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| December 17, 2003 | Wednesday | Shawwal 22, 1424 |
Dravid spearheads India to stunning victory
ADELAIDE, Dec 16: An emotional Rahul Dravid hit the winning runs as India completed a remarkable comeback by beating the world champions by four wickets to claim their first Test victory in Australia for 22 years.
Set 230 for victory in the second Test, the Indians reached their target after tea on the final day at Adelaide Oval as Dravid, following up his first innings 233 with an unbeaten 72, cut spinner Stuart MacGill square to the fence.
The tourists resumed on Tuesday on 37 without loss and the result was never really in doubt as the top order all chipped away at the target.
“There’s no reason why we can’t do it again if we play like that,” said India captain Saurav Ganguly, who has now won 14 Tests in charge of the side to equal Mohammad Azharuddin’s national record.
India have only won three previous Tests in Australia and never won a series there in seven attempts. Their last two visits ended in a 4-0 thrashing in 1991-92 and a 3-0 whitewash in 1999-2000.
Vice-captain Dravid, overcome by emotion as the enormity of the achievement sunk in, added: “Australia will come back fighting but we will take confidence from this.”
Openers Akash Chopra (20) and Virender Sehwag (47) gave India a strong platform to work off, then Sachin Tendulkar (37), Ganguly (12) and Vangipurappu Laxman all combined to steer them towards victory.
India had won just six of their last 69 Tests away from home and they had not won a game Australian soil since 1980-81.
Their hopes of ending their drought in Adelaide and going 1-0 in the four-match series appeared to have dried up after Australia’s batsmen piled on 400 runs on the first day.
The back page headline on one of Australia’s best-selling newspapers the next day read “Can’t Lose” and local bookmakers agreed, offering extravagant odds of 33-1 on an India victory.
That forecast seemed to be justified when Australia finished with a massive first innings total of 556 and India slumped to 85 for four in reply.
But Dravid and Laxman, whose 376-run partnership at Eden Gardens two years ago broke Australian hearts and set up a 2-1 series win, repeated the so-called “Miracle of Kolkata” in Adelaide.
They put on 303 for the fifth wicket with Laxman making 148 to help India post a formidable first innings total of 523, just 33 runs behind.
From a seemingly hopeless position, India were suddenly chasing a relatively small target to win after Australia, several of their players throwing away their wickets, folded for 196 in their second innings, with fast-medium seamer Ajit Agarkar snatching career-best figures of six for 41.
Australia, without frontline bowlers Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee, suffered another setback before lunch on Tuesday when lanky paceman Jason Gillespie left the field with a groin injury.
Gillespie gave Australia a good start when he trapped Chopra leg before wicket with the total on 48 but limped off soon after.
Leg-spinner MacGill kept Australia in the game when he had Sehwag stumped before lunch, then Tendulkar went lbw before tea without offering a shot.
Simon Katich held a sharp catch at gully to get rid of Ganguly and paceman Andy Bichel dismissed Laxman and wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel after tea but the magnificent Dravid, offered two lives by Adam Gilchrist on nine and Ricky Ponting on 20, kept his cool.
The third Test starts in Melbourne on Dec 26 with the final match beginning in Sydney on Jan 2.
Scoreboard
AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 556 (R.T. Ponting 242, S.M. Katich 75, J.L. Langer 58; A.R. Kumble 5-154).
INDIA (1st Innings) 523 (R.S. Dravid 233, V.V.S. Laxman 148; A.J. Bichel 4-118).
AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings) 196 (A.B. Agarkar 6-41).
INDIA (2nd Innings, overnight 37-0):
A. Chopra lbw b Gillespie 20
V. Sehwag st Gilchrist b MacGill 47
R.S. Dravid not out 72
S.R. Tendulkar lbw b MacGill 37
S.C. Ganguly c Katich b Bichel 12
V.V.S. Laxman c Bichel b Katich 32
P.A. Patel b Katich 3
A.B. Agarkar not out 0
EXTRAS (B-3, LB-6, W-1) 10
TOTAL (for six wkts, 72.4 overs) 233
FALL OF WKTS: 1-48, 2-79, 3-149, 4-170, 5-221, 6-229.
BOWLING: Gillespie 10.2-2-22-1; Williams 14-6-34-0; MacGill 24.4-3-101-2; Bichel 11.4-2-35-1 (1w); Katich 8-1-22-2; Waugh 4-0-10-0.
RESULT: India won by four wickets.
UMPIRES: R.E. Koertzen (South Africa) and D.R. Shepherd (England).
TV UMPIRE: S.J. Davis (Australia).
MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Rahul Dravid.
FIRST TEST: Brisbane, match drawn.
THIRD TEST: Melbourne, Dec 26-30.
FOURTH TEST: Sydney, Jan 2-6.—Reuters
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