Australia vs India 2014/15: Top 5 performances in the Test series
After a month of riveting Test cricket, we have finally come to the end of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15 played in Australia. With flat tracks greeting the players in most of the matches, the proceedings were dominated by the batsmen to a great extent. It was evident from the fact that both teams surpassed 400 runs in 1st innings in all the matches; in fact Australia crossed the 500 mark every time with Steven Smith going past the great Don Bradman’s record of most runs in a series between these two sides.For the Indian bowlers, this is definitely a series which they would like to forget going into the World Cup; they had records stacking against them for all the wrong reasons. The Indian bowling unit wasn’t able to dismiss the Australian batting order twice in a match throughout the series. Umesh Yadav went on to concede 45 runs in 3 overs during the second innings of the final Test; it happened to be the highest economy rate by a bowler in Tests with a minimum of 3 overs.The final scoreline reading Australia 2-0 India is indicative of India’s weaker bowling unit compared to their counterparts. The Indian batsmen put on a terrific display in the series and were in no way lagging behind the Australians.The series saw some incredible individual performances, of which, some were match-winning and other performances won the hearts of many cricket followers. Let us have a look at the top 5 performances in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15:
#5 Nathan Lyon\'s 12-wicket haul - 1st Test
During an emotional morning session at Adelaide, Australia opted to bat first on a pitch which was flat and looked like a belter of a track, as is the case with Adelaide usually. Centuries from David Warner, Australian captain Michael Clarke and Steven Smith put the Australians in a formidable position at 517/7 at the end of play on day 2.
With India’s batsmen struggling in their previous tour to England against the part-time off-spinner Moeen Ali, Nathon Lyon was anticipated to play a major part in this series.
Lyon had a good return with the ball in the first innings with his figures reading 36-4-134-5; four among those wickets were of India’s middle order batsmen. The Australians managed to get a good first innings lead of 73 and they were in pursuit of some quick runs on day 4 to declare early and give themselves a chance to go 1-0 up in the series.
They were helped by Warner and Smith again and an overnight declaration gave India a target of 369 to chase on the final day with 98 overs to be bowled on a pitch which was crumbling.
Not many gave the visitors a chance to even draw the Test, but they, under their new captain Virat Kohli, decided that being positive was the only way they could tackle this. Things fell in place for the Indian batsmen and at Tea on day 5, they were at a comfortable position of 205/2, still needing 159 runs in the final session with 8 wickets in hand which was very much possible.
Lyon, who was expected to be a nightmare for Indian batsmen on the final day pitch, didn’t have much of an impact in the first two sessions; credit had to be given to the Indian batsmen for handling him so well. Even when Australia were glaring at a defeat, they refused to take a step back and it paid off in the end.
The final session started off with Lyon trapping Murali Vijay plumb in front on 99. This opened the floodgates for the Australians and they ran through the Indian lower order quickly. Lyon made life very difficult for the Indian batsmen once the partnership between Kohli and Vijay was broken. He consistently pitched the ball in the rough outside the off-stump and wickets were falling at a rapid rate. He ended the innings with 7 wickets to his name and was rightly adjudged the Man-of-the-Match.
Lyon ended the series with a total of 23 wickets under his belt and was by far the highest wicket-taker of the series, with India’s Mohammed Shami next with 15 wickets to his name.