On March 15, 2001, India created history in Test cricket by defeating Australia at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens despite visitors enforced follow on. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid’s legendary partnership down under followed by a clinical bowling display helped India stun Steve Waugh-led Australia. 22 years later, Hemang Badani, who was part of the iconic Test as a substitute fielder when Dinesh Mongia got injured, reveals the responsibility skipper Sourav Ganguly gave to him.
“On day five our keeper Mongia got injured and yours truly was on as a substitute fielder and Sourav knowing that I was one of the few who could speak English well asked me to make it tough for the Aussies," Badani posted on Twitter.
He conveyed how Ganguly drove him to have a go and secure the match for India.
Badani added in his microblog, “I hadn’t even made my Test debut then and imagine I was going hard at their Skip who had played over a 100 test games and I was lucky enough to be a part of his dismissal. Haven’t been a part of any better cricket match than this. Fabulous cricket and great memories for me,".
Earlier, Hemang had also revealed the mood in Indian dressing room after they were getting dominated by the Australians. They had packed their suitcases before coming on to the field and were ready to leave for the third Test in Chennai.
“When we got back to the hotel, we didn’t have our suitcases and were stuck with our match gear and tracks until about 9 pm or so. Lot of us ate dinner at the hotel restaurant in our whites," he had added.
On Day 5, Harbhajan Singh spun a web around Australian batters and ended up taking six wickets. He had help from legendary Sachin Tendulkar who got three quick wickets in the form of Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Shane Warne. Earlier, Laxman's career-best 281 and Dravid's 180 helped India post 657 and set a massive target of 384. The win went down as the turning point of Ganguly’s captaincy career as Team India managed to beat the golden generation of Australia.
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