4 reasons to cherish India's series victory in Australia
2019 has got off to a dream start for the Indian cricket team as Virat Kohli's men completed a historic series victory against Australia at the SCG. For the first time in history, India have won a Test series on Australian shores.
Despite the loss in Perth and the rain in Sydney, victories at Adelaide and Melbourne were enough.
This series is sure to go down as one of Indian cricket's all-time greatest moments. People will remember this effort by Kohli's men for a long time to come.
While the series scoreline is something that will please every Indian fan, there are a lot of other positives and aspects to cherish for Indian cricket that hint at a bright future.
Here is a list of four such aspects:
#4 Monkey off the back
The biggest positive is definitely coming back with a series victory. The Indian team has been touring Australia since 1947 but had never won a Test series before this. The lack of a series victory in Australia was a big hole in India's list of achievements.
However, Kohli's team has rewritten history. Finally, the Indian cricket team has got the monkey off its back. India have now won a Test series in every Test playing country they have visited except for South Africa.
This is not something that India has not come close to doing before. In 2004, if not for some heroics by Steve Waugh in his final Test innings, India would have won the series. In 2008, if not for some terrible umpiring decisions, India could have returned victorious.
However, in 2018, India finally got its big moment. At the Sydney Cricket ground, the same venue as those two games, Kohli lifted the trophy which brought a 71-year old wait to an end.
This is significant not just because of the first ever series win in Australia, but also for the belief it sets in the team. Now, this team and the future ones can believe they can win anywhere and everywhere. While South Africa remains the final frontier, this team will now trust itself to go and win there too.
For this group of players, the victory is well deserved. Despite the scorelines in South Africa and England, the fight from the team was there for everyone to see. Apart from the humiliating defeat at Lord's, in all other games, India gave a competitive account of themselves. If not for a batting collapse here and there, the results could have been very different.
In Australia, this team finally got its well-earned reward. Now they will have the confidence to go anywhere and win.
The Indian cricket fans also got a deserved moment of elation. After years of waking up early morning to disappointment and heartbreak, the fans finally got to celebrate the moment they had waited for so many years.