For India
India finally have ended a 71-year drought by winning TEST Series in Australia by a margin of 2-1. India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia after 2003-04 which is after 15 years. Virat Kohli now has won 11 Tests overseas and has equaled Sourav Ganguly’s record for most Test wins in overseas conditions. India won a Test match in Adelaide after 15 years and won a Test Match in Melbourne after 34 years. Virat Kohli is only Asian Captain to win a Test Series in Australia.
Gritty Cheteshwar Pujara was the pillar (WALL) of batting line up where he showed tremendous amounts of patience and endurance throughout the TEST Series and he played marathon knocks as he amassed 521 runs at an average of 74 and at a strike rate of 41 and faced 1258 balls which are 209 overs which is unbelievable in this modern Era of the Test Cricket where the batsman is looking to score at a strike rate of 60. There were shades of Rahul Dravid in his batting style and Pujara also changed his gear when he was batting with the tail-enders which was seen in First Test match where he scored 61 runs with tail-enders. Pujara throughout TEST Series was focusing on playing innocuous balls and showed great mental application to survive and score runs against the pace troika: Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood.
Skipper Virat Kohli had a decent Test Series according to his standards as he scored 282 runs where he scored 1 century and 1 half century. During this tour Virat Kohli got starts but King Kohli wasn’t competitive with the bat as compared with the 2014-15 Test Series where he scored a whopping 692 runs with 4 centuries as he was victim of Pat Cummins as Cummins took the wicket of Kohli 4 times out of 7 innings. Kohli was marshalling his troops and applied different strategies with the nature of the pitch which he showcased his leadership qualities.
Rishabh Pant just took Australian attack to the cleaners as he blasted 350 runs where he scored 1 century. Rishabh Pant became First ever Indian Wicket Keeper to score a century in Australia. Rishabh Pant batted with the sword as he was smashing the bowlers all over the park and his knock of 159 runs in 4th Test match showcased that he can also play as a no.6 batsman and in that knock, he batted sensibly and made Aussie quicks toil a lot.
India’s Vice Captain Ajinkya Rahane had a mediocre Test Series as he scored 217 runs where he scored 2 half centuries.
India’s openers : K L Rahul and Murali Vijay didn’t score a single half century and Prithvi Shaw the U-19 winning captain of Team India was injured in the Practice due to which India had to call Mayank Agarwal to the test Team for the last 2 Test matches and he made the most of the opportunity as he scored 195 runs which included 2 half centuries.
Mayank has now has made his place in the Indian Test team for a longer period of time. The way in which Pujara played he made a statement to the bowlers in world that they have to toil a lot to take his wicket. Pujara also showed that he can also play a vintage knock with the tail-enders. Rishabh Pant’s century has given headaches to Indian Selectors and Virat to whether play Saha or Pant in next Test Series which India is going to play against Windies in 2019 in Carribean after ICC 2019 WC and if Rishabh Pant can improve his wicket keeping style then he can be a long-term option and he can be Adam Gilchrist of Team India batting at No.7
There was a young sensation in India’s bowling unit as India found an immaculate fast bowler and wicket taking bowler in the form of the Jasprit Bumrah as he picked 21 wickets and he was banging short deliveries on a consistent basis and Bumrah was being used in short spells where at times he bowled like ODI bowler and T20 bowler which paid off and whenever Virat wanted a wicket then Virat gave the ball to Bumrah.
Ishant Sharma lanky fast bowler was on his 4th Australian Test Tour and he guided the Bumrah and Shami to bowl impeccable line and lengths as Ishant picked 11 wickets. Mohammed Shami was giving no looseners to the batsman and was bowling perfect line and lengths in Australia’s bouncy pitches.
Ashwin was sidelined after the first test match but he took 6 wickets in Adelaide Test match. Kuldeep Yadav the china-man took a five wicket haul in his first ever test match which he played in the Sydney. Ravindra Jadeja showcased his all-round abilities as he took 7 wickets and scored 90 runs and in the 4th Test Match he frustrated Aussies quicks and scored a flamboyant knock of 81 runs and with the ball in hand he completely foxed Australia’s batting line up with sharp turn and bounce and he was electric in the field.
