Australia vs India: Remembering the evergreen Adelaide Test of 2003
Since the advent of this millennium, the Test series between India and Australia have always been successful in drawing the attention of cricket fans across all parts of the world. Each series has witnessed a great competition between both the sides, bringing in some of the most special performances among the players and few of the most spectacular Test and Series victories for both the sides.
One among the most spectacular victories from Indian side came when they toured down under in 2003-04 to play a series comprising four tests. It came in Adelaide Oval played from Dec 12-16, 2003, almost 15 years back.
The series happened when the Sourav Ganguly led Indian tigers were just shedding off the tag "Tigers only at home" and had started winning outside the subcontinent as well. They were able to win a Test each in the series they had played in Zimbabwe, West Indies and England before arriving in Trans-Tasman country.
But they were up against the all-conquering Steve Waugh's Australians in what would be the final Test series of the legendary Aussie skipper. Though Indians were a confident bunch, the odds were against them.
But Indians showed their character in the first Test itself. In the rain-curtailed affair at the Gabba stadium in Brisbane, Indian bowlers surprised everyone by restricting Kangaroos for 323 in the first innings. Then their captain Sourav Ganguly led from the front scoring a spectacular 144 to steer the Indian total to 409 gaining a lead of 83 runs.
Though the first Test ended in a draw, it helped India gaining a kind of momentum for the rest of the series. The second Test venue was Adelaide and the match was scheduled from Dec 12 to 16.