India vs Australia Flashback: India's Dominating Tour Of Australia

India's 2003 tour of Australia was a tour which surprised everyone and confused cricket pundits. India retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy as the series drew 1-1. Indian team, in 2003, had a mix

Fourth test match(Sydney), 2-6 Jan - Saurav Ganguly won yet another toss and opted to bat first on a bouncy pitch. Indian openers gave a good start, as they consistently did throughout the series. Sachin Tendulkar, who was going through a bad patch in the series, played an innings of a lifetime. Tendulkar stood tall along with VVS Laxman and added 353 run partnership for the fourth wicket. Sachin registered his highest score in tests, 241, while Laxman hit a fluent 178. Indians declared the innings on 705/7 after playing more than 187 overs. Justin Langer, in reply, played a fine knock of 117 along with his opening partner Mathew Hayden. Simon Katich was the other centurion of the Australian innings as they tried to reach close to the Indian total. Aussies got all out for 474. Anil Kumble alone took eight wickets in the innings.

Indians, in the third innings, quickly scored 211 runs on the bank of Dravid's 91 giving Australians a huge target of 443 to chase. All the top-6 Australian batsmen contributed as the chase got interesting at one point. Steve Waugh, who was playing his last test match, and Simon Katich added 142 runs. However, the total was too far to reach as the game ended in a draw. Indians retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy as the series drew 1-1. Australia's seven series winning streak was ended by an Indian team.  Rahul Dravid got awarded the player of the series trophy. 

Brief Score: India - 705/7D & 211/2; Australia - 474 & 357/6

Player of the match - Sachin Tendulkar(241*, 60*)