International Cricket Council (ICC) has declared the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 as 'The Ultimate Test Series' after online voting on different social media platforms.
The governing body had shortlisted 16 Test series for the contest, which included the 1999 West Indies vs Australia series, 2008-09 Australia vs South Africa series, the famous 2005 Ashes, and many more similar thrilling series.
But 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy emerged as the winner as it received the most number of votes in the final poll against the 1999 India vs Pakistan series. India had scripted history by defeating Australia in the four-match Test series and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
It wasn't an easy win against Australia at their home, with the return of David Warner and Steve Smith. A bigger worry than that was India captain Virat Kohli leaving the tour after the first match on paternity leave and soon, as the series progressed, Team India started losing their important players due to injury.
In the last match at the Gabba, where Australia remained unbeaten since 1988, India came out with their benched players in the bowling attack after the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah were injured. Mohammed Siraj, the debutant on the Australia tour, was leading an inexperienced bowling attack, and T Natarajan, who had stayed for the Test series as a net bowler, was handed the debut cap.
Despite numerous hurdles, nothing could stop Team India from retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They were humiliated in the first match at Adelaide where Australia bowled them out for just 36 runs and it almost felt like a one-sided series going ahead, until stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane-led side made a strong comeback at Melbourne with a victory and they later fought for a draw at Sydney.
India also breached the Gabba fortress by winning the final Test to shock Australia captain Tim Paine, who had sledged Ashwin in the third Test and showed off their dominance at Brisbane.
Paine had said, "Can't wait for you to get to the Gabba," from behind the stumps in a move to disturb Ashwin's concentration as the India cricketer was battling for a draw at Sydney. The words turned against the Australia captain with a 3-wicket defeat at the Gabba by Team India. Rishabh Pant was the star for India with an unbeaten 89 runs to chase down a target of 328 on the final day.
