Laxman, Harbhajan Script Sensational Indian victory

Thursday was a day for drum beats and celebrations at the Eden Gardens inKolkata. India beat Australia by 171 runs in one of most thrilling Test matchesof all times and had leveled the three match series with one game to play. Atthe end of the second day, India were down and out, able to make just 171 intheir first knock. In a knock of 281, described by Steve Waugh as "some ofthe best batting I have ever seen," VVS Laxman galvanised the Indians.

It has been long since an Indian had taken the attack to the opposition insuch strident fashion. Laxman stood up and delivered the goods when it was mostneeded - the hallmark of a true champion surely. But wait, let us not forgetRahul Dravid, who shared a 357-run partnership with Laxman on the way to makinga belligerent 180. Let us not also discount Steve Waugh's magnificent hundred -his first on Indian soil. And then there is Harbhajan Singh, who with matchfigures of 13/196, including a hat-trick, would have been the man of the matchon almost any other day. Then again, this historic win, after being asked tofollow on, would never have been possible if not for Laxman.

Looking for that elusive triple hundred Laxman perished early in the morning,slashing hard at a short and wide ball from Glenn McGrath to be caught by RickyPonting in the gully region. Laxman's 281 came in over 10 and a half hours. Whenthe Hyderabadi was dismissed, the roar that went up showed how much his inningsmeant to the crowd at the Eden Gardens. If this were the Lal Bahadur ShastriStadium in Hyderabad, his home town, the cheers wouldn't have been louder or theovation more heartfelt. Unfortunately for Laxman, he did not add to his tally of44 boundaries. When the fifth wicket partnership finally broke, theDravid-Laxman pair had added a mammoth 376.

Dravid then moved on to 180 (444 mins, 353 balls, 21 fours) before being runout in a bid to push the scoring rate. By then however, Dravid's dismissal wasinconsequential with India leading by a huge margin. Dravid's innings too was animportant one, coming at a time when the middle order bat had lost his numberthree slot. Signaling the end of a lean patch, Dravid came to India's rescue.Zaheer Khan (23 not out) used the long handle to good effect and India declaredtheir innings closed on 657/7, equalling the second highest ever second inningstotal in Test cricket. The highest, 671/4 declared, made by the Kiwis at homeagainst the touring Lankans was a bit too far away to go for. The other time thesame score was made, was by Pakistan against the West Indies at Bridgetown in1957-58, albeit for the loss of one more wicket.

Set a tough target of 384 off 75 overs, the Australians went about their taskmost methodically. Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater combined well to blunt theearly efforts of the Indians. However, as is often the case on a fifth daywicket, it wasn't to last forever. Slater (43) was undone by a Harbhajan Singhoff break - he was the first, but certainly not the last to perish in thatmanner.

Mark Waugh, whose dream was a double hundred on Indian soil, disappointedonce more. The elegant middle order batsman was trapped plumb in front by an armball from left arm spinner Venkatapathi Raju before he could get off the mark.With Justin Langer having left earlier, the Australians were 116/3 and theIndians began to sense a window of opportunity.

The safest batsman in the world in these kind of situations, Steve Waugh,joined Hayden out in the middle. Stroking the ball well around the park, thepair added 50 for the fourth wicket. Then the procession began. Let off byGanguly just before the tea interval, Steve Waugh repeated his mistake, turningthe ball around the corner. The second time around however, the man at backwardshort leg was the agile Hemang Badani. Moving to his natural side, the left,Badani snapped a smart catch, sending the Australian captain on his way. SteveWaugh's 24 helped boost Australian hopes, but did not do enough for the teamtotal.

As expected, the fall of the captain's wicket boosted the Indian morale noend. For its part, the crowd too began top get squarely behind the Indian team.With score on 166, Ricky Ponting followed his captain back to the pavilion.Attempting an awkward sweep shot, Ponting presented Das with a simple catch atforward short leg. From 166/3 Australia slumped to 174/8, losing five wickets ina 32 ball period that yielded just eight runs.

Adam Gilchrist, having won all 15 Test matches he has played was brought downto earth in his sixteenth. Trapped leg before wicket by Tendulkar off the veryfirst ball he faced, the Aussie stumper bagged a 'King's pair.' Matthew Hayden(67 runs, 199 mins, 119 balls, 6 fours) played all over a Tendulkar fulltoss andwas adjudged lbw. Tendulkar was not done yet. Bowling a perfectly pitched googlythe Indian batting maestro had Shane Warne trapped plumb in front.

In deep trouble, with an almost full strength crowd lusting for an Indianvictory, the Australian fast bowlers attempted to resist the Indian spinners.For a time they did. Not nearly long enough though. When Glenn McGrathshouldered arms to Harbhajan Singh and umpire SK Bansal's finger went up for thefifth time in the day, it was all over. Scuttling Australia for 21, India hadwon be 171 runs. For the third time in the history of the game a team had wonafter being asked to follow on. Surprisingly enough, Australia has been at thelosing end of all those matches. The first instance was way back in 1894-95 whenAustralia unsuccessfully enforced the follow on against the touring England sideat Sydney. The second time was in Headingly in 1981 with England being let offthe hook. Today, India got its name on that elite list.

There was a mad rush for souvenir stumps out in the middle. In the stands thebedlam was much more frenzied. Every placard, poster and piece of paper was onfire. The scenes today could have only been bettered in the bull-rings of old,where gladiators fought each other to death. There was no death here at the EdenGardens. But those fortunate enough to be present witnessed several rebirths.Harbhajan Singh with 13/196 and a hat trick had cemented his place in the side.Vangipurappu Venkat Sai Laxman with 281, the highest Test score by an Indian hadmade the number three slot his own. Rahul Dravid with 180 has rediscovered formthat gave him the nickname "The Wall."

Most importantly, Indian cricket has once more found the will to beat thebest side in the world and stamp its authority on world cricket.

Courtesy: Cricinfo