7 Moments of brilliance in the last 20 years which every Indian fan remembers

VVS Laxman scoring 281 versus Australia in Kolkata

VVS Laxman's 281: One of the most popular test innings ever played

Steve Waugh's Australia had won all over the world barring the exception of India. The series was labelled as the "Final Frontier". Australia had also won 15 consecutive Test matches when they toured India in 2001. A series with India was a mouth-watering contest considering India's performance in home conditions.

The first Test in Mumbai was a disaster for the home side as they could not stop a rampaging Australia from securing a comfortable 10-wicket win. Australia won an important toss in the second Test in Kolkata and had no hesitation in batting first.

Australia mustered 445 in the first innings with Steve Waugh scoring 110 and Harbhajan Singh getting a 7-fer which included a hattrick. India were bundled out for a mere 171 with Laxman top scoring with 59.

India had their backs to the wall after conceding a massive lead of 274 which prompted Steve Waugh to ask India to follow on. This time, India got off to a decent start with openers Shiv Das and Sadagopan Ramesh together putting up a partnership of 52 runs for the first wicket.

After Ramesh's dismissal, Ganguly promoted Laxman to number 3 who continued his rich vein of form. By the end of Day 3, India had scored 255 for the loss of 4 wickets, still facing a deficit of 20 runs with Laxman batting on 107 and Dravid batting on 4.

March 14th 2001, is one of the most famous days in Indian cricket as the duo turned the match and the series around with their breathtaking display of batting. After seeing off a disciplined spell from McGrath and Gillespie, Laxman continued to dominate the Australian attack and scored 281.

What was noticeable was his method of playing Shane Warne in that innings. He would step out 3 meters and drive against the spin on a regular basis. Ian Chappel once mentioned it as the best display of batting against quality spin.

His superhuman effort coupled with Dravid's support, helped India score a mammoth 657, which gave Australia an improbable target of 384. Harbhajan Singh spun a web around the Aussies and Sachin Tendulkar also contributed with 3 wickets. Australians lost the match by 171 runs. India went on to win the next match too and thereby won the series 2-1.

Laxman's innings 281 runs became the fulcrum of an Indian fightback. Many years have passed and peoples have scored triple hundreds for India, but an honest Indian fan will always remember the special innings played by this man under extreme adversity against a world class side.