New Delhi. The much-awaited Border-Gavaskar Trophy is starting between India and Australia after two days. The Indian team is struggling with injuries to its players before this series. Many Indian fans are a little worried about this. This is the same situation as it was 3 years ago. Then captain Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, R. Players like Ashwin were not playing for various reasons. When the confidence of the fans was shaking, the young stars of the team played in such a way that history changed. India returned after winning the series 2-1. The batting of debutant Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur played a big role in bringing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from Australia.
A 4-match Test series was played between India and Australia in 2020-21. After three matches, both the teams were tied at 1-1. The fourth match of the series was played in Brisbane. Australia batted first and scored 369 runs. In response, India lost its 6 wickets for 186 runs. India was still almost half the score of Australia and the tail was on the ground. Hopes were beginning to collapse. Then two youths of India took charge. He was recognized as a bowler, but showed such a hand in batting that the Australian bowlers went on the back foot. Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur, playing their debut match, made a partnership of 123 runs on the dangerous pitch of Brisbane. With this partnership of the seventh wicket, India’s score increased from 186 runs for 6 wickets to 309 runs for 6 wickets. By the time Shardul was out after scoring 67 runs and Sundar after scoring 62 runs, India had returned to the match. Thanks to this partnership, India scored 336 runs. Although Team India fell 33 runs behind Australia’s first innings score, it was not the difference it could have been. At some places there was a danger of falling behind by more than 100 runs and at some places the difference was only 33 runs.
After this, when Shardul Thakur came on the field for bowling, he also took the wickets of 4 Australian batsmen. This time he got the support of Siraj instead of Sundar. Mohammad Siraj took 5 wickets. As a result, Australia collapsed for 294 runs. India got the target of 328 runs to win.
Achieving the target of 328 runs in the fourth innings in Brisbane was like climbing Everest. The task seemed impossible, but Sundar and Shardul had given courage for it. In the fourth innings, young Shubhman Gill took charge and played an excellent inning of 91 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara (56 runs in 211 balls) stood like a wall while Rishabh Pant played an unbeaten inning of 89 runs. Sundar (22) supported Pant well this time. Both of them took the team from 265 to 318 runs. Sundar was out after reaching the target but Rishabh returned only after making the team win.
Tags: India vs Australia, Rishabh Pant, Team india, Washington Sundar
FIRST PUBLISHED: November 19, 2024, 08:03 IST