Australia ended India’s decade-long dominance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a six-wicket win in the final Test in Sydney to clinch the series 3-1. The win marked Australia’s first series win over India in ten years and booked their place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa at Lord’s in June.
Chasing 162 for victory, Usman Khawaja led the innings with a steady 41 at the top, before Travis Head (34*) and debutant Beau Webster (39*) saw Australia through in just 27 overs. Delivered home. Prasidh Krishna (3/65) and Mohammad Siraj (1/69) picked up wickets for India but failed to sustain the pressure, leading to an easy chase for the hosts.
Earlier, India was bundled out for 157 runs in its second innings. Rishabh Pant’s heroic 61 was the only bright spot in an otherwise disappointing batting performance. Scott Boland played a brilliant spell taking 6 wickets for 45 runs and captain Pat Cummins added 3 wickets for 44 runs to bowl India out within 40 overs. Reflecting on his performance, Boland said, “It hasn’t happened in a while to win 3-1 against India. I’m happy to play whenever I can, and the last few weeks have been fantastic.
Jasprit Bumrah, who was adjudged Man of the Series for his brilliant 32-wicket haul, missed the last innings due to back spasms, leaving a huge gap in India’s attack. A disappointed Bumrah admitted, “A bit disappointing, but sometimes you have to respect your body. The series was hard-fought, and while we didn’t win, the youngsters gained a lot of experience.
Australian captain Pat Cummins praised his team’s effort, saying, “Unreal. Very few of us did not own this trophy. This has been a special series. We needed to step up to beat India, and everyone defended. This will go down as one of my favorite Test series.
The loss dashed India’s hopes of reaching the WTC finals, as they finished third with a PCT of 50.00. The defeat exposed India’s over-reliance on Bumrah and their batting weaknesses, raising questions about the team’s future strategy.
