Mohali: V V S Laxman battled severe back pain to single-handedly take India to a memorable and miraculous one-wicket victory over Australia with a gritty unbeaten 73 in a nail-biting first cricket Test here today.
Laxman, who reserved his best for the Australians, played almost a lone hand in India's run chase of 216 as his experienced colleagues fell to poor shot selection and umpiring error as he guided India to one of its most memorable Test victories.
Sachin Tendulkar was the second highest Indian scorer with 38 while young Ishant Sharma contributed an invaluable 31 in the Test which went down the wire.
With the victory today, India took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series and retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy with their seventh highest run chase in history.