A cricket match between India and Australia is nothing but ‘classy’! Whenever India and Australia had come face-to-face, the cricket lovers across the world witnessed first-class cricket and extraordinary performances from both sides. This is the time of yet another ‘classy cricket’. In South Australia, the Adelaide Oval stadium is already all set to have the first match of the India-Australia cricket match series of 2020. However, Adelaide is not a happy hunting ground for India as out of the 11 matches they played in the ground; they won only one.
As Adelaide prepares to host another India- Australia match, we were reminded of another unforgettable match between them at the same ground seventeen years ago. Back in 2003, that 305 runs- 233 and 72 not out-scored by the great wall of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid, changed the face of Indian cricket. After 23 years, India achieved a spectacular win on Australian soil. It was indeed an unbelievable win and what the Adelaide scoreboard witnessed was nothing but the sheer courage of a world-class cricketer like Dravid. He stood on the ground, disciplined, playing matured cricket with ease.
With Ganguly’s century and Zaheer’s five-wicket performance, the first match at Brisbane was a draw. However, in the second test, India lost their hold in the beginning itself, where the scoreboard went down from 66-1 to 85-4 within a span of a few overs. But what Adelaide witnessed after that is history! Even though Dravid and Laxman’s iconic partnership could add scores, India was still not in a safe zone. After VVS left the ground, Dravid stood like a determined mountaineer thinking only about the final point. Scoring a half-century, he left the crease in the 162 over, making sure that his team is better positioned to make the Aussies in trouble. In the second innings, with AjitAgarkar taking six wickets, Australia could score just 196 runs. India was just 230 runs away from a historic victory. On the fifth day of the test, going down on one knee, Dravid cut the ball through point for a four in the fourth ball of the 73rd over, giving an incredible win to his team. His score was 72 – not out then. Even though Adelaide Oval was not a lucky ground for India, the ground will forever be remembered for the epic test match it hosted- one of India’s most memorable and beautiful overseas’ wins. The bedrock of that success was Rahul Dravid, who was least bothered about the ‘Adelaide history’ of team India.
