The –Border–Second Test in the Australian cricket team's tour of India in early 2001 was a Test match played over five days at Eden Gardens in Kolkata from11–15 March 2001. India won the match by 171 runs after being forced to follow-on, only the third time this has happened since Test cricket began in 1877.
The Australian team, rated as the best in the world, had won 16 Tests in a row, a Test cricket record, including the previous Test at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai by 10 wickets.
The match is remembered for VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid's batting performance, Harbhajan Singh's hattrick and last day wicket-taking, Sachin Tendulkar's wicket-taking spell on the final day and Sourav Ganguly's aggressive brand of captaincy in deciding to go for the improbable victory and not just a draw. Also of note were Australia's first innings performances, particularly that of captain Steve Waugh and Matthew Hayden. The Test is most noted for its fourth day. After India trailed by more than 250 runs in the first innings, Dravid and Laxman batted the entirety of day four to build up a lead of 384. In the process, Laxman also posted what was, at that time, the highest individual score by an Indian (later to be surpassed by Virender Sehwag's two triple centuries and Karun Nair's triple century). It is widely considered to be one of the greatest test matches in cricket history.
Summary
Day 1
Steve Waugh won the toss and decided to bat first. Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden gave the visitors a strong foundation putting on 103 for the opening wicket. Slater was dismissed by Zaheer Khan but Hayden, given a life on 67 when he sliced a drive to Rahul Dravid off Zaheer continued to score freely. He added another 90 runs with Justin Langer to take Australia to 193/1 by tea, and another Australian romp seemed imminent. Harbhajan Singh then dismissed Hayden for 93 immediately after tea, sparking a dramatic collapse from 193/1 to 252/7 and subsequently 269/8. Khan had Langer caught behind, and Harbhajan dismissed the dangerous Mark Waugh to make it 236/4; he then proceeded to take the first ever international test hat-trick by an Indian bowler as he dismissed Ponting, Gilchrist and Warne off successive deliveries.
Ricky Ponting was the first to go, beaten by one pushed quicker through the air. Gilchrist was adjudged lbw off a similar delivery but had cause to be aggrieved; replays showed the ball pitched well outside legstump and that he had some bat on the ball. With Harbhajan on a hattrick, Shane Warne was surrounded by men around the bat, with Sadagopan Ramesh at short leg the man who eventually claimed the catch from a tentative prod. The on field umpires referred it to the third umpire, who took a long time making the tough decision before finally declaring Warne out. An emotional Harbhajan later remembered his father in the post match interview; his captain Sourav Ganguly called it a performance that brought India back into the match.
Forced to bring himself on to bowl when Zaheer Khan walked off with cramp, Ganguly dismissed Kasprowicz lbw to leave Australia at 269/8 by the end of Day1 with Steve Waugh batting on 29 with Jason Gillespie for company. Australia, having dominated the first two sessions, had lost 7 wickets in one session to squander the advantage.
Day 2
Led from the front by Steve Waugh, Australia began the day at a precarious 291/8 but that was the high of the day for India. The 35 year old Waugh batted well with Gillespie and then Glenn McGrath, crossing numerous landmarks on the way, as he took Australia to a total of 445. In the process the Australian captain notched up his 25th Test century, crossing Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 24 hundreds at the time. Having never made a Test hundred in India, Waugh was more emotional than normal as he tugged at the red handkerchief in his pocket, took off his helmet and raised his bat to a full house Eden crowd. He also passed Javed Miandad to become the (then) 4th highest run getter in test cricket.
Waugh was given able support by Gillespie, who batted for over 3 hours, facing nearly 150 deliveries to score 46, his then-highest test score. He helped add 133 with Steve Waugh – Australia's highest 9th wicket partnership in tests against India. After Gillespie was dismissed with the scoreboard reading 402/9, Waugh rubbed more salt into the wound to add 43 more with McGrath and take Australia to a formidable total of 445. The last 2 wickets had added 176 and day 1 seemed a distant memory. Worse, however, was to come.