A dream moment for Team India Down Under

| JANUARY 08, 2019, 03:27 AM IST

The showery Sydney weather couldn’t dampen the mood of the Indian cricket team on Monday. The final day of the fourth and final Test match at SCG was abandoned due to rains, but the history-making series win brightened the day for Virat Kohli and his team. India ended a 71-year draught and convincingly clinched the Border-Gavaskar series 2-1. And India became the first Asian side to come up trumps from an Australian tour.   

At the post-match press conference Head coach Ravi Shastri’s line summed it all. “I will tell you how satisfying it is for me, this win is even bigger than even the 1983 World Cup triumph because this came in truest and toughest format of the game,” he said. For Kohli too, this was the best achievement.   

There has been a paradigm shift in the way India approached the series. In Kholi, India found a young leader who led from the front ushering in a fitness regime coupled with peak performance. Under Kohli era, Indian players had their first brush with tools like the yoyo test which focus on individual fitness, a pre-requisite for international contests.   

Gone are the days where players used to cling on to their slots despite dismal performances. There were times even unfit players and non-performers were included, thanks to the clout they enjoyed with the leadership. The very fact that India dropped both its openers after the first two test failures speaks volumes of the assessment and introspection that goes into player-performances.   

This is a win to cherish, for it revolved around a team which had a perfect blend of youth and experience. India’s traditional weakness was their bowlers. In a test match where a team is normally required to be bowled out twice to achieve a favourable result, India relied heavily on spin; a tried and tested formula at home. This win is a huge trend-reversal with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma wreaking havoc for the hosts. History has it that Indians were normally made to dance to “chin music” Down Under with Australian bowlers running amok on the bouncy pitches. This tour saw Indian speedsters giving the opposition a taste of their own medicine.   

In the batting section, if captain Kholi was an inspiration, it was the indomitable and consistent performances of Chetashwar Pujara that stood out. The hallmark of the entire series is the grit and determination that Pujara displayed scoring tons of runs to put the team on course. And to add to it, India’s new talent and emerging players like Rishabh Pant, who became the first wicketkeeper to score a ton in Australia, proved their mettle. Well played India.     

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