This is the greatest Test match I have ever seen in my living time. It’s unbelievable a team can overturn & pull back after following on. Although it has happened 2 times in history before also, but this game was simply incredible. Till the 3rd day, it was a normal Indian performance against a strong team just as it usually did through the ‘90s. No team could have dared to aspire that 657 in the 2nd innings after a deficit of 274 runs & the Australians bursting with confidence with that deadly attack of McGrath & Warne. But the duo of Laxman & Dravid did. They were both serious committed guys who didn’t believe much in flambuoyancing & display off, & were possessed with the capacity of big things. It was just that their day hadn't come yet. They must have been in the zone of tranquility & concentration that night & would have been playing their inning of next day again & again in their mind. Cricket is a game of passion & when you get an opportunity of the highest level, your soul knows no bounds. Laxman & Dravid were to write a history that day & they did by remaining not out throughout the day. It is the only instance in test cricket where no wicket has fallen on a day. That was the event & the pair ended at 281 & 180. The rest is history. Steve Waugh acknowledged it as the greatest fightback he has seen & Warne couldn't just resist calling Laxman Very Very Special Laxman. The match was unprecedented in many other ways also & India scripted a glorious victory. This was my 1st reminisence of the series & I hail it as my favourite match. 

The second match I love most dearly is the Australia vs India, 2nd Test, 2003-04. It was the time from which India had started roaring in the opposition's den agsinst quality bowlings in difficult situations. Dravid was emerging as the new poster boy of Test cricket & was delivering upto that level where some contemporaries like Ponting & Hayden were reigning. With the help of his 233 & Laxman's 148, India replied 523 to Australia's 556 & dismissed them to a tricky 196 chasing the target easily. It was the win with which the phase of India's supershow abroad started.

The 3rd performance which comes in memory in this sequence is the Rawalpindi match of 2003-04. India had slipped in the 2nd match but Dravid was burning with ambition. After his 2 double centuries in the season & 2 overseas wins under belt, he must have been aiming to break some records, which he definitely did, finishing up at 1,296 runs in the season, average close to 100. This inning of Dravid also was an epic which showed what real aggression is. His team anchoring 270 compelled Pakistan to succumb twice under Indian total. It was a marathon inning & a top one for the charts.

The next is Leeds, 2002. England has always been a gracious host providing a motivating hospitality. This was 1 year back from the greatest season, but India had started growing into tough competitors from around this time & lessons were learnt from the WI tour of the year. England had crushed India badly in the 1st Test but India had now developed the courage of fighting back. The opportunity struck at Headingly with a mediocre English result & Sachin & Dravid hit back with all hands. Sachin broke the record of Sir Don's 29 centuries in the process & Dravid outputed what was part of his 602 runs in the series. This way India ended the 2002 summer with a glorious achievement of Natwest & Champions Trophies & pressed a strong pedal for the WC 2003.

The 5th instance of my current series is the magnum opus of SA 2010 where India answered back with a magnanimous 643 in reply to SA's 558 in the 1st match. Both matches were won by innings, but India's show was superior considering that 4 batsmen had hit centuries & the score was also higher. Amla stole the show but India proved what they were capable of when it counted.

This is my account of our 1st Test, vs NZ, 2003. India were on a bit of a setback with big loss to Aus in the WC final & a tough tour of Australia on schedule ahead. But Rahul Dravid was in a different mood. After achieving the highest average for India in the WC & practising in County in the summer, he was ambitioned for bigger things. India made 500 in the 1st inning of that match, vintage Dravid with a 222, his 3rd 200. & Then NZ narrowly escaped loss in the end saving with 4 wickets remaining. It was a powerful inning by Dravid & starting of a new chapter in Indian cricket.

This is in connection to one of India's most mountaineous wins ever. The biggest example of team performance where all 9 of India's top 9 batsmen hit 50s & the extras also gave a 50. Noone crossed 100 except Kumble & the total was a mammoth 664, in front of which England succumbed to follow-on & then inning defeat. How entertaining & gladenning it is when all of your smashers click & put a big fist in the face of the opposition. My most favourite type of match.