The Indian cricket team at the time was depleted, without leading leg spinner Anil Kumble.

On the spinning tracks of India, this left them at a disadvantage, with the other spinners who had filled the void during the earlier part of the season being Sunil Joshi, Sarandeep Singh and Murali Kartik, all having played fewer than 10 Tests each.

[11] The start of the First Test in Mumbai was overshadowed by the death of Sir Donald Bradman, universally regarded as the greatest batsman in cricket history.

After a minute's silence, Australian captain Steve Waugh won the toss and elected to field on a pitch offering assistance to the bowling team.

[12] Australia made steady progress on the second day to reach 1/71, when Harbhajan dismissed Justin Langer.

Mark Waugh, the new batsman, was dismissed for a golden duck after Ganguly took a one-handed close-range diving catch from the next delivery.

This ended when a pull shot by Tendulkar from a Mark Waugh long hop hit Langer in the back, who had taken evasive action from his close catching position, and rebounded in the air to be caught by Ponting for 65.

The other notable event in the Indian innings was a mistimed pull shot from Dravid, which saw an attempted diving catch by Slater.

Public opinion was sceptical about India's chances of stopping Australia's winning streak, with former captain Bishan Bedi lamenting the demise of Indian cricket.

Harbhajan fought back to reduce Australia to 252/7, taking five wickets in the final session, including Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne in successive balls to become the first Indian to claim a Test hat-trick.

[3] After a prolonged wait for the third umpire to adjudicate whether Sadagoppan Ramesh had managed to catch Warne before the ball hit the ground, the near-capacity crowd at Eden Gardens erupted when he was given out.

This allowed India to declare early on the final day at 657/7, with a 383 run lead, setting Australia an imposing target of 384 to win.

Australia appeared to be safely batting out the match for a draw, until losing 7/56 in the final session, collapsing from 166/3 to be bowled out for 212.

[3][21][22][23] The teams arrived in Chennai for the deciding Third Test, and Australia's batsmen again seized control after winning the toss, reaching 340/3 on the second morning.

[24] Waugh's dismissal instigated another Australian batting collapse, losing 6 wickets for 51 runs to be bowled out for 391, with Harbhajan taking all six in a spell of 6/26, to finish with 7/133.