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Cricket Players‘Don’t know how India lost the game’: Sourav Ganguly reacts to 7-wicket defeat to England in Edgbaston Test
Set 378 to win, England rode centuries from Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow beat India by seven wickets in the rescheduled Test at Edgbaston.
It was in 2001 that a confident Indian team, led by Sourav Ganguly, outwitted the mighty Australians in front of an electric crowd at the Eden Gardens. While VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid forged a match-winning 376-run stand after India followed on against Australia, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar produced stellar bowling performances. Harbhajan even took a hat-trick in his match haul of 13 wickets. Also Read | 'Trick in England is to play late. He was trying to play the ball early': Gavaskar points out major flaw in India batter
_1657250596965_1657250616303.jpg "Sourav Ganguly has his say on Edgbaston defeat (AP)")
Between August 1999 and February 2001, Australia had won 16 straight Test matches. Under Steve Waugh, they headed to Kolkata, having defeated India by 10 wickets in the first game in Mumbai. But Eden Gardens witnessed something magical. Dravid scored 180 runs while Laxman notched up his highest 281 runs in the longest format. India gave a target of 384 runs to Australia which the side was not able to chase and got all out for 212.
Ganguly, who is often credited for revolutionising Indian cricket and instilling confidence in his players, recalled the epic Test as he turned 50 on July 8 (Friday). He led India in 146 ODIs, winning 76. In Test cricket, he captained India to 21 victories in 49 games, with 15 draws.
“That win changed Indian cricket. It changed the team. It gave the team confidence that we could win anywhere and everywhere. I think that was the turning point for our team,” Ganguly told Hindustan Times
"In some ways, it was a freak game,” he added. He even likened it to the recent Edgbaston Test. “Yeah, absolutely. I don’t know how India lost that game,” said the BCCI president.
Set 378 to win, England rode centuries from Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow beat India by seven wickets in the much-delayed Test. No England side had previously made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test than their 359-9 against Australia at Headingley three years ago.
On the final day of the Test, England needed 119 runs and early strikes could have shifted the momentum in India's favour. But Root and Bairstow helped them cruise to their highest Test run-chase with two whole sessions to spare.
England's newly aggressive 'Bazball' approach – named in honour of coach Brendon McCullum's nickname – was evident in the pair's batting display. Previously, there had been only two successful fourth-innings chases above 200 in a Test at Edgbaston, with South Africa making 283-5 in 2008 and England 211-3 against New Zealand in 1999.
India were led by seamer Jasprit Bumrah in the Test for the first time in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who tested positive for Covid-19. The fast bowler was India's player of the series with 23 wickets at 22.47 – a record for an Indian bowler during a Test assignment in England.
"Test cricket is never easy," said the stand-in captain after the game. "We had three good days and we were a little short with the bat and we let the opposition in."
