Border-Gavaskar Trophy: A decade of dominance done and dusted

In a recent interview with DH, Stuart Clark remarked that the Indian bowling attack would lose much of its potency without Jasprit Bumrah, stating: “He is two-thirds of their attack.” While his evaluation might seem somewhat severe, the performance of the Indian pacers, in Bumrah’s injury-enforced absence, did little to contradict the former Australian fast bowler’s claim.  

The Indian pacers, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, who had been instrumental in dismissing Australia for 181 in their first innings, failed to replicate their form when it mattered most. Only Prasidh showed up on the day, perhaps a little late in a small chase, as the hosts, despite some stutters, coasted to a rather comfortable six-wicket win on the third day of the fifth and final Test to clinch the series 3-1.

With the SCG turning into a sea of pink to mark the Annual Pink Test to bring awareness about cancer here on Sunday, Australia wrested the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy from the Indians after a gap of nine years. The loss also ended India's wafer-thin hopes of qualifying for the World Test Championship final. The finale will now be fought between defending champs Australia and first-time finalists South Africa

India, overnight 141/6, folded up for 157 as Scott Boland (6/45) and Pat Cummins (3/44) claimed two wickets apiece. Boland, who returned a match haul of 10/76, was the wrecker-in-chief of the Indian batting with his nagging length and line. On a deck where all that a bowler was to do was hit the right areas, Boland turned out to be an absolute beast.

It was a template Indians needed to replicate in order to defend a total of 161. They were far from it. While Bumrah raised hopes of returning to bowl when he came out to bat earlier, his absence was conspicuous as India came out to bowl, with Virat Kohli going on to marshall the limited resources. 

If Australia were experiencing any nerves before the start of the chase, all that was gone in the first three overs of their second innings with Siraj and Prasidh bowling all over the place. While bowling in the channel has been the buzzword of this match, the Indian pace duo repeatedly sprayed down the leg conceding easy runs. Australia's target came down to 127 from 162 after just three overs as both Sam Konstas (22) and Usman Khawaja (41) gleefully capitalised on the freebies thrown at them.

Though Prasidh's three blows -- Konstats, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, the last one falling just one run short of 10,000 Test runs  -- injected some life back, lack of support from the other end dissipated whatever pressure had been built on. An unbeaten stand of 58 runs for the fifth wicket between Travis Head (34) and a nerveless Beau Webster (39) took Australia to 162/4 with almost an hour left in the second session on the third day. 

Indian batters' approach in the morning, and to an extent on the evening of the second day, was bizarre as well. It was obvious one couldn't survive on this surface for far too long trying to defend his wicket. There was always going to be one ball with your name on it. And given Boland and Cummins' accuracy, it was always a matter of when rather than if. It would have been ideal for the Indians to throw their bat around a bit and gather as many runs as possible and make the chase as hard as possible.

Instead, they focused on defending and kept losing wickets without adding anything substantial to the total. After Rishabh Pant's dismissal on Saturday, when they slipped to 124/5, India lost their remaining five wickets for the addition of just 33 runs. In the end, though, it appeared even a target of 200 would have looked inadequate with India missing Bumrah's bowling firepower. 

Score board

India (I Innings): 185 all out

Australia (I Innings): 181 all out

India (II Innings; O/n: 141/6):

Jaiswal b Boland 22 (35b, 4x4), Rahul b Boland 11 (20b, 2x4), Gill c Carey b Webster 13 (15b, 1x4), Kohli c Smith b Boland 6 (12b, 1x4), Pant c Carey b Cummins 61 (33b, 6x4, 4x6), Jadeja c Carey b Cummins 13 (45b, 2x4), Nitish c Cummins b Boland 4 (21b), Washington 12 (43b), Siraj c Khawaja b Boland 4 (11b), Bumrah b Boland 0 (3b), Prasidh (not out) 1 (1b)

Extras (B-4, LB-4) 8

Total (for 6 wkts, 32 overs) 141

Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Rahul), 2-47 (Jaiswal), 3-59 (Kohli), 4-78 (Gill), 5-124 (Pant), 6-129 (Nitish), 7-147 (Jadeja), 8-156 (Washington), 9-156 (Siraj).

Bowling: Starc 4-0-36-0, Cummins 15-4-44-3, Boland 16.5-5-45-6, Webster 4-1-24-1.

Australia (II Innings):

Konstas c Washington b Prasidh 22 (17b, 3x4), Khawaja c Pant b Siraj 41 (45b, 4x4), Labuschagne c Jaiswal b Prasidh 6 (20b, 1x4), Smith c Jaiswal b Prasidh 4 (9b), Head (not out) 34 (38b, 4x4), Webster (not out) 39 (34b, 6x4)

Extras (B-5, LB-2, NB-1, W-8) 16

Total (for 4 wkts, 27 overs) 162

Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Konstas), 2-52 (Labuschagne), 5-58 (Smith), 4-1014 (Khawaja).

Bowling: Bumrah 12-1-69-1, Prasidh 12-0-65-3, Nitish 2-0-10-0, Washington 1-0-11-0.

Result: Australia won by 6 wkts

Series: Australia won the series 3-1

PoM: Scott Boland; PoS: Jasprit Bumrah.