Australia vs India, First Test: 5 Talking Points

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India got over the line in the end

So, after a tough day, visitors India eventually managed to hold on for a fantastic win at Adelaide and also creating history by being the first side to win Tests in Australia, England, and South Africa in a single calendar year. This was also India's first time in the 12 Test series in Australia till date, that they opened the series with a win.

Batting first, Pujara's 123 saw India scoring 250 runs, after which Indian bowlers restricted the hosts to 235 runs. In their second chance at batting, Pujara again top-scored with 71 runs, along with ample support from the likes of Rahane (70), Rahul (44) and Kohli (34) among others, to put up a score of 307 on the board, handing the Aussies a target of 323. The hosts were bowled out for 291 runs, thus handing India a win by 31 runs. Pujara was the man-of-the-match for his combined tally of 194 runs from two innings.

Let us take a look at the talking points from the final day's play, which began with Australia at 104/4, needing 219 runs to win. Play lasted 70.5 overs and saw the Aussies making 187 runs while losing the remainder of their wickets.

1. Bowling became tougher in the final sessions

It wasn't all smooth sailing for India

Australia are always a really tough side to take on in their own home conditions, and the game that unfurled today really showed us why that statement stands.

Bowling was becoming really tough, given that it was the fifth day, and the pitch had already been subjected to enough wear and tear, any assistance offered off it to the bowlers coming down to a trickle.

There were very few bangers from the part of Indian bowlers, however, it was definitely not because they did not try. It was easy for the batsmen to judge the swing and turn of deliveries, and the Australians almost succeeded in putting pressure back on the visiting Indians.

Regular wickets across various intervals were the only thing that kept India in the game, and Virat Kohli the skipper would easily have worried, if one or more partnerships had made twenty-or-so more runs than what they already did.

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