Heads Up for Land Down Under: Aussies Don’t Win the Series, But Take the Trophy
Heads Up for Land Down Under: Aussies Don’t Win the Series, But Take the Trophy
On a tense final day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia regained the Border-Gavaskar trophy regardless of the draw at the Third Test. The Aussies fell short of 4 wickets of the third Test win. Indians trailed by 209 runs with 4 wickets while Australia agreed to call a halt with 4 overs remaining when it became clear the concrete results could not be reached.
Boxing Day test: Indians Roll With the Punches
India was in trouble when the second innings began with Australia making for 3 early wickets. The first innings were good. Century makers Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli notched up 48 and 55 respectively to help India to stand up to the Aussie assault. Mitchell Johnson (2 for 38) took out Cheteshwar Pujara at 21 but the Indian skipper MS Dhoni formed an effective partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin to take India to a better position.
The Series Win: The Intended Goal
According to Harris, the primary objective for Australia was to secure a series win. "Today's disappointing, we wanted to win the series, that's how we started out the day," Harris said. "The question's going to be 'did we bat too long?' No we didn't, we wanted to win the series, we didn't want to give India a sniff. They had to draw the series to retain the trophy, we had to win it. The wicket was pretty good today, we didn't want to give India a sniff. They chase big totals - as you saw in Adelaide - pretty well. All in all, a draw's a draw, but we wanted to win the series.”
India’s Not So Memorable Moments
Aussie pacers kept the game going with India at 3 for 19. Harris took out Shikhar Dhiwan and Johnson had Lokesh Rahul out at only 1. Rahane and Kohli met with a better fate. Australia’s Chris Rogers dropped Rahane when he had only notched up 22 runs and Nathan Lyon couldn’t quite make it when Kohli experienced a near runout. To give Indians their due, the Australians were a determined lot. The match was an exciting draw from the start to the finish. While Shaun Marsh made it to 99 (not quite the 100), Indians still had to chase a target of 384 in 70 overs.
Final Test Awaited
The Final Test will be held in Sydney from January 6th onwards. Kohli secured a second 50 plus score which was a highlight for the Indians. For the Aussies, the hero was Johnson who managed to take out Pujara. With the final test yet to come, cricket fans will surely be awaiting this round with equal excitement.
About the Border Gavaskar Trophy
This is a Test cricket series played between the Indian and Australian teams. The matches so far have been amazing displays of sportsmanship and brilliance. The Test series is played through the futures tour programme of the International Cricket Council. The series is named after Aussie cricketer Allan Border and India’s Sunil Gavaskar, both of which have scored over 10,000 test runs apart from being captains of their respective teams. Both players have also held world records for most number of runs in Test match cricket.
