![]() ![]() Australia’s record-making 16-match unbeaten streak in Test cricket was ended, and how.Īustralia 391 (Hayden 203, Harbhajan 7-133) and 264 (M Waugh 57, Harbhajan 8-84) lost to India 501 (Tendulkar 126) and 155/8 (Laxman 66) by 2 wickets Harbhajan then did the rest on that final afternoon, which no fan of Indian cricket will ever forget. India went from staring at the humiliation of an innings defeat in their follow-on, to Laxman and Dravid batting and bossing Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie for an entire day. It was then the highest Test score by an Indian batter, and it remains the greatest Test innings ever played by an Indian. And yet, he was not the Man of the Match - that’s how seminal Laxman’s 281 was. Harbhajan was a one-man bowling machine, spinning out 13 of the 20 wickets, including a first-day hat-trick. Someone forgot to tell Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, though. They had breached the fortress walls and were well on their way to winning the "Final Frontier", on the back of the captain’s first-innings century. Steve Waugh’s Australia - the greatest Test team ever assembled - had won 16 Tests on the bounce. They were already without Anil Kumble, and in Mumbai they’d also lose Javagal Srinath to injury. Coming less than 12 months after a rare home series defeat to South Africa, and the mess of the match-fixing scandal, that Mumbai defeat seemed to signal the end of India’s invincible home record. India had been hammered in the first Test in Mumbai. Like the Iliad and the Mahabharat, it featured a stellar cast of characters, unfolded through multiple plots and subplots, showcased the rise of underdogs against the odds, and will withstand the test of time as an unforgettable piece of folklore. The word epic is used very casually these days, but Kolkata 2000 was truly that. India beat Australia by six wickets in second Test to go 2-0 up in series
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