Test that turned the tide in India's favour

Dubai: 'Beware, the ides of March,' said the Soothsayer, warning Julius Caesar of the impending danger (read: Caesar's death).

While the Shakespearean play is replete with forebodings, leading up to the assassination of Caesar, there were none for Steve Waugh's marauding men on their 2001 spring sojourn to India.

Did we say no forebodings for Steve Waugh? Well, none, save one - a stubborn Indian skipper by the name of Sourav Ganguly.

Waugh's men were smarting under the huge win in the series-opening Test at Mumbai. No twists in the plot; no last-scene turnarounds. It had been like that for the last so many Tests for the Baggy Greens.

They had trampled just about every opposition that came their way - from London to Lahore, from Barbados to Bombay.

And then came the Eden Gardens Test in Kolkata, the second in the India-Australia series in 2001.

There was no Soothsayer strolling the corridors of Taj Bengal, the team hotel in Kolkata, whispering "Beware, the ides of March" into the ears of a disbelieving Steve Waugh. There simply couldn't have been one - come on!

But when the "ides of March" did arrive, it changed the very definition of India-Australia cricket rivalry. So much so that years later, the Aussies admit that in terms of passion and intensity, an India-Australia Test series can only be compared to that of the Ashes.

So what was so special about that afternoon at the Eden Gardens on March 15, 2001?

For the number-crunchers, it was the day India beat Australia, after following-on, to level the three-Test series 1-1, a series that India eventually won in Chennai.

But for the pantheon of cricket historians, March 15, 2001, saw the emergence of a new power centre, a new order that took Waugh's men by the scruff of their neck and said loud and clear: "No match is over till the last ball is bowled."

For several reasons, that Eden Gardens Test in the spring of 2001 was special. It was special for a VVS Laxman whose 281 set a new benchmark for aspiring cricketers for generations to come.

It was special for a Harbhajan Singh who scripted the first Test hattrick by an Indian. It was special for a Rahul Dravid who was determination personified with his 180.

It was also special for that 20-something on the upper tiers of the Club House stands with a huge poster that said: "Dravid, marry my sister!"

Special for Waugh

And it was special for a Steve Waugh who, perhaps for the first time in his illustrious career, realised that cricket itself can be a great leveller. Just before lunch on the third day, with India following on, Waugh had tossed the ball to Glenn McGrath to have a go at Ganguly.

And for the fun of it, not a single fielder was manning the off-side field. "What audacity!," one wondered. Hadn't Dravid said that "on the off side, first there's God and then there's Sourav?"

Well, no marks for guessing that Mr Waugh knew it only too well. So what was he up to? Simple: Ensnaring Ganguly in his lair. A move that only egged India on to deliver a knockout punch, taking Waugh's men completely by surprise.

Perhaps, Waugh could have done with a Soothsayer!

But then, that's only on hindsight. For now, Ricky Ponting's men may well do with a few notes from Waugh's diary.