India maintained their vice-like grip on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 2-1 series victory against Australia after the fourth and final test ended in a stalemate.<\/p>\n
The icing on the cake was a place in the final of the World Test Championship against Australia in June albeit with a little favour from New Zealand earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
Kane Williamson helped New Zealand pull off a last-ball thriller in Christchurch, dashing Sri Lanka’s hopes of making the WTC final with a 2-0 series sweep against Tim Southee’s men.<\/p>\n
It was India’s 16th consecutive test series victory on home soil and they have held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2016-17.<\/p>\n
India had put themselves in an unbeatable position with a first-innings lead of 91 but their chances of a third victory in the series hinged on an Australia collapse.<\/p>\n
But the pitch at Narendra Modi Stadium, where only 21 wickets fell in five days, did not deteriorate as much as their spinners would have liked.<\/p>\n
Travis Head smashed 90 and forged a 139-run stand with Marnus Labuschagne, who made 63 not out, to steer Australia to safety before the teams agreed on a draw.<\/p>\n
“It was a really hard fought series,” India coach Rahul Dravid said.<\/p>\n
“Australia is a very good team. They’ve come here well prepared, they are the number one side in the world.<\/p>\n
“To be able to compete with them, to be able to get the better of them, even though it was in our conditions… I couldn’t be prouder.”<\/p>\n
With a draw looming in Ahmedabad, Dravid said they were following the match in Christchurch.<\/p>\n
“Nice also to make the World Test Championship final.<\/p>\n
“It’s not easy. Over two years, you got to produce results home and away.”<\/p>\n
India milked their home advantage against Australia and rolled out raging turners that suited their spinners.<\/p>\n
Each of the first three tests ended inside three days, prompting criticism of the pitches where spinners from both sides ruled the roost.<\/p>\n
The pitch in Ahmedabad proved another extreme where only 21 wickets fell in five days before the contest petered out to a dull draw.<\/p>\n
It has been a tough tour for Australia, who were laid low by a series of injury and other issues.<\/p>\n
Quick Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Cameron Green missed the first two tests with finger injuries, while paceman Josh Hazlewood returned home without playing a match.<\/p>\n
Their off-colour opener David Warner fractured his elbow in the second test and returned home ending a poor series.<\/p>\n
Regular skipper Pat Cummins also flew home after the second test to be with his ailing mother who passed away last week leaving Smith in charge of a battered squad.<\/p>\n
Smith felt their defeat despite initially dominating the second test in Delhi hurt them in the series.<\/p>\n
“Guys were pretty upset with the way we went away from our methods in that game, it was disappointing,” Smith said.<\/p>\n
“Obviously at that point we knew there was plenty to still play for in the series and guys responded really well and as a group we are proud of the way we bounced back and play some good cricket in the last couple of test matches.”<\/p>\n
Virat Kohli was adjudged player-of-the-match for his painstaking 186, his first test hundred since November 2019.<\/p>\n
Spin team mates Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared the player-of-the-series award.<\/p>\n
The teams will now clash in a three-match one-day series beginning in Mumbai on Friday.<\/p>\n
-Reuters<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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