India vs Australia: How India won a historic Test series in Australia

NEW DELHI: Continuous rain in Sydney denied India a 3-1 series victory, but it couldn’t stop captain Virat Kohli from becoming the first ever Indian captain to guide India to a Test series victory on Australian soil. Customary hand-shakes were followed by leaps, fist pumps, hugs and high-fives – all this was captured in one frame after the Border-Gavaskar trophy was handed to Kohli and his boys. India ending a 71-year-old wait to win their first Test series in Australia.
India played their maiden Test series against Australia in 1947 and were handed a 4-0 drubbing in the five-match series. In total, India have toured Australia 12 times (including the 2018-19 tour) and finally managed to lift the Test series trophy under Kohli’s captaincy.

India were dominant in all three departments – batting, bowling and fielding. India’s slip cordon, which always becomes a hot topic of discussion after almost every overseas tour also played a pivotal role in the team’s historic win.

Kohli in England, Pujara in Australia

If Kohli was the batsman to watch out for in the England tour last year, Pujara didn’t leave a single stone unturned to send the Australians on a leather hunt. The Saurashtra batsman was the highest run-getter in the four-match series with 521 runs in 7 innings at an average of 74.42, including three centuries to his name. With a highest-score of 193, Pujara signed off the series, reclaiming the tag of ‘The Indian Wall’. Pujara was awarded the Man of the Match and Man of the Series trophies.

Fantastic Bumrah


India's bowling coach Bharat Arun said Jasprit Bumrah's unconventional bowling action makes him one of the most difficult bowlers to read in the world and the unorthodox pacer proved that with an impressive show on Australian soil. Once touted as an injury-prone bowler, due to his unorthodox bowling action, Bumrah claimed 21 wickets in the 4 Tests at an average of 17.00, including one five-wicket haul.


Pant, the young sensation

With his second overseas century (after his first vs England), the Delhi lad has cemented his place in the Indian side in a short period of time. After Dhoni’s sudden retirement from Tests, the Indian team experimented with many options but nothing worked in their favour. Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik were tried, but they couldn’t do much for the team. When the opportunity knocked on the door of young Pant, the wicket-keeper batsman grabbed it with both hands. The 21-year-old finished the Test series as the second-highest run-getter, scoring 350 runs in 7 innings at an average of 58.33, including a brilliant unbeaten 159 in the Sydney Test.

Time for a new opener?

Mayank Agarwal’s long wait to don the Indian Test jersey finally came to end when he was called-up for the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Agarwal was thrust into the squad following the failures of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay and the youngster had an impressive maiden outing. The Karnataka batsman scored a brilliant 76 runs off 161 balls, sorting out India's opening woes to some extent and gave India a solid platform in the Melbourne Test. The 27-year-old kept his sublime touch intact in the SCG Test as well when he scored a magnificent 77 at the SCG. In two Tests, Agarwal scored 195 runs at an average of 65.00.

INDIA’s PAST TEST PERFORMANCES IN AUSTRALIA: