A very special partnership

The Partnership. That is what they will have to start calling Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman when they are on the field together. Very few pairs produce one 300 run partnership in their career let alone two.

The Partnership. That is what they will have to start calling Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman when they are on the field together. Very few pairs produce one 300 run partnership in their career let alone two.

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To put it in perspective, Dravid and Laxman are only the third combine to achieve this — Sir Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford did it in successive Tests against England in 1934 and Herschelle Gibbs and Graham Smith did it against Pakistan and then England.

The difference between Dravid and Laxman and the others is the situation in their triple century partnerships. On both occasions against Australia, India were in deep trouble when The Partnership produced their heroics. Kolkata was both a match and series-turning partnership and this one may well help keep India alive in the current series.

Coming together at 4/85 following a disastrous run-out, Dravid was the most determined I have ever seen him and Laxman's concentration was at its peak. Dravid obviously set himself to prove to the world he could make big scores in Australia and also displayed far greater intent to keep his score ticking over than on his last tour.

So determined was the talented Hyderabadi he refused to play the hook or pull shot when facing Gillespie despite this being among his favourite scoring areas.

This partnership was significant and while it won't quite rank alongside Kolkata because that had such a dramatic effect, the one in Adelaide will bring the participants a lot of personal satisfaction.

Dravid’s reaction when he reached his century told the story of how important this innings was to him; he was jubilant but appeared determined to continue his marathon knock.

Once again The partnership were the saviours of this Indian team.