India breach the Gabbatoir; win the Border-Gavaskar series 2-1

Test cricket, bloody hell. There was an ad running on the Indian stream of the series throughout the Test series, which wȯuld’ve gone oblivious to the ear. “Hope is a dangerous thing”, it kept repeating. Yet, on days like this, maybe it is not. Recency bias may tell us we are getting carried away, but not many Test cricket wins would rank higher in Indian Test cricket history than The Gabba 2021.

Pant or Saha was the debate before the series began. Rishabh Pant has just put that chatter to rest. Yet again, proving to be the tormentor-in-chief for Australia, the Kangaroos had little answer to Pant’s head-on approach. Yes, a couple of deliveries may have gone past his outside edge, his fascinating battle with Lyon adding to the final session nerves of an onlooker, but at the end of the day, it was the wicket-keeper from Delhi who had the final laugh. Surely, we will soon see a “Pant Marg” signboard popping up in the national capital.

It rained while the sun shone, almost as if the Gods did not want the rain to ruin perhaps the greatest ending to a Test series in cricketing history. Despite all the blunting throughout the day, the game was still in balance with India needing more than a run-a-ball with eight overs to go. Not an easy task with the Australian seamers steaming in with the red Kookaburra in their hand. A hook shot with one leg raised, almost as if throwing us all back to the Vivian Richards school of playing the short ball, Washington Sundar kicked off an assault that left the Australians in a daze. Within the blink of an eye, the Pant-Sundar partnership had raced to 53, wiping off the runs required to just 10. Barring a couple of nervy moments, the target had been reached, and the Gabbatoir breached for the first time since November 1988.

Just like in Sydney, it was the calmness of Pujara which made the run-chase possible. Copping a barrage of bouncers, the run-machine from Saurashtra stood like a wall. A couple of visits from the physio, the back of his helmet will have a few marks on it, but Pujara’s gritty half-century allowed India the luxury for the assault in the final hour. It feels like a long time ago that Shubman Gill produced a classy knock of 91, also at the receiving end of the short-ball treatment.

Team India have used 20 players. Lost their captain after the first Test, their entire first-choice bowling unit to injuries, but have kept finding new heroes. The entire Indian bowling lineup put together had played lesser matches than the number of Test matches played at The Gabba. Yet, it was they who out-bowled their Aussie counterparts in their own den. If ever Test cricket needed an advertisement, there could be no better candidate than the Border-Gavaskar series 2020-21. Taking home the Test series 2-1, the fitting end to the Australian summer for an Indian team that has refused to die down amidst all the adversity.