Dharamsala: Dalai Lama’s hometown is meant to spread the message of peace, but there was anything but peace even after India regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy here Tuesday winning the fourth Test against Australia by eight wickets. It meant India had won the series 2-1 and in the process recorded their seventh successive series victory under Virat Kohli, not to forget Ajinkya Rahane, who as stand-in captain here led the hosts to a memorable win.
But then acrimony, which started with Aussie skipper Steve Smith’s ‘brain fade’ in Bangalore, continued to spill. One can be sure that next time, India tour Australia, they will certainly be in for some tough times both on and off the field. Emotions have certainly boiled over in the just-concluded series and there has been no dearth of controversies. And Kohli added fuel to the fire by openly stating ‘Australians are no longer my friends’ as the battle of words, allegations and counter allegations once more took centre stage.
Smith may have apologised for calling Murali Vijay a ‘f…… cheat’ on the fourth day of the game, but he was quick to point out that the Indian board had not been too kind too him on the field. Smith said that the BCCI had failed to follow the ICC guidelines of having the stump-mic muted during players’ arguments. “Everything was done to make us appear as the villains in the piece,” Smith has been quoted as saying by a section of the Australian media, something which he never said while talking to Indian journalists.
But forgetting all the non-cricketing skirmishes, this was one of the most hard-fought series in recent times. It is this tense contest between bat and ball which make Test matches so riveting and there were plenty of such moments in the series. India won because they had players standing up to deliver in place of their out of form skipper who just contributed 46 in the five innings that he played.
Australia and Smith would definitely consider themselves unlucky… for a side that came into the series with most ‘pundits’ predicting a 4-0 victory for the hosts, they had virtually pulled off a miracle. Had any of their other batsmen been as solid as their skipper, Smith’s three centuries and 499 runs would not have gone to waste.
Australia came into the final day with India needing 87 runs to win. They got that easily with Rahul (51 n o, 76b, 9×4) and Rahane (38 n o, 27b, 4×4, 2×6) putting on an unbeaten 70 runs for the third wicket. The Aussies grew a bit pesky when Vijay was dismissed by Pat Cummins and Cheteshwar Pujara was run out in the same over, courtesy a direct throw from Glenn Maxwell. But then that was the last hurrah for the Australians as Rahane finished off the game with couple of spunky shots off Cummins – a six over mid-wicket and a four through cover. The job was done.
The series will be memorable for India, because they won it without three of the top order – Kohli, Vijay and Rahane not firing properly. Every time, India were under pressure, they responded with passion and guts – and that took out the sting off the Aussie tail.
The series will also be remembered for the feats of two. Umesh Yadav picked up 17 wickets – his best haul in a Test series, but more importantly made the Aussies hop and jump in the crease with his pace and bounce.
And then finally ‘Sir Jadeja’. He started the home season under the shadow of Ashwin, but ended it in a blaze of glory emerging a real quality Test all-rounder. “It’s just that I have become a more positive player now,” Jadeja said while receiving the man of the series award. However, his growth has simply been phenomenal.
The players will now break for the cash-rich IPL where the RPS (Smith skipper) and RCB (Kohli captain) will definitely attract huge attention. But till July when India visit Sri Lanka for three Tests, they remain ‘King’ of the Test world.
Kudos to them.
Agencies