From underdogs to dominators: Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly at forefront of India's fiery Headingley coup de grace
Their outlook to Test cricket having changed irrevocably following their spectacular come-from-behind 2-1 victory at home against Australia in March 2001, India embarked on a journey of fulfillment subsequently. A few months after sewing up the series triumph in Chennai, India scored their first win in Zimbabwe against a formidable home side and then hunted down 264 in Kandy for the loss of only three wickets even though they played the entire Test series against Sri Lanka without Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.
Expectations were, therefore, high when Sourav Ganguly, who had forged his team into a unit that fought fire with fire and wasn't shy of lighting a few fires of its own, led his boys out to England in the summer of 2002. The precursor to the four-Test faceoff was a triangular series with the Lankans as the third wheel, India triumphing against the hosts in the final with young turks Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif masterminding a wonderful chase of 325 at Lord's.
It was also at Lord's where the first of the four Tests was staged; with no room for him in the middle order, Virender Sehwag was pushed up to open the batting by Ganguly and coach John Wright. The right-hander responded with 84 and 27, and Ajit Agarkar lashed a second-innings century, but confronted with an unrealistic target of 568, India were bowled out for 397 to go 0-1 down. Rahul Dravid then scored the first of his three hundreds of the series and 17-year-old debutant wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel batted for 84 minutes to help secure an honourable draw in Nottingham, keeping England's lead down to manageable proportions when the teams moved to Headingley for the third Test.
Leeds was renowned at the time for being a swing bowlers' haven, and a fair stammering of grass provided further fillip to the pacers, but after having played Anil Kumble in the first Test and Harbhajan Singh in the second, India included both spinners and therefore opted to bat first, bucking conventional wisdom. Sehwag was dismissed in the first half-hour by swing specialist Matthew Hoggard, but after that, India put on a fabulous batting exhibition.
Dravid batted beautifully alongside Sanjay Bangar, Sehwag's opening partner, in an innings-steadying second-wicket stand of 170. Bangar, in only his sixth Test, was unflappable while Dravid was in subliminal touch, both in assured defence and delectable strokeplay. He backed up the second-wicket alliance by adding 150 for the third with Sachin Tendulkar, an honorary local given that a decade ago, he had become the first non-Yorkshireman to represent the county.
The coup de grace came through a partnership for 249 for the fourth wicket between Tendulkar, by now purring along smoothly, and the unfettered Ganguly, who smashed the bowling apart. England took the third new ball in the gloom late on day two, hoping that the batters would appeal for light. Instead, it was Nasser Hussain's men who were scrambling for cover as Tendulkar and Ganguly unleashed their fury on Hoggard, Andy Caddick, Alex Tudor, Andy Flintoff and left-arm spinner Ashley Giles.
England's top order all got off to starts but India were relentless. Zaheer Khan made the early inroads while Kumble and Harbhajan shared six wickets equally – they would take 11 wickets in the match – to send England crashing to 273 all out. Despite having bowled 89 overs, India had a spring in their step and Ganguly promptly enforced the follow on, emboldened by a massive lead of 355. England showed greater application in the second innings after Bangar had briefly threatened to run through the middle order with his medium-pace by accounting for Mark Butcher and John Crawley.
Hussain, who had made just 25 in the first dig, bedded down to shore up the middle order in the company of veteran stumper-bat Alec Stewart through a 117-run fifth-wicket partnership. The skipper backed up his century in the NatWest final in June with 110 when Kumble broke through by having Hussain caught by Sehwag. That was the cue for a stunning collapse.
England's six wickets rolled over for just 44 runs in a little over an hour and a half, India mercilessly swooping in for the kill once Hussain was packed off. It was in the fitness of things that the final wicket, Caddick, was dismissed c Ganguly b Kumble. Only 'caught Dravid' would have been more befitting, because it was the vice-captain who laid the foundation for a tremendous innings victory, against all odds.
Brief scores: India: 628/8 decl. in 180.1 overs (Sanjay Bangar 68, Rahul Dravid 148, Sachin Tendulkar 193, Sourav Ganguly 128; Andy Caddick 3-150, Alex Tudor 2-146) beat England: 273 all out in 89 overs (Rob Key 30, Michael Vaughan 61, Nasser Hussain 25. Alec Stewart 78, Ashley Giles 25; Zaheer Khan 2-59, Ajit Agarkar 2-59, Anil Kumble 3-93, Harbhajan Singh 3-40) and 309 all out in 110.5 overs (Key 34, Mark Butcher 42. Hussain 110, Alec Stewart 47; Bagar 2-54, Kumble 4-66) by an innings and 46 runs.
Player of the match: Rahul Dravid.
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