It was off the bowling of Hayden, in fact, that Laxman went past the 236 set by Sunil Gavaskar against West Indies at Chennai in 1983, at that time the highest individual Test score by an Indian. The grandstands vibrated to such an extent there was concern over their structural integrity.

The foundations were given further examination when Dravid (180) and Laxman (281) left the middle early on the final day, having put on a stand of 376 that had dug India out of a deep hole and then shoved Australia in to a deeper one still.

Australia fought gamely to save the match, Slater and Hayden again standing up to see the tourists to 3/166 with 30 overs left in the match. But when Harbhajan took the scalps of Waugh and Ponting it paved the way for India to complete the most improbable of 171 run victories, and with it adding deserved team value to the individual efforts of Laxman and, to a lesser extent, Dravid.

media_camera India celebrate the fall of Glenn McGrath’s wicket to claim a stunning victory.

“It was quite simply one of the greatest innings the game’s seen,” says Craddock. “The context around it just enhances its merit.

“And as Laxman himself said, it changed the way the world looked at India. Suddenly they were a force in Test cricket, they could conjure a miracle — and it was a miracle.

“I can still remember the Indian team leaving the ground like rock stars, people climbing over the bus trying to get their hands in the window.

type_quote_start For Laxman to bat for 10 hours and on average hit a four every 10 balls against an attack that contained Warne and McGrath, and a rampaging Gillespie, was simply extraordinary — ROBERT CRADDOCK type_quote_end

“It was if a match played on a cloud and the fact we’re still talking about it all these years later, proves it was one of the truly epic events in cricket history.

“The game just turned mad and even Steve Waugh could rejoiced at what had just happened, even though Australia lost. He said: ‘It’s a sorrowful game for Australia, but what a game for cricket.”’

The theme is a consistent one through the side who ended up on the wrong side of the result. Often after defeat injustice burns and self-recrimination festers. Not here. Great players are also great students and lovers of the sport. Australia’s incredible winning run had ended, but in a fashion that brokered no shame or embarrassment.

media_camera Laxman’s 281 at Eden Gardens in 2001 has been voted the greatest ever knock.

“Back in the dressing room you analyse the game and think about what you could have done differently,” says Gillespie. “But the scoreboard didn’t lie. We were outplayed and there’s no shame in that, especially when you’ve given it your all, which we did. Laxman’s knock was one of the greatest I ever faced in Tests.”

Where Laxman’s feat stands on an individual’s reckoning of greatness will vary depending on who is having the debate. And ultimately it doesn’t matter what ranking you give it. Brian Lara’s unbeaten 153 against Australia two years earlier in Barbados was a chase for the ages, like Laxman taking it upon himself to turn imminent defeat in to unexpected victory. Ian Botham’s Headingley heroics in 1981, likewise, stands as testament to never conceding any position is a losing one.

And, for Australians, Don Bradman’s 254 against England at Lord’s in 1930 is consistently hailed as the finest example of an individual taking the game to an almost supernatural level. Stan McCabe’s fearless 232 at Trent Bridge in 1938 took the fight to the English and won when all seemed lost. And more recently, Dean Jones’ 210 in the tied Test in Chennai in 1986 saw a man put his body on the line for the cause over eight hours of extraordinary work in exhausting heat.

Others will enjoy their favourite moment of individual brilliance in the company of Ponting, Viv Richards, Tendulkar, even Kevin Pietersen.

Yet the majesty of Laxman’s innings, named the greatest of the decade in a recent poll, continues to dazzle with each repeat viewing. The match position, his own lack of security in the side and the strength of the opposition make it a complete individual performance that few, if any, can rival.

But the real glory came in the twin deployment of violence and grace, the brutal command of arguably the best ever bowling attack assembled executed with the precision of a surgeon’s knife.

At his best — at his very best — Laxman was simply a joy and a privilege to watch. Even, as Waugh graciously conceded, for a defeated foe.