"I was thinking, 'I've got the captain run-out'" - Rahul Dravid reflects on legendary partnership with VVS Laxman in 2003 Adelaide Test
Former India batter Rahul Dravid recalled that he was thinking of doing something meaningful in the 2003 Adelaide Test against Australia after running out his captain Sourav Ganguly. Admitting that it was his mistake, Dravid added that India wanted to stitch a partnership to try and get close to Australia's first innings total of 556.
India famously beat the Aussies by four wickets in the Adelaide Test in December 2003 to register their first Test win Down Under in 22 years. Responding to Australia's first-innings total of 556, India were in big trouble at 85-4, with skipper Ganguly getting run-out for 2. Dravid (233) and VVS Laxman (148), though, featured in an iconic 303-run stand for the fifth wicket to lift India's morale.
In an interaction with Star Sports, Dravid reflected on the famous partnership which helped India overcome the loss of four big wickets including that of captain Ganguly. The former India head coach admitted:
"I was thinking, 'I've got the captain run-out. I better do something meaningful.' It was totally my mistake getting Saurav (Ganguly) run out. I will own up to that one--it was my mistake."
On the thought process during his huge stand with Laxman, Dravid said that they were just wanted to bat and score as many as possible.
"I think you're just trying to bat, you're just trying to build a partnership, you're just trying to get to the target. 556 is a huge score. You're just trying to stitch together a partnership; we've lost four wickets, and you're just trying to think about getting close and batting together," the Indian legend recalled.
Dravid batted for 594 minutes and faced 446 balls in his marathon knock that featured 23 fours and a six. Meanwhile, Laxman occupied the crease for 356 minutes and hit 18 fours in his 282-ball knock.
"We had kind of batted a lot together" - Dravid on his special bond with Laxman
Dravid and Laxman enjoyed batting together a lot. Before the triple century stand in Adelaide in 2003, they had famously added 376 against Australia at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001. Speaking about his unique bonding with the former Hyderabad cricketer, Dravid explained that Laxman's attacking batting complemented his style of play.
"The thing with Laxman and me is that we had batted together a couple of really big partnerships before that. We did it once in Kolkata in 2001 and even in a domestic game when we first played South Zone against West Zone--we had a really big partnership. So we had kind of batted a lot together and built this partnership," the former India captain stated.
"It's always nice batting with Laxman as well, right? Because he's just a beautiful player to watch and such a lovely player. He really attacked back, which, in some ways, complemented me quite well in how we went about our innings," he added.
Dravid followed up his 233 with an unbeaten 72 in the second innings as India chased down a target of 230 with four wickets in hand. Laxman also chipped in with a brisk 32 off 34 to ease the pressure in the tense chase.