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"It was destiny, it was a fairytale...": Ganguly speaks on iconic Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001

Mar 17, 2026

The legends gathered during a discussion at RevSportz Trailblazers 4.0, where Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh Prasad shared their memories of the iconic comeback, while Sourav Ganguly joined the session virtually. After a 10-wicket loss at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India needed to win at Kolkata to keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy alive. Battling a 274-run deficit, a follow-on was enforced on India and they went from 232/4 to 608, courtesy a brilliant 281 from Laxman and a serene 180 from Dravid. Team India declared at 657/7, with a 383-run lead in their pocket. Harbhajan (6/73) wreaked havoc on Australia as they were skittled out for 212 runs. This kept the series alive heading into the final Test at Chennai, which India also went on to win courtesy a 15-wicket haul from Harbhajan, who took home the 'Player of the Series' award for his 32 wickets in three Tests at an average of 17.03 and best figures of 8/84.