India vs Australia: Who Retired After 2001 Kolkata Test

Today (March 14) marks the occasion of a special day in Indian cricket as it was on this day 25 years ago that VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid batted an entire day without getting dismissed and slammed an unbeaten 335 runs to take India out of a precarious position against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

India went on to win the match the next day on the back of some magical spin bowling by Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar.

Only four teams in history have managed to win a Test match after being forced to follow on—just four victories out of nearly 2,500 Tests played over 149 years, and it was one such occasion that instilled a new belief in the Indian team.

It is one of the few matches that have played a pivotal role in shaping Indian cricket into the juggernaut it is today.

Though the match is etched in the memory of Indian cricket fans as a happy memory, it also turned out to be the last Test match for two Indian cricketers in whites. Let's find out who those cricketers were who had to retire after being dropped after the iconic Kolkata Test match:

Venkatapathy Raju

Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju featured in 28 Tests and 53 ODIs before he was dropped from the Indian team after the Kolkata Test in 2001. He was inducted into the national side after a successful run in 1989/90 domestic season with 32 wickets.

He was instantly regarded as the natural successor to Maninder Singh and eventually made his debut against New Zealand in Christchurch in not-so-spin-friendly conditions, but he impressed everyone by taking 3/86 in his debut match.

He picked 28 Tests and 53 ODIs for India, where he picked up 93 and 63 wickets respectively. He even played two World Cups for India (1992 and 1996). During his 12 years of international, he never got settled in the team due to stiff competition from other spinners, primarily Anil Kumble.

In 2001, when a young Harbhajan Singh showed his calibre at the international stage, especially his hat-trick in the famous Kolkata Test against Australia, it turned out to be the final nail in the coffin of Raju's international career as he could manage to take only 1 wicket in the entire Test.

Nayan Mongia

Another player who had his final outing for India in Tests was wicket-keeper batter Nayan Mongia. He played 44 Tests and 140 ODIs for India during his 10-year-long international career, in which he scored 1442 and 1272 runs respectively.

He was arguably the best wicket-keeper going around in Indian cricket in the 90s, along with Kiran More. He got praised by England's former wicket-keeper Alan Knott for his skills behind the stumps during his first England tour.

Nayan Mongia has 154 dismissals in 140 ODIs, whereas in Tests, he has sent 107 batters back to the dugout. However, his name erupted in the 1999 match-fixing scandal after which he was dropped from the Test team, and he couldn't make a comeback into international cricket from there.