January 19 is a historic day for Indian cricket. On this day, back in 2021, India defeated Australia at the 'Fortress Gabba' in the fourth and final test match of the series. The series turned out to be one of the greatest that India had ever played in overseas conditions, winning 2-1, despite not having the services of its best players.
Rishabh Pant was the star on a tense final day of the Test match hitting a sensational 89* off 138 balls. Pant, coming into bat at number 5 helped India chase down an improbable target of 328 runs against the mighty Australian bowling attack that had hurt the team physically with a bouncer barrage at Sydney. Pant's soaked in an incredible amount of pressure after coming in and batted with four batters in the lower order to take India to a historic victory. And incredibly proud Ajinkya Rahane - the stand-in captain for most of the Test series said that it was a battle of wills between the two teams and cricket was more than just a game of bat and ball.
We've all been cribbing, knowing what to do, but failing to act, just looking back and struggling to get out of that negative bubble and here are a few spirited determined young men showing us the way. But are we as willing as they are? It comes down to that. And that's why there's a lot more to cricket than just bat and ball. A salute to the entire Indian contingent for giving us a reason to wake up early, look forward to something with belief and make us smile in these tough times, Rahane said after the game.
India head coach Ravi Shastri, who was criticised for favouring Rishabh Pant ahead of Wriddhiman Saha said that Pant was a match-winner in these conditions and had the ability to turn any game on its head.
It all came to the final day of the series at the Gabba with senior bater Rohit Sharma departing early as India's hopes took a massive dive. However, it was once again up to the veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara to bail the team out of trouble.
Pujara put up a fighting partnership of 114 runs with young Shubman Gill as the duo made it a comfort at once for the runs. Gill was so unfortunate to miss out on what would've been a historic Test century as he was undone by Nathan Lyon on 91. Skipper Rashane was quick to show attacking intent with his 22-ball 24 runs but was dismissed by Pat Cummins.
Pujara, in the meantime, scored yet another fifty on the Australian soil, the slowest one but one of his most important ones. He was soon dismissed by Cummins for 56 runs but Pant kept going at his pace at the other end. Pant put up a short but important 37-run stand for the fifth wicket with Mayank Agarwal who scored just nine runs.
Sundar once again put up a crucial contribution of 22 runs before getting dismissed but the rest of the job was done by Pant who ended up playing a historic knock of unbeaten 89 runs and took India to a famous win.
It was India's second consecutive test series win in australia after pulling off a similar 2-1 victory in the 2018-19 tour.
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