Which was the better Test – Sri Lanka beating South Africa in Colombo in 2006 or India thwarting Australia in Kolkata in 2001?

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2025Update: This poll has ended. The IND-AUS 2001 Kolkata Test moves into the quarter-finals.Sri Lanka come out on top after final-day drama – Colombo (PSS), 2006The Test swung this way and that, till it came down to Farveez Maharoof, more than competent with the bat, and Lasith Malinga, not quite as adept, needing to score two runs to win the Test. They did, to earn Sri Lanka a one-wicket win and make it 2-0 for the series.South Africa chose to bat – who would want to bat last on a Sri Lankan pitch? And they got the biggest total of the match, 361. The fifth-wicket stand between Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers, worth 161, made it possible, despite Muthiah Muralidaran’s five-for.Sri Lanka didn’t stop too far away, at 321, but they had the century stand for the eighth wicket between Maharoof and Chaminda Vaas to thank for it even as Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini combined for nine wickets.When South Africa batted again, Muralidaran got seven, and South Africa got to 311, setting Sri Lanka 352 to win.Then, in a Test where all four innings crossed 300, Mahela Jayawardene scored the only century. But when he fell, Sri Lanka still had 11 runs to get, with three wickets in hand, but hope since Maharoof and Vaas were around. Vaas and Muralidaran fell, though, and then it was over to Maharoof to get the scores level, and Malinga to avoid a tie. He did. Driving Nicky Boje, who had taken four wickets in the innings, down the ground to finish the job.Australia fall at the Eden final frontier – Kolkata, 2001If someone came up with a script detailing this Test before it happened, it would have probably been rejected for being too unrealistic.A Test hat-trick against the world’s top side at the age of 20. A follow-on. A historic partnership to turn the tables. A record individual score by an Indian. And a thrilling end in front of packed stands to level the series and end Australia’s streak of 16 wins.But all of it did transpire.After Harbhajan Singh hurt Australia with a hat-trick on the first day, Steve Waugh scored his maiden Test century on Indian soil to lead his team to a strong 445. In reply, India were bundled for 171 and asked to follow-on.They were then 232 for 4 – still 42 behind – when VVS Laxman was joined by Rahul Dravid and the two of them played out the entire fourth day with strips of iced towels around their necks to beat the heat and humidity; they still needed attention from the physio from time to time.The two ended up seeing off nine bowlers with innings that were instantly stamped in the game’s history. Laxman’s 281 lasted ten-and-a half-hours, and Dravid’s 180 nearly seven-and-a-half. They set Australia a target of 384. Australia succumbed on the last day against India’s spinners as Harbhajan finished with a tally of 13 for 196.