Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman (Photo AFP) There have only been four occasions when the trailing team has won a Test match. That’s four out of roughly 2,500 tests over 149 years.And yet, when it comes to the third such case in the history of the game, it is not just about the stats, not about the player’s profile, nor the centuries or wickets scored. It is “atonement” that overcomes the feeling of “guilt”.
EXCLUSIVE: Rahul Dravid’s iconic Eden Gardens win against Australia in 2001
It’s about cocky determination that takes the bull by the horns, a David telling Goliath that “the last word will never be said.”It is like Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s ‘Lord Jim’ who makes a deep philosophical exposition about the will to triumph over ambiguity, limitations and the near impossibility of reaching a definitive conclusion ’till the last ball is cast’!To continue the Conradian analogy, the Eden Gardens Test was in many ways a battle between sympathy and judgment; yourself and the other.Set in the press box on the top floor of the BC Roy Club House, the images flowed through the stream of consciousness for five days – with poetic justice unerringly planted in a 171-run victory after being dismissed for exactly the same first-innings total! It is one match that remains firmly etched in the memory – both for the dramatis personae and the drama: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly infamously leaves his Australian counterpart Steve Waugh waiting for the toss; and Waugh “retaliated” with an open offside field when the Bengal southpaw came to bat.Given Ganguly’s penchant for playing shots outside the side, Waugh threw down the gauntlet and encouraged him to play to his strengths, while also believing in his own credentials to stop the opposition on the trot after 16 Test wins.After suffering a 10-wicket defeat in Mumbai days ago, India were once again staring down the wrong end of the barrel on the third afternoon at the Eden Gardens.Bitter memories of the 1996 India-Sri Lanka World Cup semi-final and the 1999 India-Pakistan Test brought a rush – leaving one to wonder if “Blood, Bottle and Bisleri” would once again rain on Golgotha (the news magazine’s title for its cover story).On both of these occasions, mob trouble over the impending defeat of the Indians caused all hell to break loose in the revered Eden.But fate prepared something else on the banks of the Hooghly River in 2001.For once, instead of objects being hurled from the stands in frustration, Eden Gardens saw 80,000 fans slam empty plastic water bottles in a goblet at Ganguly’s men as they fervently chased an unlikely victory.For once, “redemption” came for the home fans and their team through the heroics of two silent but never-say-die crusaders.When Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman swapped capes for India caps.A no-show for the post-match press conference, Dravid, who by then had a bad patch, went on to serve as the consummate sidekick to the Indian captain, who urged the media to ask hat-trick Harbhajan Singh questions “in English only”, leaving the caper at his wits’ end and the scribes in splits.A few minutes later, when a composed Waugh entered the press, there was “an easy mind, all passion spent”.Cricket justice at its cathartic best.
