Why is this Aus vs Ind Test Series so Special?

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy that just concluded today is a series to be remembered for tooo many reasons.

Ok, first things first, let's take a look over odds against India before starting the test series.

1. This series is in AUS.

2. VK will only play the first test and then go home.

3. Rohit is in India for personal reasons and don't know when he joins the team. (Joined the team in third test)

4. Injury concerns - Ishant Sharma (senior most bowler), KL Rahul (the man in form) are out of series and Jaddu minorly injured in the last T20 match, is not available for first test

The series started...

The first test, India started pretty decent with an advantage of over 50 runs after the first innings but everything gone waste in just an hour of third day session that resulted India 36 all down in their second innings, which is the lowest ever innings total for India and subsequently lost the match. Totally annihilated by the Aussie pace trio, it is the worst start to expect for a series.

Every analyst and senior player expected a white wash as VK too went home after first test.

Second test, Cap went to Ajinkya to lead the team. Pure class innings from Jinx in the first innings aided the the match to be mostly one sided from the start and India won it clean.

By the end of second match and again injury concerns started, Shami & Umesh are injured and need to be replaced but no more experienced bowlers on the bench. So, need to be replaced by rookies.

Coming to third test, (Rohit Sharma arrived in team - only advantage) Injuries concerns just worsen, by the completion of both teams first innings, Bumrah and Jaddu are injured.

It's been mostly equally driven by both for first 3 days but by the end of fourth day .. AUS gave India a target of 407 and India were 98/2. It's always difficult to bat on 5th day of a test match as the pitch acts crazily in the last day mostly and the world's most experienced & best fast bowling attack is against u. So leave winning, let alone drawing the match was felt impossible as the promising Jadeja is already injured.

Then on the fifth day, with 5 more wickets to take on, Aus looked dangerous by the end of second session. Disastrously in the same second session, Vihari leg was injured very badly and he can barely run now (u can't get a running aid in test matches) but he had no option to leave the crease as there are no batsmen after him and Ashwin who looked a bit settled at the other end, after few min, got a 140+ kmph bowl hit at his abdomen and the pain can be seen in his eyes, but he didn't choose to leave either.

 They both did the unthinkable. Against all the odds, they showed  the real meaning of the resilience & determination. They just got rooted there at the crease for the whole third session with no wicket fell until the end of the match. Therefore, giving a hard fought draw for the exhausted team India.

Now in place of Bumrah, debutant Natarajan is taken into team for the fifth test. And the experience of the pace trios of both teams can be compared by -1013 wickets vs 13 wickets (combined). And the venue of the match is GABBA (Aka Brisbane) where the Aussies have never lost a test match in the last 32 years.

The series is 1-1 now. Now starts the fourth and the final test of the series.

The decider starts with Aus batting first and India did fine job restricting them to 369 as at one point they looked like going 400+.

Indian first innings started, since there was no one-clear-great-knock from any top order batsmen but only a mere 20 to 50 score from each, India were at 186/6 at one stage. Then came the bowler with only one international test played in his life, Shardul Thakur, to the crease. With the debutant all rounder Washington Sundar at the other end. Thakur was especially severe on, who looked as the most dangerous bowler throughout the series & curent top test bowler, Pat Cummins, hitting 6s & 4s with ease. Along with Sundar they made a thumping 123 run partnership for the 7th wicket. Which helped India to only trial by just 30 odd runs before the second innings.

Coming to Aus second innings, Siraj and Thakur applied breaks whenever there seemed like a good partnership building up and restricted the team less than 300. And the drizzles on fourth day, made Indian second innings impossible to continue with not even 2 overs could be bowled.

Now the final day of the series, India need  330+ runs and AUS needed 10 wickets to win the series. And also there was a possibility that Varuna Deva can end this a draw if he is willing to. And if the match drawn, India can retain the trophy as the winners of the previous border-Gavaskar trophy '18-'19.

Though the day started with a quick wicket of Rohit, Indian batsmen never looked intent-less, Shubman Gill and Pujara built a good foundation to set the course for at least a draw if not a win. And later Pant took the responsibility of staying until end, onto his shoulders after the top 4 batsmen are down.

Cut to 15 overs remaining of the match, India looked comfortable with almost 70 runs behind & 6 wickets in hand. Aus captain, Paine, now, not taking any chances, bought his dangerous bowlers Cummins and Lyon into attack at both ends. Cummins indeed gave the result quickly with wicket of Mayank Agarwal and that bought Sundar into crease. India with 5 wickets at hand, slowed down their scoring pace as the duo bowled every ball like their last ball.

With 8 overs remaining, India needed 50 runs needed to win and drawing the match seemed like the only best possibility for Australia now. With required run rate going over 6, Sundar took the opportunity to run the score board. He started with a 6 in the Cummins' over and then a 4 in next bowl, with 11 runs in that over. From then the Pant-Sundar duo didn't lose the pace. Though couple of wickets fell in the middle, Rishabh Pant, the hero of the day & man of the match, made no mistake driving the team home with 3 overs remaining. 

By the end Pant stood 89 unbeaten and this innings will surely be remembered as one of his best innings in his life and definitely gave the hope for audience to see many of this kind from his bat in the near future.

Finally, The fortress is breached after 32 long years and the team India lifted the cup with all the glory.

This series will be remembered as one of the worst and the best series of team India for all the very reasons. This victory is a clear sign of how the new gen team India gonna be. We can surely tell it'll be amazing to watch.