After such a culminating performance by Indian pacers it can be said that the current Indian pace attack can take wickets in any conditions as India have a good bench strength in the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav and India also have a belligerent allrounder in the form of Hardik Pandya. The fast bowlers of India were consistently bowling at 140km/hour and the Aussie batsman were made to work hard for each and every run as Australia scored a run rate of 2.6 runs.
For Australia
Australia failed to hold on to their fortress and lost first ever Test Series in Australia against India. Not a single batsman of Australia scored a century in the Test Series and this is the second instance happened within 9 months (barring in Pakistan vs Australia Test Series where Usman Khawaja scored a century) where no Aussie batsman scored a century; the first instance was against South Africa in South Africa 2018.
The debutant Marcus Harris was the top runs scorer for Australia as he scored 258 runs which included 2 half centuries and he showed good mental application. Travis Head who was novice to the Test cricket failed to convert his half centuries into a big one as he scored 237 runs which included 2 half centuries and his dismissal followed a similar pattern as he was looking to score a boundary off each ball.
There were high expectations from Usman Khawaja to lead the batting line up in the absence of the banned duo Smith and Warner but he got into the shell by just blocking the delivering as he managed only 198 runs with only 1 half century. Shaun Marsh the veteran batsman in the team was expected to play the role of the senior batsman but his nervous starts to the innings was the reason behind his failures as he managed a paltry 183 runs with 1 half century. Australia needed Tim Paine the batsman but due to the captaincy pressure Tim Paine had a forgettable series as he managed only 174 runs with not a single half century.
Pat Cummins was batting at No.8 position and he batted like a perfect middle order batsman who was ticking all boxes with his impeccable technique as he scored 163 runs with 1 half century and it looked like he should have been promoted to No.4 or No.5 position.
Australia’s leading wicket taker was Nathan Lyon who took 21 scalps which included 2 five wicket hauls and he was making life difficult for batsman for the first 2 Test matches but later India made Lyon frustrate and started rotating strike on a consistent basis. Nathan Lyon went past the tally of Allan Donald Test wickets of 330.
Pat Cummins bowled his heart out in each and every Test match as he picked 14 wickets with 1 five wicket haul and he was troubling each and every batsman of India with his short ball barrage. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood pace duo of Australia wasn’t that threatening after new ball lost his shine as both the bowlers took 13 wickets each. Josh Hazlewood who is often being compared with legendary Glenn McGrath took the responsibility on his shoulders to provide breakthrough with new ball but he didn’t get support from Starc. The batsman of India were scoring runs against Starc and they were rotating strike on a consistent basis due to which Starc conceded a lot of extras and his line and lengths were not threatening.
Australia displayed a below par performance in this Test Series with no senior batsman guiding team. The pace troika of Australia: Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood failed to replicate their performance which they displayed against England in Ashes 2017-18. Australian batting line up didn’t post a single 400 runs on the scoreboard.
Stump Mic
Rishabh Pant and Tim Paine were involved in a funny banter with each other. Tim Paine suggested Pant that he should play in the BBL because of his attacking brand of cricket. Paine sledged Rohit: “If he hits a six then he would support Mumbai Indians in 2019 IPL”. Tim Paine and Virat Kohli were involved in a confrontation in the second Test match and the incident was so heated up that the umpires had to step in and the umpire Chris Gaffaney told both of them :“That you are Captains and this is not expected from you”.
Rishabh Pant had banter with the following players: Pant sledged Khawaja in first Test match by saying: “Everyone is not Pujara “, Pant encouraged Pat Cummins in first Test match by saying: “Common Pat hit a six”. Pant teased Paine in fourth Test by saying “There is a new guest and a temporary captain for Australia”.