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‘A miraculous knock’ – OTD: VVS Laxman played his masterful innings of 281 in 2001 against Australia at Kolkata

Harbhajan Singh picked up 13 wickets in the Test match.

Mar 14, 2023 12:12 pm

On 14th March 2001, VVS Laxman pressed Australia into submission. This was the second Test match of the series with the visitors winning the first match. Australia won the toss and chose to bat. The right-handed batter played one of the greatest Test knocks of all time in front of a packed crowd at Eden Gardens. India lost the first Test in Mumbai, merely in three days.

At Kolkata, in the first innings, India were in a position of strength at 269-8 with Harbhajan Singh picking up his first hat-trick in Test cricket. Harbhajan picked up Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne. The top scorers for Australia were Mathew Hayden, who made 97 off 157 balls with 14 fours and three sixes, and Steve Waugh, who made 110 off 203 balls with 11 fours and one six.

Later Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath contributed 46 off 142 balls with eight fours and 21 off 28 balls with two fours. Australia ended up on 445. India capitulated to 171 in the first innings. India were asked to follow on with Australia being ahead by 274 runs. When Sourav Ganguly fell at 232-4, one would have thought it was curtains for India, but that was not to be.

Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman together stitched one of all-time great partnerships in Tests

In the second innings, VVS Laxman batted at number 3, after batting at number 6 in the first innings where he scored 59. Laxman mesmerised one and all with his wristy shots and also played Shane Warne with aplomb. The man from Hyderabad had a range of shots for the same ball.

Here is the video-

One of the greatest ever knocks in the history of Test cricket played on this day 22 years ago – VVS Laxman smashed 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens after following on.pic.twitter.com/6IrOGFQZZs

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 14, 2023

The right-handed-batter scored a sumptuous 281 off 452 balls with 44 fours. He found an able ally in Rahul Dravid. The current India coach then scored a solid 180 off 353 balls with 20 fours. Laxman was down with back pain and Rahul Dravid had a fever. Yet they batted Australia out of the game.

Thanks to that partnership, India had an improbable chance of winning after Australia enforced the follow-on. India declared at Tea on Day 5. Harbhajan and Sachin Tendulkar were wonderful with the ball as they picked 6-73 in 30.3 overs and 31-3 in 11 overs respectively. India won another thriller at Chennai afterwards and took the series 2-1.

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