The Indian team created not only history but also dealt a huge blow to Australia, as they beat them in their own fortress of Gabba, Brisbane in the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, by 3 wickets and clinched the series 2-1.
This was the second time India beat Australia in Australia in a Test series after their maiden victory in the 2018-19 tour under Virat Kohli. But this time it was ultra-special as India was missing a multitude of star players including Virat Kohli himself who came back to India on paternal leave after the Adelaide Test loss.
India had already most Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar before the tour began and then lost Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav by the second Test; and then lost KL Rahul, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Hanuma Vihari for the fourth Test.
However, under the guidance of Ajinkya Rahane, India’s youth brigade including Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur did amazingly well, while debutants Washington Sundar and T Natarajan came to the fore and stole the show.
They were aided by Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, and Rishabh Pant, while Rahane also contributed well, scoring a century in India’s MCG Test win.
This was the first time in 33 years, since 1988 that Australia had lost a Test at Gabba, Brisbane and apart from Pat Cummins, who picked 21 wickets and Josh Hazlewood (17 wickets), none of the other bowlers had any impact.
India, on the other hand, kept coming at Australia, despite the racial abuse of their players by the crowd at SCG and sledging from Aussie cricketers and showed great grit and determination to pocket the series, especially after the tense SCG draw and heroic Brisbane win.
It was their right to celebrate and Indian players did it in style, taking to Twitter to share their happiness of winning the Test series.
Here are the tweets:
