Australia vs India 2018/19: 5 big takeaways from the Indian test series win
India have finally won a Test series in Australia after a span of 70 long years of waiting to lay their hands on that beautiful trophy. Seldom do we hear that India start favourites to win a series down under. But this time around, India did start favourites and comfortably brought the trophy home.
Almost everyone from the team had their contribution that affected the overall result of the series. Winning a 4 match test series 2-1 is something that will be remembered in the Indian subcontinent for a long time. This loss would have already started haunting the already underperforming Aussies.
The team that toured Australia had a lot of pressure of winning majorly due to the series defeats in South Africa and England earlier in 2018. The Australian team lost, and lost because of the absence of Smith and Warner who are banned for a year in the ball tampering scandal and will only return in April this year.
Team India has a lot to be celebrated from this emphatic win over the Aussies. Here is a look at 5 of those reasons:
#5 A stunning bowling unit
All the bowlers that India tried during the course of the series performed very well. Everyone executed the plans, and the wolves attacked in packs. It was almost like a competition within the team of getting the most wickets, giving away as less as possible at the same time.
Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and also the part-timer Hanuma Vihari were those who bowled and bowled too well to disappoint. Ashwin played a clinical role in the first and only test he played in this series and grabbed 6 wickets. Shami took a total of 16 wickets throughout the series. Ishant too was phenomenal with his line length and the deadly pace. He accounted for a total of 11 wickets. Vihari did not get to bowl much but took 2 crucial wickets in the second test, breaking big partnerships.
As for Kuldeep and Jadeja, Kuldeep played just one match and took a 5 wicket haul in the first innings of the fourth test. Jadeja took the field in the third and the fourth test and had 7 scalps against his name. And last but certainly not the least, the strike bowler of the team, Jasprit Bumrah took 21 wickets. Overall, it was a collective effort from the bowlers just like they did in the England and South Africa tours as well.