OTD 2003: Dravid-Laxman’s iconic triple century partnership turned around Adelaide Test in India’s favour

Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman had batted out Australia from the Kolkata Test match in March 2001 after skipper Steve Waugh had enforced a follow-on. The duo stitched a 376-run stand with Dravid scoring 180 and Laxman scoring 281.
More than a couple of years later, the duo would go on to register yet another triple century stand, but this time it happened on the Australian soil against a lethal bowling attack and the roles were reversed with Rahul Dravid being the top-scorer.

Dravid-Laxman’s triple century stand helps India register a famous win at Adelaide

After the opening Test at Gabba ended in a stalemate, Australia and India locked horns in the second Test at the Adelaide Oval. Batting first, the home side posted a mammoth 556 runs on the board courtesy of an outstanding 242 from Ricky Ponting and it was indeed a daunting task for India to get anywhere close to the Aussies’ first innings lead.
In reply, Virender Sehwag and Aakash Chopra laid a solid foundation for the visitors with a 66-run opening stand before tragedy struck for Ganguly & Co. as suddenly, they were reduced to 85/4 just before tea.

There was a huge responsibility on the shoulders of the middle-order duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. Even though they started on a cautious note, they started to punish the bad deliveries and kept India’s scoreboard ticking.
At the end of the play on Day 2, Dravid and Laxman ensured that no further damage was done in India’s wickets column. The next morning, the two continued from where they left and made the Australian bowlers toil hard in an action replay of the 2001 Eden Gardens Test.

Rahul and Laxman batted sensibly on the crucial third day and while they did take the bad balls to the cleaners, they respected the good balls. Both went on to register their respective centuries and kept on batting with a focused mindset till Tea. Nonetheless, Laxman lost his wicket when pacer Andy Bichel succeeded in inducing an outside edge as Adam Gilchrist made no mistake behind the stumps.

Thus, the Hyderabadi cricketer took a long walk back to the pavilion with 148 runs against his name, but not before he and Dravid (233) added 303 runs for the fifth wicket stand that eventually helped India come out on top by four wickets to go 1-0 up in the four-match series.