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After the wobble in the second test at Perth there was a real danger of another away series slipping away. But Virat Kohli and his team deserve full credit for tenaciously fighting back and beating Australia comprehensively at their backyard and creating history.
India, known long as a land of mysterious spinners, now has the most potent fast-bowling attack in the world. That a bowler of Bhuveshwar Kumar’s calibre does not find a place in the playing 11 is proof of that. Thanks to Cheteshwar Pujara, India also batted Australia out of the series. Pujara batted for an astonishing 1,258 deliveries for his 521 runs in the series. That’s an average of 52.4 overs per test!
Cynics would say that India’s task of beating Australia was made easy by the absence of their two top batsmen – Steve Smith and David Warner – both of whom have an excellent record against India. Though there is some merit in the argument, Australia did field its best bowling attack and the Indian batsmen handled them with aplomb. In fact it was the same Australian bowling attack that thrashed England this time last year. That their best bowler Mitchell Starc did not manage a single ‘fifer’ all series tells the story. Besides Smith and Warner missing out is hardly India’s fault as Sunil Gavaskar pointed out.
Coach Ravi Shastri, indulging in hyperbole (and who can blame him), called this series victory greater than India’s maiden World Cup triumph in 1983. He justified his statement by saying that this series victory came in the “truest format of the game” – test cricket – and he has a point there.
Is this India’s best ever series win abroad? The jury’s still out on that one. Perhaps, the twin-series win against West Indies and England in 1971 ranks higher. For Australia it is a period of transition, similar to the one it went through in the mid-1980s. It came out of that period to dominate world cricket for the next decade-and-a half in the 1990s. Will the present team take a leaf out of Alan Border and Bob Simpson’s book?
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