India clinched the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by defeating Australia at the Gabba last month.
The visitors had face a lot of flak when they got bowled out for 36 during their 8-wicket loss in the opening Test at Adelaide. Furthermore, regular skipper Virat Kohli returned home on paternity leave after the first Test while a number of key players sustained injuries through the course of the series.
Despite the setbacks, the touring team under Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy bounced back brilliantly to register a series-levelling victory at the MCG while they pulled off a famous draw in the third Test at SCG by batting out 131 overs.
Such has been the impact of this triumph that India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday (February 1) mentioned it in her speech at the Parliament.
See Also: PM Narendra Modi lauds Team India for Test series win over Australia in his ‘Mann ki Baat’
While presenting the Union Budget, Sitharaman said that India's win epitomises country's youth with 'abundant promise and suppressed thirst to perform and succeed.'
"I can't help but recall the joy that we as a cricket-loving nation felt after Team India's recent spectacular success in Australia. It has reminded us of all the qualities that we as a people particularly our youth epitomise, having an abundant promise and suppressed thirst to perform and succeed," she said amid the huge roar of claps.
Earlier India's victory Down Under was also cited in Economic Survey.
Here's the extract from the preface: "Economic Survey 2020-21 is an ardent tribute to the immortal human spirit of grit and compassion encapsulated by the tireless battle against the pandemic by our frontline COVID-19 warriors. In the midst of the most unfathomable global health emergency experienced in modern history, the resolve of each Indian helped find its way from the darkness of ‘lives vs livelihoods’to the glow of ‘#SavingLives&Livelihoods’. The foresight of our collective vision to battle this pandemic became evident when policy insights and implementation at the Centre, State and local level converged to initiate a V-shaped economic recovery.
"This spirit resonated in the recent Team India’s victory in Australia where their resilience to rebound from 36 all out to winning the Test series was a V-shaped performance indeed! Similarly, after experiencing a sharp contraction of 23.9% in first quarter of 2020-21, India is expected to be the fastest-growing economy in the next two years. Projections by various national and international agencies including the IMF project this resilience of the Indian economy."
Team India are now gearing up to face England in a four-match Test series at home. The first Test will be held in Chennai from February 5.
(Inputs from CricketNext)