In a spectacular feat, India won the final test match at the Gabba in Brisbane to secure a series win thanks to a brilliant innings by wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant. He scored 89 runs and remained undefeated to see the team through.
The win is even more special as India did not have the services of their regular skipper Virat Kohli and had also made changes to their first 11 with several players injured. Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja and Vihari were all made to sit out for the match.
Talismanic batsman Cheteshwar Pujara also played his part, scoring his slowest 50 in his test career. This is the first defeat for the Aussies at the Gabba in 32 years.
India’s win in this final test match was set up by an impressive knock by opener Shubman Gill (91). Skipper Akinjya Rahane scored a quick-fire 24 of 22 balls.
Earlier in the day, Shubman Gill announced his arrival on the global stage with a sublime 91 while Cheteshwar Pujara surpassed all pain threshold barriers to keep India on course for a challenging 328-run target, taking the score to 183/3 at tea on the final day.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane (24 off 22 balls) looked good before Pat Cummins (2/22 in 17 overs) dismissed him to keep Australia in hunt during an engrossing session of a high quality Test match.
Gill on Tuesday showed he is there to rule world cricket despite missing out on a hundred as his disdainful treatment of Mitchell Starc will be remembered for a long time.
Pujara, on the other hand, saw Australian try out a menacing short ball tactic. He took a few on the helmet, a few more on the chest and other parts and a painful one on the knuckles to remain unfazed on 43 off 168 balls as India needed to either score 145 runs or bat out another 37 overs to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The first two sessions were about different school of batsmanship. If Pujara was ready to duck, sway and cop body blows off Hazlewood and Cummins, showing the art of survival, young Gill, on his first tour of Australia was ready to take the intimidatory tactic head on by bringing the pull shot out of his repertoire.
The duo during its 114-run stand showed that very contrasting styles can can co-exist without conflict even as fans of both genres can have a field day on social media arguing which is the more appropriate approach.
The fifth day pitch at the Gabba seemed to be pretty flat with not much help for the Australia pacers as Gill played a few cut shots and comfortably drove on the up.
With no lateral movement either in the air or off the pitch, Gill looked comfortable with his "playing beside the line of the ball" technique.
After eight fours and two sixes, Gill was finally caught on the wrong foot when Lyon changed his line to a one wide of off-stump and the result was an edge to the first slip.
The placid nature of the track also didn't help the Australians who kept a attacking field for the better part of the session.
Earlier in the tour, India had won the T20 series and lost the ODI series.
With PTI inputs