Greatest Tests: India end Australia's Gabba pride vs Laxman takes India home in Mohali
India's historic win at the Gabba without Rohit and Kohli or Laxman's gritty knock? Which Test was better? Vote now!
ESPNcricinfo staff
18-May-2025 • 9 hrs ago
In the lead-up to the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa at Lord's on June 11, ESPNcricinfo, Star Sports and JioHotstar are inviting you to help us pick the greatest Test of the 21st century. We started off with 32 contenders, with two Tests pitted against each other until we identify the winner. With the top 16 now identified, we look to whittle it down to the top eight. Get voting now.
A closely-fought, dramatic Border-Gavaskar Trophy concluded with India pulling off one of their most memorable Test wins at an Australian fortress to clinch the series 2-1. It was their maiden Test victory at the Gabba and the first by any visiting side in 32 years in Brisbane.
What made the result remarkable was that India were without Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and R Ashwin, and their XI included five players who made their Test debuts on that tour.
Australia first posted 369, with Marnus Labuschagne scoring 108, while Shardul Thakur and debutants T Natarajan and Washington Sundar picked up three wickets each. In reply, India were 186 for 6 when Shardul and Washington stitched together a stirring 123-run partnership to reduce the deficit to just 33 runs.
Australia then made 294 in their second innings - Mohammed Siraj claimed 5 for 73 and Shardul 4 for 61 - setting India 328 to win in exactly 100 overs. It was a tall task, more so after Rohit Sharma was dismissed early on the final day. But Shubman Gill's brisk 91 and Cheteshwar Pujara's gritty 56 off 211 deliveries laid the foundation for Rishabh Pant, whose unbeaten 89 off just 138 balls secured a historic win with three wickets and three overs to spare in the game.
VVS Laxman once stood tall against Australia all day in Kolkata in 2001. But in Mohali, 2010, with seconds ticking away and the match on a knife's edge, he lost his cool. India, eight wickets down and still needing 92 runs, were somehow closing in on what once felt like an impossible victory. Laxman, battling a back injury that left him needing a runner, had stitched together 81 runs with No. 10 Ishant Sharma, before Ben Hilfenhaus broke the stand. That left Australia just one wicket away from a 1-0 series lead.
And then, in a heart-stopping moment, No. 11 Pragyan Ojha inexplicably stepped out of his crease, risking a run-out. Laxman, who had held firm all innings with his calm batting while also scoring rapidly, finally snapped. A curse slipped out. The fourth innings had been a masterclass of resistance. India could have fallen short by five runs and the match would still have gone down as a classic.
Instead, they won by one wicket with the man Australia just couldn't conquer still there at the end, unbeaten on 73 from 79 balls.