AUS v IND 2018-19: Ravi Shastri puts Australia Test series win on the same pedestal as 1983 World Cup triumph

Kohli and company officially stamped their authority as a No.1 Test side after the final day’s play in Sydney was rained out.

Indian cricket team celebrate winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy down under | Getty

Team India secured a historic first-ever Test series in Australia on Monday with a 2-1 victory after the final day’s play in Sydney was abandoned due to rain. By virtue of this series win, Virat Kohli and company also stamped their authority as a numero uno Test side in the world.

Addressing the press-conference, India head coach Ravi Shastri rated the Test success down under on the same pedestal as 1983 World Cup triumph and also compared it with the 1985 World Championship win.

"I will tell you how satisfying it is for me - 1983 World Cup 1983, 1985 World Championship, this is as big or even bigger because this is in the truest format of the game. It is in Test cricket, which is meant to be the toughest," Shastri quoted.

Wins in the opening Test in Adelaide and third Test in Melbourne ensured that India could not lose the series while their dominant show with the willow, led by Cheteshwar Pujara’s 193, ruled a slight chance of victory for the home team in Sydney.

While lauding Kohli and his troops, Shastri highlighted the efforts put by each and every member of the team throughout the last 12 months.

"It's 12 months, this tour didn't start in Australia. This tour started 12 months ago in South Africa, where we said there's a certain brand of cricket we are going to play. We are going to experiment with combinations, find out what suits the team the best and take it forward from there. We learnt a heck of a lot in South Africa, we learnt a lot in England,” Shastri remarked.

"We made mistakes which we didn't make in this series. We learnt from those mistakes and fired it home properly. So the most satisfying part of it was it was a team working towards this goal over the last 12 months," he explained.

Team India will now feature in a three-match ODI series against Australia, starting on January 12.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 07 Jan, 2019

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