India has finally managed to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in back of what has been a month of action-packed drama and cricket at its highest level. The series ended 2-1 in favour of the visitors who have been splendid throughout the tournament. Australia would be really thankful for the weather conditions or else the scoreline could easily have been 3-1. The fourth day of the last test match in Sydney was heavily influenced by rains while the fifth was just called off due to heavy pourings. India dominated the better half of the series and it's no surprise that they crowned the winners.
India registered its first-ever series win in Australia. The visitors claimed the first match in Adelaide by 31 runs. While the Aussies fought their way back into the series with a resounding 146 run victory in Perth. Then there was no stopping the Indians, winning the third test in Melbourne by 137 runs. And in the fourth and final test in Sydney too, they were on top from the first day itself and forced follow-on to the Aussies. The Indian team just showed why they are the number one cricketing side of the world. It was only the rain which saved Australia from going three down in the series.
All the four matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy were decided on the last day of the match. Every match was a nail-biter in itself. Now, will take a look at the five takeaways from the recently concluded series between India and Australia:
Lessons learned from the series against South Africa and England: Although the Indian side lost to both South Africa and England by a handsome margin of 2-1 and 4-1 respectively, they showed glimpses of what they are capable of. If you have followed both the series carefully, you would agree that the side just lacked the final knockout punch. It was only once that they lost by an innings and 159 runs. In every other match, they lost by just about a margin of 60-70 odd runs. And they did use this experience to conquer Australia.
It was a Pujara-Show: The Border-Gavaskar Series will, in fact, be long remembered by the heroics of Cheteshwar Pujara. There are a string of records that he broke on his way to winning the ‘The Player of the Series’ award. Having faced a total of 1258 deliveries in the series stands third in an away test series comprising of as much as four matches. Rahul Dravid (1336 balls vs England, 2002) and Alastair Cook (1285 vs India, 2012) are the first and second on this list. He scored a total of 521 runs in seven innings with a whopping average of more than 70 runs.
A not-so-strong Australian side: It would be fair to say that they are probably the worst Australian side in the last two or three decades. The top order just collapsed time and again. Just have a guess what would have happened if Cummins and Lyon didn't pitch in with those crucial runs at the end? They failed to replace the likes of Warner and Smith. Harris's knock of 79 runs in the fourth test was the highest score by any Australian batsman throughout the series. This shows how badly they performed. This is the first time that no Australian batsman has managed to score a hundred in a series of four or more matches. The Indian bowling attack overshadowed the Australian attack for the better half of the series. This comes off as a surprise to everyone I guess.
The ‘babysitter’ is perhaps a player to look out for: No one certainly doubts his talent or ability to hit the ball out of the park. But it is the inconsistency that he displayed in the longer format which raises a question whether he is fit for playing test cricket or not? 350 runs in seven innings, second only to Cheteshwar Pujara was his reply. He dominated the headlines from the start of the series itself. Whatever the Aussies threw at them, he had a reply in store. Let that be a banter too! He replied aptly to everything. He even set a benchmark for the Indian Keepers by equalling the world record of most number of catches in a single match alongside AB de Villiers and Jack Russell. He took a total of 11 catches in India's 31-run victory in Adelaide Oval.
The banter just keeps on coming: It was the stump mic which garnered a lot of limelight as it caught the crispy conversation between both the sides. That's what happens if you play Australia in Australia. But this time around, it looked like the Indian side was well prepared for this too. From Paine talking about the IPL in front of Rohit to asking Pant for babysitting.
After the third match, players from both the sides were invited for a function by the Prime Minister of Australia. A photo of Rishabh Pant holding Paine's child went viral as soon as the Australian skipper's wife posted it on social media with the caption ‘best babysitter’. The banters just a lot funnier.
One can easily gauge that Tim Paine has all the qualities of being a good commentator. But Rishabh Pant was not gonna sit back and listen to all this. When Paine came out to bat in the second innings of the third test, he was recorded saying ‘Ever heard of a temporary captain?’ But the best thing was that it didn't cross the line but rather became a subject of laughter for the fans watching the game.
