DOWN AND UNDER THE WEATHER

After their flop show in Australia, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will have to live on current form rather than past glory

- BY AYAZ MEMON

There were no signs of the turmoil to come when India won the opening Test against Australia in Perth. Jasprit Bumrah, captaining in the absence of Rohit Sharma, showed strong leadership and extraordinary bowling form, destroying the Australian top order in both innings.

However, the joy was short-lived. Australia regrouped swiftly to win three of the remaining four Tests. This was a double whammy for India—not only did they lose the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a decade, but also lost out on a place in the World Test Championship final for the first time since it started in 2019.

The contest was taut, drawing record crowds to make this a blockbuster series, in terms of attendance and profits. Official figures put the on-ground spectatorship at more than 8,37,000 for the five Tests, reportedly the fourth highest-ever in Australia, including the venerated Ashes contests.

This established the burgeoning appeal of the Indo-Aus rivalry, which is equal to if not greater than the Ashes currently, highlighted by some extremely close bilateral Test series, and a WTC and an ODI World Cup final, both won by Australia.

Even with this Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the Australian victory was not as easy as the 3-1 scoreline suggests. India fought hard, keeping themselves in contention to at least square the series till the last innings of the fifth Test.

By regaining the trophy, Australia have dislodged India as the world’s best cricket team of the last decade across formats. In 2021, Australia had won the T20 World Cup, too, to make it a hat-trick of ICC trophies within two years.

In the end, the Aussies prevailed, not so much because of home advantage, rather because they showed greater resolve, gumption and ambition to win critical passages of play that decide the fate of a match.