A sixth eye
On 20 November 2024, Japan hosted a gathering of senior enlisted members from the Five Eyes intelligence partnership in Tokyo.
Walking down memory lane, former India skipper and current BCCI President Sourav Ganguly recalled the famous Test win against Australia in 2001 at Eden Gardens.
In arguably the greatest fightback in Test history, India under the leadership of Ganguly had sealed a historic 171-run win over Australia, becoming only the third side in Test history to win after being forced to follow on.
Sharing the video of the post-match celebration, the southpaw wrote: “What a win.”
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What a win .. https://t.co/4nMm5e2eb7
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) April 15, 2020
A rampaging Australia under Steve Waugh had headed to Kolkata for the second Test having thrashed India by 10 wickets in the first match in Mumbai.
Between August 1999 and February 2001, Australia won 16 straight Tests, and before this series they had outplayed India 3-0 on home soil in the summer of 1999-2000.
But at Eden Gardens, something surreal happened.
Australia had scored 445 in their first innings, courtesy captain Steve Waugh’s 110 and 97 from Matthew Hayden, however, it was Harbhajan Singh who stole the show, claiming 7 for 123 including the first hat-trick in India’s Test history.
Despite Harbhajan’s heroics, Australia continued their surge and bundled out the home side for 171 in reply, Glenn McGrath taking 4/18. Waugh’s men looked good to be marching to a 17th straight Test win after enforcing the follow-on. India were reduced to 3/115 and then 4/232 in their second innings – still trailing by 42 with just six wickets in hand when VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid joined hands.
The pair famously shared a 376-run stand for the fifth wicket, and put their team 334 runs in front.
Set an improbable 384 to win in little more than two sessions on day five, Australia were outfoxed by Harbhajan, who added six wickets to his seven from the first dig and rounded out one of Test cricket’s most famous victories.
(With inputs from IANS)
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