Border Gavaskar Trophy: When Sourav Ganguly's Brisbane heroics set the tone for an enlivening series

NEW DELHI: Even before the Indian cricket team embarked on their 2003-04 tour to Australia, the mind games had begun and most of the banter, as usual, came from the Aussies.
There were talks of 'chin-music' being dished out to the Indians, especially to the captain Sourav Ganguly, who had ruffled quite a few Aussie feathers in the 2001 series in India.
The desperate Aussies were gunning for revenge and with the first Test at their most favoured venue - The Gabba, they were expected to have the upper hand when Ganguly walked out for the toss with Steve Waugh, who was playing his last series.
Ganguly won the toss and asked Australia to bat first. Play on the first three days was hampered due to rain. Zaheer Khan took 5 wickets, but Justin Langer's 121 took the hosts to 323 in their first innings.
Aakash Chopra and Virender Sehwag put up a 61-run opening stand before the latter fell to Nathan Bracken. But when Jason Gillespie dismissed Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar (adjudged out wrongly by umpire Steve Bucknor) in one over, India were in a spot of bother at 62/3. And then Ganguly walked out to join Chopra at the crease.
Ganguly drove through the covers, cut through point, pulled to mid-wicket, flicked through mid-on, all the shots that bore the elegance of a left-handed batsman. The Indian captain reached his fifty off 74 balls and a century off 135 deliveries.
Ganguly's 146-run stand with VVS Laxman (75) for the 5th wicket was notched up in 206 balls and his 144-run knock was studded with 18 hits to the fence. Such was the class of Ganguly's knock that it drew applause even from some of the Aussie players.
The Test ended in a draw, but that day at the Gabba, Ganguly truly led India from the front with the bat and sent out a strong message to the Aussies that India was not going to be pushovers in the series.
This also set the tone for Steve Waugh's farewell. The former Australian captain had to bring in all of his experience, grit and determination to the fore to save the series for Australia in the last Test in Sydney.