On this day: India breach fortress Gabba for historic Test series win vs Australia

On
this day, in 2021, Team India under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane defeated
Australia at their fortress Gabba, Brisbane to win their second successive
Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.

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Heading
into Brisbane Test the four-Test series was tied at 1-1, with Australia winning at Adelaide and India bouncing back at Melbourne. India held Australia to draw in the third
Test in Sydney. India had never won at the Gabba and Australia had not lost a
Test at this venue since 1988.

But
India brought Australia’s vanity to the knee by handing them a three-wicket
defeat and clinching the Test series 2-1. 

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Moments
before India registered an epic draw in the third Test against Australia at the
SCG, skipper Tim Paine threatened India to beat at the Gabba.
He was engaged in a verbal duel with Ravichandran Ashwin. “Can’t wait for
you to reach Gabba, Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin),” Paine said, thinking that
their invincible record at the venue would keep India at bay and Australia
would win the series.

But
history was about to be created and India did that by breaking Australia’s
unbeaten run at the venue. Paine’s arrogance was ruined by a motivated Indian
team, which was missing captain Virat Kohli. But Indian boys were ready to show
Australia what they were up to.

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Before
the match, India refused to play the fourth Test at Gabba which brought flak
towards the Indian team. The injury woes in the Indian ranks only compounded
the problems for the visitors as pundits started questioning if Ajinkya Rahane
and boys’ reluctance to play at the Gabba was indeed due to strict quarantine
rules or an attempt to avoid a defeat.

India’s greatest Test series win

India
were missing Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari in the third Test and on the
first morning of the final game, it was clear that Jasprit Bumrah and
Ravichandran Ashwin weren’t available. But unheralded Washington Sundar, T
Natarajan, and Shardul Thakur showed it is not always about the experience and
at times it is also about the urge to punch above the weight.

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Chasing
328 to win in the fourth innings on a Gabba wicket without Kohli needed more
than the ability to bat on. As far as cricketing sense goes, one can say, you
need a century from at least one batter if you want to chase such a big target.
But this Indian team accepted the challenge thrown at them by Paine and showed
Australia why they should prevail over them on that occasion.

Youngsters’ show

Shubman
Gill’s 91, Rishabh Pant’s 89, Cheteshwar Pujara’s 56 are some of the notable
performances, but Washington Sundar’s 22 and Ajinkya Rahane’s 24 have the same
weight if you look at the context of their innings. In the course of the final
innings, Pujara received body blows to keep Australian pacers at check and was
termed “The Warrior” of the Indian team. But the determination he
showed after being hit, was one for the ages.

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This
Gabba win helped India retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against all odds, and
this will definitely go down as one of the greatest Test series win ever
recorded in cricketing history.

Bundled out for 36 at Adelaide 

The
team was bundled out for 36 at Adelaide in the first Test. This loss saw
pundits predict a 4-0 whitewash for India. Kohli’s departure citing paternity
leave further dented India’s chance, but Rahane was ready to lead India to
create history.

Rahane
rose to the challenge and went on to play a match-winning knock at Melbourne as
the visitors levelled the series in the second Test.

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Pulled off a historic draw at SCG

After
Melbourne Test, came Sydney. For the major part of the Sydney Test, the Indian
team found itself on the backfoot and not many gave them a chance of walking
away with a draw. During the Sydney Test, the Indian pace duo of Mohammed Siraj
and Jasprit Bumrah also had to endure racial slurs from the Australian crowd,
and many believed this might distract the visiting side.

However,
on the final day, this Indian line-up produced one of the most famous
rear-guard actions and the side went away with a scrapping draw. Needing more
than 400 runs to win, it was again Pant and Pujara who were at their sublime
best. The left-handed Pant hit a quickfire 97 and now if you look at it, who
knows what could have happened if he hadn’t got out to Nathan Lyon.

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Pujara
and Pant departed, but then came out Hanuma Vihari and Ashwin. Batting out 258
balls with a fierce home team throwing everything it had up its sleeves is no
mean feat. But the Indian duo of Vihari and Ashwin stood ground and managed to
do just that as they eked out a draw at the SCG. Batting out 131 overs — the
most India have batted in the fourth innings of a Test since 1980 — showed
exactly what Ashwin meant when he spoke about playing like true warriors at the
end of the fourth day’s play at the SCG.

A
hamstring injury notwithstanding, Vihari hit an unbeaten 161-ball 23 while
Ashwin hit 39 off 128 balls as the two defended away any hopes Australia had of
registering a win. Post the Sydney Test, Ashwin’s wife Prithi revealed that the
spin spearhead was tremendous.

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There
is no doubt that this 2020-21 series will go down as one of the greatest, but
looking at what the visiting team had to endure during this three-month tour,
it is safe to say this side has registered its name in the history books as the
“toughest bunch of men” to ever take the field for India.