The Gabba in Brisbane was arguably Australia’s most beloved venue in the longest formats, having not lost a Test there in 32 years, but Team India had different plans. Ahead of the start of the fourth and final Test, the Indian suffered huge blow by losing their two premier bowlers in Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin to add to the long list of injuries that had dogged the Indian team on its tour of Australia.
Without their regular skipper and the best batsman in Virat Kohli already, India got the chance of showing immense grit in Sydney and they didn’t disappoint. But what unfolded in Brisbane was almost equal to a miralce as India’s young guns, being captained by Ajinkya Rahane, breached fortress Gabba to claim another historic series win in Australia that not only helped them retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but also took them to the top of the World Test Championship standings.
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India is standing at the numero uno position at the World Test Championship table with 430 points, having won nine matches, lost three, and drawn one. New Zealand is at second, 10 points behind India. Australia, who were top of the table, before the start of the Brisbane Test, has slipped to the third place, with just 332 points to their name.
India on 🔝
After the hard-fought win at The Gabba, India move to the No.1 spot in ICC World Test Championship standings 💥
Australia slip to No.3 👇#WTC21 pic.twitter.com/UrTLE4Rui0
— ICC (@ICC) January 19, 2021
There were many heroes throughout the Test, but one name came out on Day 5, and he is none other than Rishabh Pant. Constantly criticized for his wicket-keeping abilities, Pant let his bat do the talking and took India to a momentous victory.
The 23-year-old scored an unbeaten 89 off 138 balls as the Indian team won a thrilling game thriller with three wickets remaining. India, set a target of 328 to win, chased down the target with just three overs of the day’s play remaining.
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Besides Pant, Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara too batted brilliant, scoring 91 and 56, respectively. Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur were the heroes with the ball. Siraj took his maiden five-wicket haul in the longest format in Australia’s second innings to end the match with a total of six wickets. Thakur, who had scored a crucial half-century in the first innings, took a total of seven wickets in the match.
