India finally ended the wait of 71 years to register their first-ever Test series win in Australia on January 7, 2019. Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India dominated the Aussies down under, and ended up winning the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 as the fourth and the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground ended in a draw. India outclassed the Aussies in all facets, and registered a well-deserving series win.
The series started with India’s thrilling 31-run win in the first game at the Adelaide Oval. Cheteshwar Pujara turned out to be match winner for India with scores of 123 and 71 respectively. However, Australia made a comeback in the second game to win by 146 runs in Perth, and level the series by 1-1. However, Indian skipper Virat Kohli still made headlines with his knock of 123 runs in Perth. After that, India assured that they could not lose a series after they took a lead of 2-1 after winning the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, with Jasprit Bumrah shining with his match-winning bowling performance.
India won first-ever series down under with draw in Sydney
India had already retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a win in Melbourne, and now needed to either win the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground or end it in a draw, to clinch their first Test series in Australia. After that, Cheteshwar Pujara and young wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who was on his first tour down under, scored hundreds to ensure that Australia would not have a chance to win the Sydney Test. Batting first, India posted a mammoth 622/7 in the first innings.
Cheteshwar Pujara top scored with 193(373) runs, while Rishabh Pant went on to score his second Test hundred, remaining unbeaten on 159*(189) runs as India crossed the 600-run mark. In reply to India’s 622/7, Australia were bowled out for 300 runs as India enforced the follow-on. After that, Australia were 6/0 in the second session on day five before rain decided to play a spoilsport. Eventually, the match couldn’t continue, and ended in a draw as India finally had a moment of history with their first-ever Test series win down under.
