Eden Gardens 2001 Miracle Silver Jubilee: The spiritual calm behind VVS Laxman’s immortal 281

You must have heard that faith can move mountains, and that's exactly what happened 25 years ago.

Indian cricket fans today (14 March 2026) celebrate the silver jubilee of the iconic Day 4 in the memorable Eden Gardens Test against Australia that led to the greatest ever comeback in cricket.

On 14 March 2001, India were on the brink of an embarrassing defeat at home. After losing the first Test comprehensively, India were forced to follow on in the second match at Eden Gardens.

When Laxman changed Indian cricket's course

On the morning of the penultimate day of the Test in a sobering Kolkata, India were 254 for 4 in the second innings. Effectively, they were minus 20 for 4. Defeat looked imminent, but VVX Laxman stood tall for his nation with arguably the greatest Test knock in Indian cricket history.

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He was already on 109, and by the end of the day, the right-handed batter had moved onto 275 not out. Rahul Dravid provided the best support to him from the other end, going from 7 to 155. Rest, as they say, is history!

Laxman was finally dismissed for 281, the highest Test score for an Indian batter at the time. And Dravid was run out for 180 as India declared on 657/7. Australia were then bundled out for just 212 with Harbhajan Singh taking a six-fer.

The crowd in Kolkata went mad, and Indian cricket was offered a lifeline after the 2000 match-fixing scandal. And all of this was made possible by Laxman's classy but dogged knock.

Laxman's search for equilibrium and peace

Interestingly, a significant help for Laxman in that match was a trip to the temple in Shirdi.

As modern-day Indian cricketers let go of inhibitions, flaunt their religious beliefs with pride and seek divine blessings with every city they change for a crucial match, as was seen during India's victorious T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, it's important to recall how Laxman followed the same before the classic Kolkata knock.

In the first Test at Mumbai, Laxman was dismissed on 20 and 12 in the two innings. With India staring at another Test series loss at home, the Hyderabad batter decided to make a drive to Shirdi to seek blessings from Sai Baba, whom he strongly believed in. But it was not just a trip to seek his protection, but to find answers to numerous questions.

“I had done everything in my control, so why this test by fire?" Laxman revealed to veteran sports journalist R Kaushik. "Where was it that I had been found wanting? I had committed myself totally to my dream; I had left no stone unturned, so why this treatment? Why were the runs not coming? Why was I in and out of the team? What more could I do?”

On his way to the temple, Laxman had a profound experience - as he closed his eyes, 'my entire life ran through my mind’s eye’. “I could see the hours and hours of practice, I could watch myself play every ball in each competitive game of cricket I had played. It was surreal, but it was also oh-so-real. After a peace-filled few hours, we drove back to Mumbai. By this time, I was ready to visit any temple to seek divine intervention,” Laxman said.

But don't think that Laxman was helpless. It wasn't that he had no hopes, but the temple visit was an attempt to find mental peace. Rest the doubt, and reignite the belief.

“I wasn’t desperate. I wasn’t putting my fate in the hands of the Almighty because that would have been taking the easy way out. But I wanted to find a certain equilibrium, a peace of mind, before I went to Kolkata. Hence, at the suggestion of my uncle, I drove to two different temples during my short stint in Hyderabad between the Mumbai and Kolkata Tests.”

And that's what he achieved at the end. And that "equilibrium" helped him turn the course of Indian cricket history.