25 years on: Indian cricket celebrates Laxman-Dravid epic at Eden Gardens

The decision to make India follow on this week at the Eden Gardens, 25 years earlier, is something which Steve Waugh and his men must still be regretting. But then, who would have believed that there would be such an epic partnership between V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid, which would turn the Test match on its head and see India become then the third team to win a Test after a follow-on?

The 25th anniversary of the Test is an occasion not lost on the Indian cricketing fraternity — who should wear it like a badge of honour among all their great red-ball triumphs like the twin series wins abroad under Ajit Wadekar in 1971 or the back-to-back triumphs Down Under in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

‘’It’s perhaps the greatest Test match that I had ever been a part of it. I don’t have a recipe for it as I didn’t do anything. It just happened,’’ remarked a somewhat emotional Sourav Ganguly in an interview with Revsportz, whose stature as a captain received a huge shot in the arm for stopping the Aussie juggernaut.

It’s not for nothing that Laxman’s 281 is rated among the top 10 alltime great Test innings by Wisden, while Dravid’s 180 was one of the greatest support acts as they stitched together an epic 376-run partnership for the sixth wicket by batting for nearly two days.

When India declared at an unbelievable 657/7 with a 383-run lead, the pressure was back on a stellar Australian batting line-up on a wearing fifth day wicket.

With the raucous Kolkata crowd behind them, Harbhajan Singh was unplayable with his turn and bounce as he claimed six wickets, while Sachin Tendulkar played the man with the golden arm to pick up three — including the key scalps of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.

A quarter of a century on, Laxman and Dravid — both reticent characters at the best of times — reflected on what it meant to stitch together that kind of partnership under fearsome pressure. Dravid, incidentally, had been pushed down to number six to allow Laxman to be promoted up the order, and both joined forces late on day 3 (13 March, to be precise).

Speaking to Times of India, Dravid said: “I’ve always really enjoyed batting alongside Laxman because, firstly, he’s a fantastic player and a great batsman to watch. So, you’ve got a really good seat in the house. We’d communicate a little bit, but we’re not like out-and-out big talkers in the middle. So that suited my game as well.” The former India head coach, meanwhile, will be conferred with BCCI's Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday. 

“There was a lot of energy around the ground and in the dressing room,” said Laxman. “The players bringing drinks would sometimes pass on messages or encouragement from the team and the crowd at Eden Gardens was incredibly vocal. I think at times that enthusiasm probably irritated the Australians a little, but for us it was just part of the support we were getting.”

“At that time, Australia were such a dominant side, so beating them after following on was incredibly significant,” Laxman explained. “That match was very special for Indian cricket because it reinforced the belief that we could come back from extremely difficult situations and still win a Test match. It showed the value of resilience, patience and belief in Test cricket.”

Few would disagree with his observation…