Ajinkya Rahane-led team storms fortress Gabba

“Test cricket’s heart is beating strongly! (sic)” — this tweet by England cricketer Stuart Broad summed up Team India’s mammoth victory over Australia at the Gabba Test today (January 19, 2021). Beating Australia 2-1, India has retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

A drive past mid-off for four by Rishabh Pant a little after 1pm IST was enough to sink the Australians and ensure that this Test match was right up there in the pantheon of great encounters between the two teams. India got home with three overs to spare, sealing a win that will live long in their memory. Pant played a winning knock of 89 runs from 138 balls, and remained unbeaten till the end. His sensational batting ensured that Team India breached fortress Gabba, where no team had beaten Australia for 33 years. The last time a visiting team won at the Gabba was in 1988, when West Indies had beaten Australia.

If the loss didn’t bruise Australia enough, a tweet by ICC must have ensured that the ignominy of the loss would linger in their minds for a long time to come. The tweet stated the scenarios that were in place the last time Australia lost a Test at Gabba in 1988 — George HW Bush had just won the US Presidential election, Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi had topped the music charts, Virat Kohli was 16 days old and Sachin Tendulkar was yet to make his international debut.

Heading into this Test, India didn’t have anything going for them. The team was beset by injuries. Before the first ball was bowled in this Test, their depleted bowling line-up consisted of five players who, among them, had a combined tally of just 11 Test wickets. Of the five — Mohammed Siraj, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar — two were debutantes. However, during the course of the five days, they bowled Australia out twice, with Siraj picking up his first fifer.

The Test also typified the new India, where self-belief is everything and losing isn’t an option, no matter what the arsenal or who the opposition is. After being skittled for an all-time low of 36 in Adelaide, today, the entire team portrayed a deadly intent. Despite the absence of big names such as Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma among others, Team India stood resolute, refusing to be knocked over by the Aussies.

Road to World Test Championship final

While the Test and series win propelled India to the top of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points table, the loss clouded Australia’s chances to play the final, scheduled at Lord’s in August this year. In the WTC, nine teams play a total of 27 series. The top two teams will battle it out in the final.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, standings began to be calculated on a percentage basis instead of points. From this victory, India secured 30 points, and overtook Australia to reach the top spot. These 30 points took India’s tally to 430 points (71.66%). Australia dropped to No. 3, with New Zealand now placed at No. 2. England and South Africa are at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Since the launch of the percentage system, India has occupied the top spot for the first time.

Starting February 5, India will take on England in a four-match Test series at home. Australia is slated to play South Africa in a three-match Test series. However, they stand a better chance to qualify for the WTC final if the series is called off. If it doesn’t, Australia will need 89 percentage points to go past New Zealand, which can happen if they win two Tests and draw the third.

Even in the ICC Test rankings, Australia slipped to the third position following the loss. India, meanwhile, moved to the No. 2 slot with 117.65 points, behind New Zealand, who have 118.44 points.

Cricket fraternity, Bollywood congratulate team

Cricketers, both past and present, took to social media to congratulate Team India for the gritty effort. Former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly tweeted that the BCCI had announced a Rs 5 crore bonus for the team. 

Sachin Tendulkar first tweeted: “EVERY SESSION WE DISCOVERED A NEW HERO. (sic)”, and then followed it up with another tweet that read: “…if you ever score 36 or lesser in life, remember: it isn't end of the world. (sic)”

Virat Kohli echoed Sachin’s words. He posted: “…To everyone who doubted us after Adelaide, stand up and take notice. (sic)”

Staying true to character, former swashbuckling India batsman Virender Sehwag wrote: “…This is the new India. Ghar mein ghuskar maarta hai. (sic)”

Cricketer-turned-commentator, VVS Laxman applauded the effort put in by Ravi Shastri and the support staff and also the youngsters in the team. “So so proud of this bunch, this is one for the ages (sic)”, Laxman tweeted.

While congratulating the team on the much-deserved victory, former India captain Anil Kumble sought to throw in a subtle remark on ICC’s proposal to turn Test cricket into a four-day affair. Kumble’s tweet read: “Hopefully the end of discussion of 4 day tests for a while. (sic)”
 

Bollywood, too, couldn’t contain its excitement, with Shah Rukh Khan and Ranveer Singh among the first ones to congratulate the Indian team for the historic win.

While SRK tweeted: “…Stayed up all night to watch it unfold ball by ball. Now will sleep peacefully for a bit and savour this historic moment. (sic)”, Ranveer Singh posted a message on Instagram with a photo of the team celebrating the victory.
 

Preity Zinta, too, took to Twitter to be a part of this momentous occasion. She tweeted: “… Gabba has been breached & conquered (sic)”