Border – Gavaskar Series, 2001:
The Border–Gavaskar trophy can easily be rated as one of the most intriguing bilateral Test series in the history of the game. Steve Waugh’s Australia was on a 15 match winning streak before landing in India. They extended the streak to sweet sixteen with a memorable win at Mumbai.
It was a complete batting failure from the Sourav Ganguly-led side. The Indian team could not stop the Australians from winning the match comfortably by 10 wickets. But, the series which began on a dubious note went on to become of the key highlights of Ganguly’s career as a leader.
India followed the loss with a spectacular ‘coming from behind’ win in the second Test at Kolkata. The hosts were asked to follow on by Australia as India managed 171 in reply to visitor’s first innings 445. But, India, led by heroic knocks from Dravid and Laxman, posted 657/7d and set a target of 383 runs.
Harbhajan Singh then picked up a historic hat-trick and went on to take a 6 wickets haul to script a fabulous 171-run win. The series decider which hosted at Chennai also saw India fight back brilliantly and register a close two-wicket win. Thus winning the series by a 2-1 margin.