3 Famous Test wins for Team India in Australia

2. Adelaide 2003

Ajit Agarkar was the unexpected hero at Adelaide

This four-Test series was the farewell series for Steve Waugh. Australia were without their two main bowlers, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

India managed to draw the first Test at Brisbane on the back of a fabulous 144 runs from captain Sourav Ganguly. The second Test was played at Adelaide. The Australian captain Steve Waugh won an important toss for his team and elected to bat. Ricky Ponting justified his captain’s decision by scoring a double hundred.

At the end of the first day’s play, Australia reached a mammoth score of 400 for 5. India were almost batted out of the Test match. At the end of the first day, only two results were expected -- either an Australian win or a draw. An Indian win at that stage was improbable.

On the second day, India slowly ploughed their way back into the game with Anil Kumble claiming 5 for 154. But the Australians had already reached a formidable score of 556 from where they could visualize to enforce the follow-on.

In reply, India were 82 for 4 with Sehwag, Akash Chopra, Sachin and Ganguly back in the pavilion. That was when the heroes of the famous Kolkata Test match, Rahul Dravid and Laxman joined together. This time around, however, they exchanged their batting position. Dravid was batting at No 3 and Laxman at No 6. Both Dravid and Laxman slowly and steadily took the team score past 100 and then onto 200.

Laxman and Dravid - The evergreen heroes for India against Australia

Dravid and Laxman put on 303 runs for the 5th wicket. Both crossed their individual hundreds and when it looked like India would take the first innings lead, Laxman was caught behind off Bichel for 148 runs with 18 fours.

Dravid added 59 runs with Parthiv Patel for the 6th wicket. Starting the 3rd day on 180 for 4, India finished the day at 477 for 7, scoring close to 300 runs in the day. Dravid was on 199 not out.

Dravid duly completed his double century on the fourth morning and took the Indian score to 523. He was the last man out for 233. Despite his best efforts, India conceded a slender first-innings lead of 33 runs. Now the first innings of the match were negated and everything boiled down to the second innings.

In the second innings, India found an unexpected hero in Ajit Agarkar who removed Justin Langer for 17 and the first innings double centurion, Ponting for a duck. Ashish Nehra got the dangerous Mathew Hayden and Australia were reeling at 44 for 3 with an overall lead of 77.

Damien Martyn and Steve Waugh steadied the innings with a partnership of 65 runs for the fourth wicket. The Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, in an inspiring move, brought on Sachin, who played no part in the match so far. Sachin struck gold by claiming the wickets of both Damien Martyn and Steve Waugh.

The fortunes of the match once again fluctuated towards Australia when Simon Katich and Adam Gilchrist put on 71 runs for the 6th wicket. At 183 for 5 and with an overall lead of 220, Australia found themselves reaching a position of safety. But Anil Kumble got the important breakthrough for India with the wicket of the dangerous Adam Gilchrist.

Ajit Agarkar polished off the tail in his second spell and finished with remarkable figures of 6 for 41. Australia were all out for 196. India needed 230 to win the Test and to go one up in the series.

India finished the 4th day’s play with 37 for no loss, needing another 193 for a win. Akash Chopra departed early on the fifth day but Sehwag stayed back to score 47 crucial runs. Australia had run into The Wall in the second innings too. India were comfortably placed at 108 for 2 at lunch with Dravid and Sachin firmly set.

Dravid and Tendulkar added 70 runs for the third wicket before Sachin perished to Jason Gillespie. Ganguly did not last long and it was once again left to Dravid and Laxman to take India home. One more wicket at that stage would have exposed the Indian tail. But the pair put on 51 runs for the 5th wicket amidst a lot of pressure.

Dravid completed his 50 off 130 balls. Laxman, fearing an Australian comeback, started to hit out and scored quickly. Dravid and Laxman took the Indian score to within 10 runs of the target when Laxman got out for 32 off 34 balls with 6 fours, a cameo under the circumstances. India lost Parthiv Patel before reaching the target.

But Dravid was there till the end and deservingly scored the winning runs as the Indian dressing room erupted. Dravid remained not out on 72, taking his aggregate of runs in this Test match to 305. Dravid deservingly got the Player of the Match award.

This was India’s first Test win in Australia in 22 years and was made possible mainly due to the efforts of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Ajit Agarkar. After this Test match, several former Australian players opined that the over-aggressive batting of the Australians had backfired and had given sufficient time for India to come back into the game. In spite of the severe criticism, the mighty Australians, led by the indomitable Steve Waugh, continued to score 4 runs per over in the following Test matches.

India failed to capitalize on the good start they got at Adelaide and surrendered the lead in the third Test at Melbourne. India had the perfect start in the third Test at Melbourne when they were 278 for 1 in the first innings before they somehow contrived to lose that Test match by 9 wickets.

The last Test match at Sydney was Steve Waugh’s farewell Test which ended in a tame draw. The series was shared one-all. In the absence of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, India missed a wonderful opportunity to win a series in Australia for the first time.