Laxman’s 281 saved my career: Ganguly
kolkata — Batting legend V.V.S. Laxman’s epic knock of 281 in the famous 2001 Eden Gardens Test against Australia saved Sourav Ganguly’s career, the former India captain said here on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Kolkata release of Laxman’s autobiography “281 And Beyond” co-authored by R. Kaushik, Ganguly said Laxman’s marathon innings in the second essay not only saved the country the blushes, but also helped him as captain during his early days.
Ganguly even went on to state that the book should have been named “281 And Beyond, and saved Sourav Ganguly’s career.”
“The title of the book is not right. It should have been 281 and beyond, and saved Sourav Ganguly’s career,” Ganguly said in his opening address along with pace ace Zaheer Khan by his side.
“If he had not scored 281, we would have lost the game,” Ganguly said.
On the back of the matchfixing scandal, Indian cricket was in dolddrums when Australia came calling in 2001. In the first Test in Mumbai, the mighty Aussies under Steve Waugh registered a thumping 10-wicket win to make it 16 consecutive victories.
Heading into the second Test at the Eden Gardens, India were staring at a crisis. Waugh’s first hundred in India helped the team to 445 all out. The highlight for India was Harbhajan Singh, who became the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick as he took 7/123.
India were bowled out for 171, with Laxman, who was not supposed to play the match due to a back injury, making 59 as India trailed by 274 runs.
In the second innings, they had reached 232/4 before Laxman, along with Rahul Dravid (180), stitched together a partnership that would change the course of not only the match, but also Indian cricket. —