Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 | India made history at the Gabba by defeating Australia | Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 Winner
Once in a while, there comes a match which reignites the world of cricket with moments that are simply unbelievable, yet have the power to humble the Mightiest of all. Moments that will be written down, not in numbers but in memories. The last series was that moment for Team India.
The Indian Test squad, in the past few years, has shown great strength. Apart From being the NO.1 Team, since October 2016 and gluing their spot for another 3 and half years till May 2020, the indian tribe achieved many Milestones. They, under the leadership of Kohli, won a Test in each of the SENA country. They quashed Austrailia at their home in 2019 and thus became the first Asian side to do so!
After the clobbering of Australia then, the Australian supporters claimed the series win as a luck by chance. They expressed that the indian side was only able to defend the Border Gavaskar trophy in Australia due to the absence of the their top batsman David Warner and Steve Smith who were then among the top 5 batsman according to the ICC Test Rankings. What they seem to forgot is the Australian Bowling Lineup. Though the Warner and Smith’s unavailability put a dent in Australian team, The main challenge for Team India was to face the Host’s Bowling Attack which included Pacers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummings And Josh Hazlewood. Kohli’s Side triumphed then.
Winning a Test series against Australia in Australia was a first then.
The India Tour of Australia, 2020-21 started with the Australian winning the ODIs with 2-1. The Indian side had put a very sloppy show in the first two ODIs, whereas the Australian were having one of their best days performance wise. But after learning from the mistakes the Indians bounced back with full force and registered a victory in the third.
They continued their momentum in the T20s and won the first two matches and hence the series.
In the First Test, the unreliability of the Indian Batting was exposed. They scored 280 runs in-total in both the innings with a second inning score of just 36, with not a single batsman crossing the double figure in second inning. They had to do some serious thinking if they wanted to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
To make the matter even worse, Shami was ruled out of Series with an injury and Kohli was already scheduled for a return after taking a paternity leave. Ajinkya Rahane now had to perform in immense pressure of 0-1 score and the loss of the top players.
WHAT A WIN!!! Yessssss. To everyone who doubted us after Adelaide, stand up and take notice. Exemplary performance but the grit and determination was the standout for us the whole way. Well done to all the boys and the management. Enjoy this historic feat lads. Cheers 👏🏼🇮🇳 @BCCI pic.twitter.com/CgWElgOOO1
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 19, 2021
In the Second test, India dominated the major part of the game. They restricted the hosts for 195 and 200 in their respective first and second innings and with help of Rahane’s century they scored 326 in the first innings and won the match with 8 wickets after scoring 70 runs in their second innings.
Umesh Yadav met with an injury in the second Test of Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21:
After the second Test Win, Harsha Bhogle tweeted “ This will go down as one of India’s most memorable test wins. Winning a test in Australia is always special but to do so given the wounds of Adelaide and the absence of key players makes it one for the ages”.
The Third Test was a draw after it was clear that the best India could do was to stop the fall of wickets. The Injured duo of Ashwin and Vihari faced the pace attack and dragged Indian innings to a striking 131 overs. The India’s injury crisis leaped.
Bumrah, Ashwin, Vihari and Jadeja were all ruled out from the fourth test of Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21:
With Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar kumar already recovering from their respective injuries in the IPL and Hardik Pandya omitted from the test squad to give him some time to recover from his back injury, the total absence of indian players due to injury increased to 9. The Indian Bowling Attack was Completely Ruled out.
The Finale was at Gabba. A fortress for Australia. They have never lost a test at Gabba in the last 32 years. Experts were already betting on Australia to come out on top.
Australia scored 369 runs in ghe first innings. Indians were down for 186-6. The debutant Washington and Thakur then handled and counter-attacked the pacers with pure brilliance. Their 123 Run stand helped india to reach 336. This effort garnered praise from all corners, including the likes of Virat Kohli, Ricky Ponting, Sanjay Manjrekar and many more. They each scored a fifty and let the Day 3 of the test end in balanced state.
On the 4th day, the less than 4 test experienced bowling lineup was ready to face the most dreadful Batsman on their fortress. Warner, Smith and Labuschagne were all in-form and experienced Juggernauts. And what they did was outstanding. They turned the match in fovour of india, by restricting them to 294. Mohammad Suraj took a maiden five-for and Thakur took the 4 wickets haul. Sundar got the wicket of Smith. Again the New-comers proved what they can do if given the chance even if they get that chance against a team like Australia at their home and in a situation where almost all the experienced players were ruled out. They proved that they are capable of taking 20 wickets, they proved that the absence of the original veterans Bumrah, Shami, Ashwin, Jadeja, kumar, Sharma, Yadav and Pandya didn’t affected the outcome of the bowlers.
India had to chase 328. 23 overs if day 4 were left. The highest target ever chased at Brisbane was of 236, Seven decades ago. The Indian side had a huge score infront of them. There was nothing we thought that could make it more hard. But we were so wrong. Then arrived the Arch Enemy of cricket itself, The Rain. The game stopped after 1.4 overs of indian batting.
India were on 4/0 after day 4. They had to chase 324 on the Day 5 against the combined might of the bowlers and the Clouds.
Shubham gill, Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara stepped in and outsmarted the bowlers. Gill smashed a crucial 91 when the fellow opener, Rohit Sharma was dismissed by Cummins. Then came Pujara. His plan was simple, to tire out the bowlers while Gill played his knock from the ither end. After he lost wicket with Rahane going out in quick succession with 24 of 22, Pant was promoted to number 5. He scored 89 unbeaten and finished the game with a boundary with 2 overs in spare.
There were no heros who single-handedly won the game for India. There were no big run partnership of two plares who won the game for India. It was a team effort. Each player was crucial for this victory. It was the Sundar and Thakur’s knock on Day 3. It was the Natrajans effort to take down the roaring Labuschagne and Wade in the first innings, which he deserves a lot of praise for since he came with the indian squad as a net bowler. It was the Gill, Pant and Pujara’s effort to handle the Australian bowlers. It was the series debutant Mohammad Sirajs Five-for that took Australia by surprise. Officially the player of the player of the series title went to Par Cummings, which was well deserved, but the Heroes India found through the journey, Those will be moments that will be written down
The Triumph of India after the insulting loss of Adelaide with losing top quality players in each match to various injuries will always be momentous chapter in Test cricket history