Australia reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a decade by defeating India 3-1 in a thrilling five-Test series that concluded Sunday.
In keeping with a pulsating series where momentum swung back and forth by the session, the fifth Test remained on a knife edge until the final hour when Australia eased to a six-wicket triumph.
Perhaps helped by Jasprit Bumrah’s inability to bowl because of a back injury, Travis Head and debutant Beau Webster guided Australia to their victory target of 162 runs with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 58.
The win in front of a packed house at a Sydney Cricket Ground bathed in pink for Glenn McGrath’s cancer charity also ensured Australia will defend their World Test Championship title against South Africa at Lord’s in June.
“It felt like it was kind of seesawing throughout the whole series so to finish it 3-1, to hold the trophy, is an amazing feeling,” said Australia skipper Pat Cummins.
“I’m immensely proud, I absolutely love playing with these guys and it’s been a lot of fun along the way as well.”
The match had been played on fast forward over the first two days with 15 wickets falling on Saturday and Australia removed four more in the first hour on a sunny Sunday morning to dismiss India for 157.
In the absence of Player of the Series Bumrah, his fellow pace bowlers Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj kept Australian nerves on edge by removing four top-order batters on the spicy wicket.
Krishna sent back opener Sam Konstas for 22, Marnus Labuschagne for six and Steve Smith for four before lunch, while Usman Khawaja was caught behind off Siraj for 41 after the break to leave Australia on 104-4.
Smith was particularly forlorn as he trudged back to the dressing room on 9,999 career runs, having been dismissed one run shy of becoming the fourth Australian to pass the 10,000-run milestone.
Head, who scored 34 not out, and Webster, who was unbeaten on 39, got the job done, however, the latter continued his nerveless debut by clubbing the winning runs with a straight four.
“It was a little frustrating but sometimes you have to respect your body,” said Bumrah, who took 32 wickets over the five matches before the back spasms struck Saturday.
“It was a great series. The whole series was well-fought and we were still in the match today. Our young players will take a lot of learnings for the future.”
Australia’s victory was all the more impressive for having been achieved despite a 295-run thumping in the series opener in Perth.
Batters on back foot
What Australia coach Andrew McDonald described as the “generational” bowling talent on both teams ensured that the batters were on the back foot for much of the series with big scores at a premium.
Only five centuries were scored, two of them by Head with 140 in Australia’s win in the day-night second Test in Adelaide and 152 in the drawn third Test in Brisbane.
The series felt like the end of an era for India, who had overpowered Australia on their last two tours having finally found a way to win Down Under in 2018-19.
All-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin retired mid-series and out-of-form captain Rohit Sharma was dropped for the fifth Test at his own request, while Virat Kohli failed to fire on what was surely his final Test tour of Australia.
In Bumrah, though, they had the best player on the field and while he was bowling, their hopes of a third straight triumph in Australia to keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for a fifth-straight series remained alive.
As England bowlers have discovered to their cost over the years, playing five Tests in Australia is tough and the 31-year-old’s herculean efforts finally caught up with him in Sydney.
In Rohit’s absence, Bumrah had captained the tourists to victory in the series opener in Perth and the momentum seemed to shift to India every time he was bowling.
Australia’s 19-year-old opener Sam Konstas took him on with ramp shots on debut in Melbourne and verbal barbs in Sydney to assure his place in Australia’s plans for next year’s Ashes.
Smith, who made his Test debut when Konstas was four, hit 140 in Australia’s dramatic 184-run win in Melbourne to probably assure him of one final battle with the English at the end of the year.
For all the bowling talent on display over the series, it was backup Australian paceman Scott Boland who was named Player of the Match in Sydney after finishing with figures of 6-45 for a 10-wicket match haul.