In the history of Indian cricket captains, Sourav Ganguly has a special place. The Bengal southpaw took over the captaincy at the turn of century and resurrected the team from the looming shadow of match-fixing.
More importantly, he instilled in the team a new-found confidence and went on to build a match-winning outfit.
It was under Ganguly's stewardship that India threw off the tag of being bad travellers and started enjoying much-cherished success on foreign soil. Believing in youth was one of his policies which bore fruit in the long run. But he also had a lot of wise heads to fall back on.
Ganguly's team was one of the greatest during that era as it could boast of the fabulous five in Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble and Ganguly himself. Stalwarts in their own right, Tendulkar being perhaps the best batsman of his generation was the colossal figure who often outshone his contemporaries when it came to the adulation of fans.
But it was Dravid who was the quiet match-winner on many an occasion during that era, as his workmanlike innings was often the fulcrum that proved to be the foundation of the team. Because of his unobtrusive and gentlemanly nature, his hard work that helped his teammates shine often went about unnoticed.
To borrow a footballing analogy, Dravid could well have been the deep-lying playmaker working tirelessly as the bridge between defence and the attackers, sitting deep to pull the strings while the attackers enjoyed the plaudits for their moves.
And whenever there was a situation of crisis during that golden era, it was Dravid who stepped up unfailingly time and again to steer his team to safety. Like Laxman, he had a special love for the mighty Aussies and stepped up his game whenever he faced them during that era.
A masterclass from Dravid
December 16, 2003 has remained a special day in the Indian cricketing calendar because of the brilliant heist pulled off by Ganguly's men. A heist would perhaps be a mild word because the team registered a thumping victory at the Adelaide Oval in a Test where they were never expected to win.
The Aussies, true to their nature, started the mind games early on in the series by sending out a series of statements in the press about how the Indian team would never be able to face up to their 'chin music' on fast, bouncy tracks.
The Indians survived the first Test at Brisbane thanks to a brilliant century from their skipper. But Adelaide seemed to be a very different story. The Aussies posted a mammoth first innings total of 556 on the board and India in reply quickly slipped to 85 for 4 despite a good start.
It was then that Laxman came to join Dravid, the duo who had scripted a fairy-tale at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata only a couple of years ago. And they did not disappoint. It was déjà vu for the Indian fans as the duo once again assayed their nerves and calmed their fears as they took on a monumental rebuilding job.
The pair stitched together a 303-run partnership and by the time Laxman got out, the scoreboard read 388 for 5 to which he had contributed a scintillating 148. Dravid's battle, however, raged on as he mixed circumspection with flair to gift us all with the golden memory of an innings that has never been forgotten.
He had withered the early storm waged by an in-form Jason Gillespie, played with inimitable patience, and when the time came, turned on the heat while he was batting with the tail. His workmanship came to an end after having scored a brilliant 233 off 446 balls in an innings spanning 594 minutes.
Dravid had done the unthinkable -- from a precarious position of 85 for 4, he had taken his team to a score which was just 33 runs short of the Australian first innings total. So brutal and unexpected was the fight back that a shell-shocked Australia collapsed ignominiously in the second innings.
A fairytale victory
The essayist of that famous collapse was Ajit Agarkar who bowled a dream spell of 6 for 41 to skittle out the Aussies for a paltry total of 196 in the second innings. This meant India had to chase 230 for victory, a task not at all easy on a deteriorating fifth day Adelaide track.
Having fought hard to sniff a possible victory, the Indians still seemed to be in a daze scarcely believing what they had so far achieved in the match. Too many of their top order batsmen seemed to be hell-bent on committing hara-kiri as they threw away their wickets and the advantage to the Aussies.
Sehwag went for the jugular and was out stumped off Stuart MacGill's bowling. Tendulkar and Laxman promised much but could not convert their good starts into useful totals. But standing tall and holding up one end was the unfazed Dravid as he saw wickets fall around him.
Even Ganguly who had led from the front on that tour by scoring a blistering century in the first Test found it tough going at that stage. He complained that his nervousness and excitement were getting the better of him and he could not spot the ball. But Dravid kept reassuring him in the middle that they would win the match.
Even as wickets kept tumbling, Dravid held on in his quintessential steadfast manner, grafting out another remarkable knock. That he was able to put all his concentration into it so soon after his 594-minute first innings knock was a tribute in itself to his nickname. It was not for no reason that they called him 'The Wall'.
It was classic Test cricket at its best, not tainted by any frivolous T20-like innovative shot making, but the gritty knock of a fighter hanging on to put the bat on the leather. Dravid, at last, took a single to level the score but Parthiv Patel's dismissal quite fittingly perhaps gave him the chance to hit the winning stroke.
And when he cut a MacGill-delivery for the winning runs, the joy on his face was palpable. The Wall, the perpetual stoic, surprised his fans by breaking into euphoric celebrations and kissing his cap.
Dravid's 72 not out in the second innings was a knock perhaps more special than his 233 in the first innings as it helped India cross the line. For India, it was a victory against the Aussies at Down Under after a period of 22 years.
The vociferous cheers from the Indian fans at Adelaide that day made his evident that they had witnessed history in its making. And Dravid's celebration, as much for its passion and vivacity as the fact that it was almost unbecoming of his stoic gentlemanliness, portrayed how much the win meant to him.
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