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Scorecard
 Adelaide,
Dec 16: Chasing a target of 230 on a deteriorating fifth
day track on Tuesday, the Indian batsmen held their nerves
to not only script a thrilling four-wicket victory against
Australia at the Adelaide Oval, but also take a 1-0 lead
in the four-Test series. Double centurion of the first
innings Rahul Dravid scored 72 and provided the finishing
touches to a great come-from-behind triumph to tame the
world champions and give the visitors their first victory
on Australian soil in 23 years.
Dravid
hit the winning shot with a square drive to the point
region off Stuart MacGill to send the handful of Indian
supporters into a frenzy, bringing the curtains down on a
pulsating Test match which saw fortune fluctuating from
one team to the other till the very end. India's last
victory Down Under came under the captaincy of Sunil
Gavaskar in 1980-81 at Melbourne when Kapil Dev scalped
five wickets on the last day to beat Greg Chappell's
Australia and square the three-Test series 1-1.
 For
Australia, this is the third defeat this year after losing
to England in the last Test of the previous home series
and then to the West Indies in the Caribbean. India have
now won three of their four Tests against Australia since
winning the three-Test rubber at home two years ago.
Dravid and V V S Laxman (32) once again proved to be the
thorn in Aussies' flesh as their 51-run partnership for
the fifth wicket proved to be decisive. The tourists were
at one stage 170 for four and feeling edgy having lost
Sachin Tendulkar and captain Sourav Ganguly.
But first
innings centurion Laxman took the match away from the
hosts with his domineering 34-ball 32 which decimated the
Aussie slow bowling attack. Laxman hit three fours of the
very first over he faced against Stuart MacGill and then
struck two more boundaries off the same bowler and Simon
Katich to take India on the road to victory. When the
stylish Hyderabadi fell pulling Katich to Andy Bichel at
midwicket, India were comfortably placed at 221.
Resuming
at 37 for no loss, India lost Aakash Chopra in the sixth
over of the day, Jason Gillespie having him leg before
wicket for 20. But Australia suffered a severe blow when
Gillespie pulled his hamstring and walked off the field
without completing his 11th over. Dravid, with a career
best 233 from the first innings behind him, looked weary
from the marathon innings and was regularly beaten outside
the off stump against the seamers.
 He
was lucky when his edge off Brad Williams popped out of
wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist's gloves when on nine. Sehwag
(47) at the other end was striking the ball fluently. He
flicked Bichel to long leg and drove Gillespie through the
cover. He then clouted Stuart MacGill for a boundary to
long off. But, two balls later, the right-hander stepped
out to loft the leg-spinner and was stumped after
completely missing the ball with a wild heave. Tendulkar
(37) adopted the paddle sweep to thwart MacGill exploiting
the rough from round the wicket. He first slapped him to
fine leg fence and then cut him on the back foot to cover.
He then ran a four to long off to bring up India's 100 in
the 34th over.
But the
maestro was plumb in front when he offered no shot to the
leg-spinner bowling over the wicket. Ganguly did not last
long and perished when he made a tentative push at Andy
Bichel and was caught at short gully by Simon Katich.
Meanwhile, Dravid had dug in his heels and was gradually
getting into his groove. On the way to his half century,
Dravid also became the fourth highest run-getter for India
in Tests. Man-of-the-match Dravid played the match of his
life, being on the field all five days except for two
hours, scoring 302 runs in both the innings and picking
two outstanding catches in the slips.
Tendulkar
shared a crucial third wicket stand of 70 runs. His 37
came from 59 balls with five fours before he showed poor
judgment in padding up to MacGill. Another 21 were added
to the scoreboard before Ganguly departed. But the arrival
of Laxman, with whom Dravid had added 303 in the first
innings, changed the complexion of the game. MacGill,
despite scalping the two strokemakers Sehwag and Tendulkar,
bowled too many loose deliveries to sustain the pressure
on the Indians.
The
first over he bowled to Laxman contained two long hops and
a leg side full toss, and they were despatched to the
boundaries with contempt. Laxman made light of the
potentially disastrous situation, and the ease with which
he put away the loose balls infused confidence in Dravid
too. The fall of Laxman only delayed the inevitable and
although Parthiv Patel might not have been happy with his
dismissal when the scores were tied, it provided Ajit
Agarkar, who had a miserable tour of Australia four years
ago, the opportunity to share the winning moment.(Agencies)
Scorecard
Published:
Friday, December 16, 2003
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