighting knock of 79 runs which assisted India to 294. The target for Australia was set to 413 which was always going to be difficult. Indian bowlers put up an absolute master class and restricted them to 340 as the sun was setting on day 4.
Irfan Pathan was the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets. The innings also included the famous spell of Ishant Sharma that troubled Ponting with each ball and led to his demise off a peach of a delivery. India won the game by 72 runs and ended Australia’s 16 games winning streak.
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