India Ravaged Australia’s Entire Batting and Bowling Department

Australia Vanquished India in each and every department as India won the Series by 2-1 and Retained the Prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21. India showed immense grit and determination as Virat Kohli the skipper was not available who was on a paternity leave and winning the Series in his absence showed the hallmark of Team India. As the Series progressed India had a lot of injured players as: “Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, K L Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah “all were sidelined due to injuries. India had to play all the novice players whereas some had come in to team as net bowler like Washington Sundar and T Natarajan. India showed a never to say die attitude as defeating a full power packed Australian Team is nothing but a helluva. This is the second consecutive time that India has Won a Test Series as earlier in 2018-19 India had won the TEST Series by 2-1.

#Australia

Australia failed to win the crunch situations of the TEST Series. This time they had the services of Steven Smith and David Warner but their performance was not according to their reputation. Marnus Labuschagne was the leading run scorer of the TEST Series with 426 runs with one century and two half centuries. Marnus tried his best but he didn’t get ample support from the other end. Steven Smith scored 313 runs which included one century and two half centuries. Steven Smith had an awful first 2 TEST Matches which just shifted the momentum towards India and this Smith was playing under a lot of pressure unlike THE Smith who made the Indians dance. In the 2^nd TEST Match Australia dropped 6 catches which was the Boxing Day TEST Match. Dropping 6 TEST Matches that too by Australia is a nothing less than a crime as Catches win Matches in TEST Cricket. Cameron Green made his TEST Debut as he played as Batting All Rounder at No.6 position. He scored 236 runs which included one half century. His contribution in the Boxing Day Test Match was phenomenal as he was smashing the bowlers all around the park. Tim Paine the Skipper of Australian Cricket Team scored 204 runs which included two half centuries. He was seen doing a lot of sledging which affected as he was dropping catches and missing stumpings which costed Australian Team the Series. He has a tendency of doing a little banter but when you are the skipper Winning should be the ultimate goal. Matthew Wade played as an opener in the first two TEST Matches as David Warner had groin injury. He couldn’t convert a single start into a big score as he scored only 173 runs.

Australia need to think about their middle order batsmen as every-time Marnus is not going to save the team from collapses; maybe they should bring back Peter Handscomb in the TEST frame or Alex Carey who gives a glimpse of Mr. Cricket (Mike Hussey). If Australia wants to win the ICC World Test Championship and for that they need to defeat the Proteas in their own backyard where earlier in 2018 there was an infamous ball tampering scandal then they need to bring players who can spend some time in the crease and make huge runs while batting.

Patrick Cummins the spearheaded fast bowler was the leading wicket taker of the TEST Series with 21 Wickets. Whenever he was given the ball, he took wickets and was bowling quite similar to the Fast-Bowling Legend Brett Lee. Josh Hazlewood the accurate Pace fast bowler took 17 Wickets. Josh Hazlewood and Patrick Cummins demolished India’s Batting in the 1^st TEST Match where they bowled them out for 36 runs only and that spell from both reminded of the Legendary Pair of Fast Bowling: Glenn McGrath & Brett Lee. Mitchell Starc took 11 wickets and he was seen off color throughout the TEST Series as he was not only picking wickets but was conceding runs with an economy of 3.5 and sometimes 4 too. Due to Starc’s inability of picking up wickets there was a lot of pressure & burden on Hazlewood and Cummins. Australia need to use Starc as a Secret Weapon as they did in Ashes 2019 as Starc is not getting the swing which is needed to irk the batsmen. Australia need to bring back James Pattinson in the future as Pattinson has the pace to dismantle any Team.

#India

Surprisingly Rishabh Pant was the leading Run Scorer for India in this TEST Series with 274 runs which included two half centuries. Rishabh Pant was playing like the Legendary Adam Gilchrist as he was not only bashing the bowlers but also played the waiting game. He needs to work on his Wicket Keeping Skills as he was also dropping Catches similar to Tim Paine. It seems that Rishabh Pant has cemented his place in the Team for a long time now as Scoring against Australia is not an easy job. Cheteshwar Pujara the Wall of Team India scored 271 runs which included three half centuries. This time Pujara didn’t score a single ton but he consumed a lot of balls and frustrated Australia’s bowling attack. Ajinkya Rahane the stand in skipper of Team India scored 268 runs which included a glorious century at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) on the occasion of Boxing Day TEST Match. Ajinkya batted with a lot of responsibility which showed his character. Shubhman Gill made his debut in this TEST Series and scored 259 runs which included two half centuries. Gill played freely which is required at International Level and played every ball on its merit. Rohit Sharma came to Australia to play the last two 2 TEST Matches as he earlier was out of the Team due to hamstring injury. Rohit scored 129 runs which consisted of one-half century. Rohit once again throwed away his starts but was good with the new ball. Hanuma Vihari played a Stellar knock in 3^rd TEST Match by facing 128 balls as India were looking for surviving that TEST Match. India has got a great back up of Batsmen as Winning TEST Series without Skipper Virat, Hanuma Vihari, Ashwin is great attainment.

Mohammed Siraj the Debutant took 13 wickers which included one maiden five wicket haul. Siraj was absolutely at his best in the last 2 TEST Matches. Ravichandran Ashwin took 12 scalps. He foxed Steven Smith in the first 2 TEST Matches. He was giving the vital break through in the middle overs which proved to be the difference in the end. Jadeja took 7 wickets. He was acrobatic in the field with his fielding skills as he was a complete package of a Cricketer. India’s playing 11 of 4^th TEST Match was full of juvenile players as if it was a second string or may be a third string team but they showed immense character as defeating a Full-fledged Strong Australian Team doesn’t happen in a night not even in a fortnight. India’s now TEST assignment is against England where they will play 4 TEST Matches but England shouldn’t be taken lightly as this is new England under the Leadership of Joe Root.