Cricket’s miracle of miracles

Watershed momentOn March 15 2001 Sourav Gangulyrsquos Indians became only the third team in Test cricketrsquos then 124year history to win after being asked to follow on It stunned Steve Waughrsquos onaroll army who had won the previous Test the opening one of the series in Mumbai by 10 wicketsThe Kolkata Test thus went down as one of Indiarsquos most significant wins It redefined Indian cricket reshaped its fortunes and changed India vs Australiacricket foreverWright was rightIndia coach John Wright had probably the best seat in the house He watched felt and soaked in whatever the Test had to offer He provided some more than just interesting details in his book John Wrightrsquos Indian Summers From the fact that man of the match VVS Laxman came very close to missing the game due to a back issue to Rahul Dravid suffering from dehydration Wrightrsquos account of the Test was fascinating And he titled the Eden chapter The Greatest Comeback since LazarusHot ChocolateIan Chappell who was part of the commentary team and wrote for totalcricketcom was profound in his column after India stunned Australia He wrote ldquoThe Indian team should be celebrating with Hot Chocolate mdash not the drink but the music of the band who sang lsquoI believe in miraclesrsquo because thatrsquos what it took to become the third team in history to win a Test after being asked to follow onrdquoBig names in press boxThere was no shortage of big names of journalism in the Eden Gardens press box A few of them had covered the 196970 India vs Australia Test there One of them was Rajan Bala who in fact had written a book called Kiwis amp Kangaroos which also included the visit by the New Zealand team that seasonDicky Rutnagur was there too He would have normally been at the All England badminton championships but chose to cover this cricket series He rued his luck that he couldnrsquot witness Pullela Gopichandrsquos triumph after reporting on Prakash Padukonersquos All England win in 1980 But then he watched the most amazing Test of all time on Indian soilTwo big feats on one dayTalking of the All England badminton championships Gopichand triumphed on the same day Harbhajan claimed Indiarsquos first hattrick This newspaper did justice to both these heavyweight achievements in equal measureBig Test for umpsThe two onfield umpires mdash SK Bansal and Peter Willey had the experience of their life while officiating in this Eden Test Bansal was umpiring his sixth and last Test all of them ending in India victories As for Willey this was the second time he witnessed a team winning despite being asked to follow on The playerturnedumpire was part of the England team that turned the tables on Australia at Leeds in 1981middayrsquos front page of March 12 2001Brief scoresAustralia 445 all out M Hayden 97 J Langer 58 S Waugh 110 Harbhajan Singh 7123 and 212 all out M Hayden 67 Harbhajan Singh 673 S Tendulkar 331 lost to India 171 all out VVS Laxman 59 G McGrath 418 and 6577 decl VVS Laxman 281 R Dravid 180 G McGrath 3103 by 171 runsDid you knowKolkata has not hosted an India vs Australia Test match since the epic one in 2001 for reasons best known to the cricket bossesMemoriesBefore the Test match referee Cammie Smith had a meeting with the onfield umpires Peter Willey and SK Bansal as well as myself who was the TV umpire for the Test Smith instructed them to consult each other in the case of touch and go dismissals after which they should consult the TV umpireNow when the Indian team went up in appeal for a closein catch against Shane Warne for Harbhajan Singhrsquos hattrick wicket Bansal straightaway went up to me instead of checking with his partner Willey Smith turned to me and said that Bansal had not adhered to his instructions but asked me to be calm before coming up with a decision I pressed the button for the red light and to say elation followed would be an understatementThat evening I went up to Harbhajanrsquos room to congratulate him on becoming the first Indian to bag a Test hattrick Ashish Nehra his roommate opened the door and Harbhajan understandably wondered who I was Nehra then told him that if it was not for my decision he wouldnrsquot gave got his hattrick We all had a laugh and from then Harbhajan always greeted meSameer Bandekar TV umpire in the 2001 TestObviously it was a great victory for India but what stands out in my mind is Rahul Dravidrsquos reaction after he completed his century He jumped and pointed towards someone in the Eden Gardens press box almost in anger I wondered why he reacted like that in the midst of a happy mood caused by an unexpected recovery caused by his own and Laxmanrsquos grand knocksDravid is generally very unassuming stoic no expressions at all the field He probably never reacted like that on the ground Several years later John Wright the coach of India in 2001 wrote in his book that Dravid pointing to the press box was the only shot ldquoin angerrdquo during his remarkable innings of 180Pradeep Magazine journalist then with the India Today Group