Shell-shocked, exhausted and mentally fatigued, Australia left Calcutta bamboozled.
India, with 80,000 people in the Eden Gardens stands celebrating, had broken Australia’s run of 16 successive victories; the final frontier a long way from being conquered with the series level at one-apiece.
Steve Waugh’s men went to the airport and, having waited for the Indians to arrive, followed the Bay of Bengal coast down to Chennai.
“I remember sitting after the game in Calcutta and both teams had to fly down to Chennai and we wound up in the change rooms and it was charter flight that both teams were on, and we were left sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting whilst the Indians celebrated back at the ground,” vice-captain and wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist tells foxsports.com.au.
“They finally made their way on and, understandably, with pretty smug looks on their faces.”
Meanwhile, India’s heroes were greeted with a standing ovation by their adoring fans.
“All of the passengers stood up and gave us a standing ovation and that sight I can never forget,” VVS Laxman, the hero of Eden Gardens following his remarkable 281, told foxsports.com.au.
Three days later they had to go again.
But for Gilchrist, his mind wasn’t with him in Chennai.
“I’m not sure we did recover. I certainly wasn’t physically or mentally ready to suit up again,” the dashing left-hander, who came crashing down to Earth by making just one run his final four innings of the series following his match-turning century in Mumbai in the first Test, said.
“And it was a super quick turnaround and before we knew it we were in another dog fight.”
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PART ONE: ‘Thieves in the night’ – Inside Australia’s 16th straight Test win
PART TWO: The gruelling 10-hour torture that brought Australia to its knees and ‘changed cricket’ forever
One Australian, whose mind remained sound, however, was Matthew Hayden.
This is the series that the hulking Queenslander arrived in Test cricket.
After a couple of false starts in the international arena, Hayden’s greatness started in India, a country where few outside the sub-continent had found success.
“Haydos did,” Gilchrist said of his teammate at the top of the order, “he found a way to keep going but he was probably the only one who had this definite plan of attack against the spinners.
“He managed to come out in Chennai and peal out a couple of hundred.”
Added Mark Waugh: “I don’t think he was renowned as a great player of spin before that tour, but his game plan, he swept the ball really well.”
“He had found great success at first-class level and had to wait a long while to play Test match cricket, but this was the real change in his Test career. He went from being a good player to a great player.”
All series Hayden picked up the length quickly. He got on top of Harbhajan early, sweeping often and using his long reach to play the ball through the covers and forcefully down the ground. He refused to play with the hard hands and from the crease — the undoing of his teammates.
In total, Hayden scored 549 runs and even outscored Laxman.
“He was such a dominating presence at the crease and I batted with him a bit in this Test, but he was great to bat with,” said Mark Waugh, who at last found form and made 70 before attempting to hit Sairaj Bahutule out of the attack in the first-innings.
“He was such a good guy to bat with, he was a strong character, he had that Queensland country attitude, but he was a fierce competitor so it was good to make some runs with him.”
Few could prepare for what happened next as Steve Waugh, having threatened to take the game away alongside Hayden, handled the ball fearing it would bounce back and knock the bails off after he was struck on the pads by Harbhajan.
“It was an unusual dismissal, wasn’t it? Mark Waugh said.
“I can only remember Stephen and Graham Gooch handling the ball. It was as unusual dismissal. So you always remember it. But I think it was just a natural reaction to get the ball away from the stumps. Obviously Stephen’s a big wicket no matter where you play.”
It proved to be the turning point in the match, as Australia’s middle order crumbled around Hayden.
Eventually Matt the Bat was the last man to fall for 203, but he received little support from those around him with Ricky Ponting (0), Gilchrist (1), Shane Warne (0) and Colin Miller (0) and Glenn McGrath (3*) contributing just four runs between them as Australia was bowled out for 391.
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In reply, India made 501 as Sachin Tendulkar top-scored with 126 while five of the top six, including Laxman, past 50.
With India on top, Australia managed just 264 as the batsmen, save for Gilchrist, all made starts but only Mark Waugh (57), who was spectacularly caught at leg gully by Rahul Dravid, passed 50 as Harbhajan went to work.
“India just played so well and Harbhajan just controlled the game and that was that,” Gilchrist said.
While Ponting’s disastrous series continued as he fell to Harbhajan for the fifth time on tour.
“He was always a very good bowler,” Waugh says.
“We definitely respected him, but we didn’t expect to lose 32 wickets.
“He was aggressive, a good competitor, he was just outstanding in that series. Matthew Hayden was outstanding for us, but Harbhajan was outstanding and he probably won them the series. He was the difference between the two teams. Thirty-two wickets in three wickets is unbelievable.”
There would be one more twist in this incredible series though.
At 1-76, India was cruising with Sadagoppan Ramesh and Laxman at the crease in pursuit of 155.
Then, calamity.
Laxman sent Ramesh back and the opener was stranded on 25 as Ponting and Gilchrist ran him out.
And when Tendulkar was well caught by Mark Waugh in the slips off Jason Gillespie, Australia had a sniff.
“Sachin got a brilliant hundred in the first innings but we thought we were cruising after the start that we had,” Laxman says.
“We thought we would easily chase the target down.
“Suddenly Jason Gillespie comes and bowls a dream spell – he reverse swings the ball, extracts bounce out of the Chennai wicket – and suddenly Australia is back in the game.”
Sourav Ganguly was the next to go and when Rahul Dravid was well caught by Steve Waugh at mid-off, the match looked to be on Laxman’s shoulders again.
Then, Mark Waugh pulled off another classic catch off a rank Miller drag down to leave Laxman aghast.
“Mark Waugh caught me at mid-wicket almost airborne from a full-blooded pull shot,” Laxman recalls.
6-135 became 7-135 when Miller picked up No.9 Sairaj Bahutule.
At the other end, wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe made good use of the third-man boundary and punished Australia for not having an extra slip, before Zaheer Khan became McGrath’s second victim.
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Four runs, two wickets in-hand and a billion people watching on, Harbhajan came to the crease.
“I remember thinking we were going to snatch the Test at the end because we had Glenn McGrath bowling so well,” said Waugh, who took four catches in the second innings.
“We had them eight down and they needed only four or five to win and had a very close shout for lbw. I thought if that had been given we would have knocked the No.11 because there was a lot of reverse swing and Glenn McGrath was reversing it.”
Harbhajan played tip and run, flat-batting a length delivery to mid-off where Australia missed a run-out. The batsman’s arms waving in the air like an inflated human figure blowing in the breeze.
Harbhajan then squeezed a full-pitched delivery off McGrath through point to win the Test and the series. The arms of 50,000 Indian supporters joining Harbhajan, as the hero of the series ended Steve Waugh’s final front with the competition of his second run.
“Forever we will remember that Test series because that was the toughest opposition I, or we, ever faced at home or away and, again, it was the fashion that we won the series which was unimaginable,” Laxman says.
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The series would set the tone for a rivalry that would only intensify over the years to come, with Harbhajan naturally to play the role as Australia’s villain.
For Laxman though, Australia was never the big bad bully that some might think.
“Right from 1994, when I played for India under 19s against Australia under 19s, one thing I found was that they were the most sporting opposition I came across,” Laxman says.
“They used to play the game really hard on the field, but they would be the first to congratulate an opposition if they did well.
“I still remember Gilly congratulating me, I think the way I was batting, it was almost that he was appreciating my efforts without compromising on the aggression or wanting me to get out as a keeper.
“I still remember at the end of the series all of the Australians came into the changing room.
“I still remember Steve Waugh giving me a ball, the ball that they used in the third test, second innings, saying ‘you screwed up our series’.”
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