Australia broke the 10-year-long hiatus and successfully reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after conquering India at the Sydney Cricket Ground and thumping its authority in the fierce rivalry with a 3-1 series win.
Rohit Sharma, who decided to sit out in the final Test, saw his side with downcast eyes. Head coach Gautam Gambhir looked dejected as he saw India’s growing misery on the field. The emotions of the two stalwarts summed up the SCG Test.
For India, the three days were a mix of seeing dreams and then watching them crumble right before their eyes. The six-wicket defeat ended India’s hopes of reaching the World Test Championship final for the third successive time.
On the other hand, the triumph in Sydney booked Australia’s date with South Africa in the WTC final at the iconic Lord’s. The Baggy Greens will step into the venue with the ambition of successfully defending the WTC mace. The victory in Perth became a distant memory when India crumbled in the opening hour of Day 3. Australia captain Pat Cummins forced out an edge from Ravindra Jadeja, who tried to cover his line but failed miserably. The Australian skipper nipped one back in to clean up Washington Sundar for 12(43). Jasprit Bumrah, who left the field for scans and later returned to the dressing room on Day 2, stepped up on the crease to lead his side with the bat. He straightaway cleared his intentions by going after the bowlers. He went for a wild swing on the first ball but was eventually outdone by Scott Boland. Before wrapping up India’s innings, Boland continued to haunt the visitors with his fiery spells. He lured Mohammed Siraj to give away an outside edge to Usman Khawaja.
Just a ball later, he clicked 133.1 kph and got enough moment to see the ball crash into the top of the leg stump. Bumrah went for a wild swing but completely missed the line of the ball. His dismissal saw India bundle out on 157, setting a target of 162 runs for Australia to chase down. Australia had a paltry 162-run target to chase down, and Sam Konstas went straight after a Bumrah-less Indian bowling attack. The stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah’s involvement with the ball was a concern after he suffered back spasms on Day 2. There were initial hopes about the prospect of seeing him deliver with the new ball after he came out to bat.
However, the hopeful eyes were soon disappointed when Bumrah was nowhere to be seen on the field. In Bumrah’s absence, Mohammed Siraj spearheaded the attack and bowled in tandem with Prasidh Krishna. With a shining kookaburra in his hand, the dream started by the Indian team faded away. The pressure played tricks on Siraj’s mind and eventually got the better of him. He forgot his line and lengths and gave away 13 runs in the opening over. It seemed the pressure also caught up to Prasidh Krishna, who also wavered in his consistency and gave away 13 runs in just the second over. With Australia running high on momentum and Sam Konstas dominating the proceedings, India needed some inspiration from its established pace duo. The motivation came from Prasidh Krishna, who reduced Australia down to three wickets at the stroke of lunch. It all started with Konstas miscuing his shot to Washington Sundar. Marnus Labuschagne casually edged it away to Yashasvi Jaiswal, while Steven Smith fell short of entering the 10,000 Test runs club.
In front of his home crowd, Smith stood one shot away from celebrating a massive milestone in his career. However, Prasidh extracted extra bounce from the surface, forcing Smith to commit to the shot. Smith looked helpless while fending off the rising delivery, eventually slicing it to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who dived from the third slip to take a stunning catch. Jaiswal sprinted to celebrate while Prasidh punched the air in jubilation over the crucial wicket. As the game progressed in the second session, wickets in a flurry was what India needed, but the moment never came. Siraj lured an edge from Usman Khawaja, but it wasn’t enough to push India’s case for victory. The bowlers kept at it, but Travis Head and Beau Webster held firm in their stance while taking Australia closer to a famous win at the SCG and in the context of BGT.
The body language of Indian players slowly dropped as the hosts, with beaming smiles, cruised towards glory. Debutant Webster finished it in style by finding the boundary rope, bringing the BGT back to Australia. Head and Webster returned unbeaten with scores of 34(38) and 39(34).
(Brief Scores: India: 185 & 157 (Rishabh Pant 61, Yashasvi Jaiswal 22, Scott Boland 6/45) vs Australia 181 & 162/4 (Travis Head 34*, Beau Webster 39*; Prasidh Krishna 3-65).Â
