On This Day in 2003: Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman recreate a Kolkata miracle in Adelaide

Test cricket is the ultimate test for any cricketer cherishing their time for their respective nations in the international cricket arena. Henceforth, during some intense battles between teams like India and Australia, fans often get to see a sudden collapse of the batting order or batters scoring truckloads of runs to take the game away from the opposition.

As a result, over the years, both the above-mentioned sides have produced some phenomenal performances, especially under immense pressure situation. Now savour the fact that when it comes to bailing the team out of trouble, two legendary players almost became synonymous with playing gritty knocks to grind the Australian bowlers down. They are none other than the duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.

Who can forget one of the greatest partnerships of the Dravid-Laxman duo during the Kolkata Test? Notably one of the most memorable games in Test cricket history took place in 2001 at the iconic Eden Gardens. Moving on, two and a half years later, the Indian stalwarts got together in the rescue act yet again, this time in the backyard of Australia.

For the unversed, On This Day (December 14) in 2003, when India toured down under, the visitors were in deep trouble during the Adelaide Test. After the coin fell in the favour of the then-Australian Captain, Steve Waugh, the hosts riding high on Ricky Ponting’s sensational double century (242 off 352 balls), finished their first innings with a mammoth 556 runs on the board.

In reply, Team India failed to get off to a good start and were struggling at 85/4 at one stage. However, in what was a historic partnership in what was a role swap, whereby Rahul Dravid dug in hard at the number three position while VVS Laxman arrived at the number six slot and displayed extraordinary resilience and produced magnanimous batting performances.

While Dravid played attacking cricket, Laxman showed why he was considered the wristy best through his impeccable gameplay of milking runs through his magical use of wrists to put the ball between the fielders. As a result, Rahul Dravid went on to notch up a memorable double century (233 off 446 balls) while Laxman got dismissed (148 off 282 balls) by pacer Andy Bichel. But by then, the duo had already put up a massive stand of 303 runs. Notably, Dravid’s marathon knock was put to an end by pacer Jason Gillespie.

However, this did not stop the visitors from getting past the huge 500-run mark as India finished their first innings, slightly behind Australia’s score of 523/10. Given that both teams had scored over 500 runs, a draw was on the cards for most of the fans and cricket experts alike.

Dravid-Agarkar led India to memorable win over Australia in Adelaide

In the second innings, pacer Ajit Agarkar bowled a brilliant bowling spell to rattle Australia’s batting lineup and in the process claimed a six-wicket haul (6/41). This triggered the collapse of the hosts as they got bundled for 196 runs. Needing 230 runs to win in what seemed a gettable target despite an old-school way of Test cricket, India pushed their case for a historical victory in Adelaide in 2003.

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In India’s second innings, though the visitors got a considerable start keeping in mind the required target, they were again four down with a score reading 170 runs on the board. This time Laxman too perished while the visitors were on the brink of a win. But Rahul Dravid continued his good batting mojo and hit the winning runs for a spirited Team India and remained unbeaten on 72*. With this India etched their name in one of the greatest comebacks on Australian shores.