With epic Brisbane victory, Indian cricket team win series against Australia 2-1 to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy

The Indian men's cricket team and support staff at the Gabba in Brisbane after winning the Border Gavaskar Trophy, on January 19.

There were debuts, a lot of firsts, a great many dropped catches, but most importantly, a serious show of grit, resilience and self-belief shown in the India-Australia Test series, especially by what was at the end of it all an injury-stricken Indian team with an inexperienced bowling attack. India pulled off an amazing 2-1 series victory.

Fans, Twitterati and pundits have not in recent memory sung as much praise for the Test team as today. If there was hailing a Siraj for being the leader of the pack soon after his maiden Test, there was praise for the Viharis and Pujaras for being literal rocks against an onslaught of bouncers.

The scorecard at the Gabba in Brisbane ended with India winning by achieving a 300+ target with three wickets to spare, but it was the young turks who stole the show in terms of run getting; Rishabh Pant emerged as the highest run-getter (274 runs) for India in the series, followed closely by Cheteshwar Pujara (271), yet with a remarkable difference in their strike rates which is only indicative of the nature of the Test format.

Commentators noted that Australia, in sessions that were slipping away from them, resorted to short-pitched bowling targeted at the body, a sign of frustration. It is in such sessions, apart from some bold stroke play by the likes of debutant opener Shubhman Gill that India really shone to eventually seal the series.

Much has already been written about the heroics of a squad that came back from being dismissed for a paltry 36 in Adelaide (the first Test) to winning in Melbourne, pulling off an unimaginable draw in Sydney, and then today. But the most important takeaway for fans of the game amidst the euphoria is that the gentleman’s game prevailed over the ravages of the pandemic, even amidst strict bio-bubbles, harsh quarantines and lack of match practice.

What the contests have left viewers with at the end of the day is also the beauty of the longest format of the game. And in that the fact that the player of the series award went to the powerhouse bowler of the losing team, Pat Cummins, and deservedly so perhaps.