As we build up to the upcoming five-Test series, ESPNcricinfo, Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar are inviting you to help us identify India's best individual Border-Gavaskar Trophy performance in Australia in the 21st century. We've shortlisted 16 performances and paired them up against each other. All you have to do now is vote to send one of the following into the quarter-finals.
Rahul Dravid - 233 and 72* in Adelaide, 2003
India win by four wickets, lead series 1-0
Long before Rahul Dravid was immortalised for revealing that he too had the ability to yell his head off, he was immortalised for having the ability to yell his head off and also punch the air. The image of him doing so as he hit the winning runs in Adelaide almost 20 years ago is part of Indian cricket history. It was only the fourth time they had ever won a Test match in Australia - and their first victory since 1981 - and they had to come from behind to do it. From way behind, 556 runs to be exact. But Dravid kept whittling away at it, wearing Australia down not once but twice. Finally, after 12 and a half hours at the crease, scoring more runs than he has ever done or will ever do in a single Test, it made perfect sense that he would be there at the end, soaking in the Adelaide sunshine, teeth gritted, arms up high, the personification of triumph.
Dravid's heroics in that match gave India a 1-0 lead, in a series they went on to draw in Australia for the first time since 1985.
R Ashwin - 3-57 in 34 overs & 3-92 in 52.5 overs in Adelaide, 2018
India win by 31 runs, lead series 1-0
Until this Test, R Ashwin had bowled more than 300 overs in Australia for a mere 21 wickets. That can happen when you're on tour and the conditions aren't entirely in your favour. In Australia especially, a spinner's job, as much as he is there to pick up wickets, is to hold an end up so that the quick bowlers can be kept fresh so that they can come charging in again and again. Ashwin found that balance in Adelaide. More than that, he tested the Australians' defence: each of his three first-innings wickets the result of how his mastery of flight and dip alone was enough to cause problems. Ashwin bowled 86.5 overs in the Adelaide Test, going for less than two runs an over and giving Australia no way out.
Five of his six wickets were of top-order batters and his performance was crucial to India taking a 1-0 lead in what would become their first ever Test series win in Australia.
Voting closes at 8pm IST on October 24. The winner of this match-up will be decided by the total votes cast on polls conducted across ESPNcricinfo, Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar platforms.