Gill made 91, Pujara made 56, while Pant's epic 89* helped India achieve a historic win in Brisbane Test.
India came into this Test after a fighting draw in the third Test at Sydney and was barely managing respective injuries and this led to the Indian team handing Test debuts to Washington Sundar and T Natarajan, who was a net bowler. The visitors also roped in Shardul Thakur for this encounter, who was playing only his second Test match.
Australia batted first and scored 369 runs with Marnus Labuschagne making 108. Natarajan, Shardul, and Sundar picked three wickets each for India. India replied with 336 with Sundar and Shardul scoring fighting half-centuries giving India the fight it needed against the mighty Australians.
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Mohammed Siraj then picked his maiden fifer and Shardul Thakur picked four wickets as Australia made 294 in the second innings and set India a target of 328 runs with just over one day left in the game.
Pat Cummins managed to land a huge blow as he dismissed Rohit Sharma for 7 runs and Shubman Gill, playing only his second Test match, made a sublime 91 to set up the Test match for India.
"It was as if they [Australians] knew the procession had started. They celebrated casually. Ho gaya kaam–types [As if their work is done]. As a youngster making your debut in Australia, the biggest doubt in your mind is whether you will be able to hand the pace. Pat Cummins and Starc are known for their pace and Josh Hazlewood for his line and length. But when I was able to conquer that doubt and I felt comfortable handling that pace, then it was all about my mindset,” Gill said in an interview with Jamie Alter for the GQ Magazine.
Talking about his own innings, where he hit 8 fours and 2 sixes in his 146-ball stay, Gill said that he knew that both Cummins and Starc were bowling short and singled out Starc to attack.
"He and Cummins were bowling short at us and my idea was to attack Starc. If you go back and watch that innings again, you will notice that not once did I pull Cummins. The pull shots were off Starc, keeping in mind the shorter square boundary from that side. I felt that even if I got a top edge, it would clear the fielders and get me boundaries because he was bowling at good pace.
The end from which Cummins was bowling had a much bigger boundary, so I told myself to only attempt the pull shot against Starc and leave the short balls from Cummins alone. The idea was to hit every bouncer that Starc sent down, and it paid off for me that day,” he added.
While Australia made a comeback in the game dismissing Gill, and Ajinkya Rahane (24) quickly, Cheteshwar Pujara made 56, while Rishabh Pant went ballistic at the other end. With help of Washington Sundar’s 22, Pant took the attack to Australians, making 89* with 9 fours and 1 six.
India won the match and the series 2-1, registering their second consecutive Test series win in Australia after 2018-19.