'Was mentally scarred from the 2001 India tour': Adam Gilchrist on Border-Gavaskar Trophy

The Australia tour of India in 2001 is remembered as one of the most iconic Test series in cricket history. Australia, led by Steve Waugh, arrived in India on the back of a 16-Test winning streak and aspirations to conquer the "Final Frontier." But it came with the knowledge that Australia had never won in the subcontinent since 1969.

Australia won the first Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai by 10-wickets with Adam Gilchrist scoring a quick-fire century.

The series, though, took an unforgettable turn during the second Test in Kolkata when India, following on, staged a remarkable comeback, with VVS Laxman scoring 281 and Rahul Dravid contributing 180 to help India post an improbable total.

Harbhajan Singh’s historic hat-trick and 32 wickets in the series further lifted India to victory. India won the series 2-1, marking an era-defining moment in cricket.

So when Australia once again toured India in 2004, there were obvious flashbacks. It didn't help that skipper Ricky Ponting had suffered a thumb injury and Gilchrist was now the stand-in captain.


"I was absolutely in panic when we were playing I think in the Champions Trophy in the UK. We were at Edgbaston and he kind of took the ball on the thumb but he never (usually) left the field. It didn't matter how bad an injury it was, he kind of stayed out there. He's a tough little fellow. But he went off and never came back out. So we realised that: 1. he's out of that tournament and 2. if it's broken, he will not be able to go to India, certainly not at the start," recalled the legendary Australian wicketkeeper-batter on Stories After Stumps podcast.

"So I started to get nervous straight away, mainly because the memories of 2001, which was an epic series, one of the great Test match series, for me personally. (I) Went from highest of the highs - scoring a hundred in the first Test of the '01 series but then closing the series out with a King's Pair at Eden Gardens, and another pair of 1s in the last Test.

"So I was mentally scarred from the back bit of that tour. Was I ready to go back there in general? I wasn't sure. And then to have to captain's armband on, I was even less certain," he added.

In the end, though, Australia won a Test series on Indian soil for the first time in 35 years. By the time Ponting arrived for the fourth and final Test, Australia had bagged the Border-Gavaskar Trophy honours.

Eventually Australia won 2-1 with key performances from bowlers like Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne, as well as from batter Damien Martyn.