Greatest Tests: Dravid conquers Australia, again vs Herath protects the Galle fortress
Rahul Dravid playing the lead as India beat Australia in Adelaide back in 2003 or Rangana Herath battling aches and pains to conquer India in Galle in 2015?
ESPNcricinfo staff
22-May-2025
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It was Kolkata 2001 all over again, except the support act took over the lead role this time.
Instead of 445, Australia scored 556 batting first here, with Ricky Ponting hitting 242 at a strike rate of 68.75. But unlike their 171 in Kolkata, India scored 523, keeping the match on an even keel, and it was the Rahul Dravid-VVS Laxman partnership for the fifth wicket, worth 303 runs, that made it possible. Here, Dravid scored 233 from No. 3, and Laxman 148 from No. 6. Their batting positions another change from Kolkata.
Australia's second innings was a letdown; all they got was 196, setting India 230 to win, and the star of the show, which gave India the upper hand, was Ajit Agarkar, whose 6 for 41 thwarted Australia.
Dravid had scored that many in the first innings alone, but this time he only had to make 72, hitting the winning runs when he cut Stuart MacGill through the off-side infield. It remains one of India's great victories in Australia, achieved at a time when they didn't come as often as they have since.
In the opening match of the series in Galle, India needed only 153 to win with nine wickets in hand at the start of the fourth day. A rearguard by Dinesh Chandimal, who followed up his 59 in the first innings with a 162 not out in the second, had given Sri Lanka a second-innings total of 367, and set India a target of 176 - they had taken a sizeable first-innings lead.
The in-transition Sri Lanka turned to their veteran Rangana Herath, who was struggling with sore knees and a dodgy back. And Sri Lanka made the target look much bigger than what it was as they choked the life out of India's chase.
They made India work hard for every run on a turning pitch, and India couldn't get past the then 37-year old Herath and young offspinner Tharindu Kaushal, as they folded for their lowest total against Sri Lanka. The only form of resistance after Shikhar Dhawan fell for 28 came from Ajinkya Rahane, who made 36 and was the penultimate man to fall with India at 102 for 9. India could add only ten more as they folded for 112.
Herath finished with 7 for 48, as Sri Lanka won by 63 runs in a memorable start to Kumar Sangakkara's farewell series.