Extraordinary India can start celebrating after ending long quest to win in Australia
The next three days of the Sydney Test don’t matter anymore because India has already reached cricket’s Holy Grail.
India can start celebrating already because their work is done here.
The next three days of the Sydney Test don’t matter anymore because they’ve already reached cricket’s Holy Grail.
It’s taken 71 years of blood, sweat and tears but Friday’s extraordinary display of batting was the day that India’s long quest to win a Test series in Australia finally ended.
They can’t lose from here so the only thing left to decide is whether they win 2-1 or 3-1.
This may be one of the weakest Australian sides in history but that shouldn’t detract from India’s accomplishment.
Under the shrewd leadership of captain Virat Kohli, India have assembled the best team in the world so deserve all the plaudits and accolades that will come their way after steamrollering Australia.
Winning in Australia is still the toughest challenge in the game for any opposing touring side and is a feat that proved beyond India’s greatest leaders, including Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly.
For India’s fanatical supporters, the long wait has been agonising because there were times when they thought it may never happen after being crushed on previous trips here.
Australia was the first country India toured after gaining independence in 1947 but it wasn’t so much the start of a great sporting rivalry as a cricketing massacre.
It was Don Bradman’s last series at home and he wasn’t in a charitable mood, smashing 715 runs in the five matches at an average of 178.75.
He made four centuries, including a double, as Australia romped to a 4-0 win.
In the first innings of the first Test, India were bowled out for just 58, which remains their lowest total against Australia. They made 98 in the second innings after being made to follow on.
It wasn’t until 1959 that India managed to win a single Test in Australia and another six years before they managed to draw a series here.
Against lesser cricketing nations, India were making some headway.
In 1969, they won in New Zealand to claim their first series away from home.
In 1971, they beat both England and the West Indies away from home and steadily ticked off their other opponents, with Sri Lanka (1993), Bangladesh (2000), Pakistan (2004) and Zimbabwe (2005) all surrendering to cricket’s emerging giant.
India beat Australia in a series at home for the first time in 1979 and won the 50-over World Cup in 1983 and 2011 and the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.
But the one achievement they desperately wanted more than any other, continued to elude them. Until now.
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Originally published as Extraordinary India can start celebrating after ending long quest to win in Australia
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