Indian youth brigade had broken Australia’s ‘pride of Gabba’ on this day, these players including Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill became heroes
Rishabh Pant scored a total of 112 runs in this match, while Gill added 98 runs in both the innings. Washington Sundar took 4 wickets with 84 runs, while Shardul Thakur scored 69 runs with 7 wickets.
Rishabh Pant’s drive at long-off on Josh Hazlewood’s ball … Indian players celebrate the victory by entering the field as soon as the ball touches the boundary …. and those golden words of Vivek Razdan doing Hindi commentary ‘broken’ The pride of Gaba’… This is the moment which is still fresh in the hearts of Indian cricket lovers even after 2 years. January 19 is the same date when the Young India Brigade defeated Australia for the second consecutive Test series at their home in the absence of David Warner and Steve Smith. This series was special for India in many ways, Team India was all out for 36 runs in the first test, the then captain Virat Kohli returned home on paternity leave, senior players like Bumrah, Jadeja and Ashwin were injured during the series and Don’t know what happened… But still Team India fought and again hoisted the tricolor in Australia.
When the third Test was being played between India and Australia in Sydney, the captain of the host team, Tim Paine, threatened Ashwin with Gabba behind the wicket. Actually, Australia had not lost on this ground for 32 years, in such a situation, this pride of theirs is made on this ground. When both the teams reached Gabba after drawing the Sydney Test, the series was level at 1-1. While the Australian team was full of confidence, the concern of Team India was about the playing XI. After Hanuma Vihari and Ashwin were injured in Sydney, India were faced with the challenge of selecting the last 11 players. In such a situation, Ajinkya Rahane had to field the net bowlers as well.
This advice of Virat Kohli came in handy for Shardul Thakur and Team India, hit in one ball
Electing to bat first after winning the toss, the hosts scored 369 runs on the board thanks to Marnus Labuschagne’s century. In front of this score, India got piled on 336 runs. With the help of half-century innings at the end of Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur, Team India managed to reach close to this score of Australia. There was a 123-run partnership between the two for the 7th wicket.
With a lead of 33 runs, Australia scored 294 runs in the second innings and set a target of 328 runs in front of India. In the second innings, Mohammad Siraj took 5 wickets and Shardul Thakur took 4 wickets. The fourth day’s play ended early due to rain, with India scoring 4 runs chasing the target. On the fifth day, India was in double mind. Chasing more than 300 on the last day of Test cricket is not an easy task, but India had players who could pull it off.
With this twin thinking, India formulated its strategy. Cheteshwar Pujara got the responsibility of handling one end, while the player standing at the other end got the freedom to play freely. After Rohit Sharma’s first wicket of the day fell for 18 runs, Shubman Gill shared a 114-run partnership for the first wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara. Gill was dismissed on a personal score of 91. After this, captain Ajinkya Rahane also got out in the process of scoring quick runs.
After the fall of two wickets in a short span, India again had the same dilemma whether to chase the target or not. After supporting Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant came and as soon as Pant came, he made his stand clear that he is not going to stop and will chase the target. Team India was definitely shocked when Pujara was dismissed on a personal score of 56, but Pant was continuously beating the kangaroos from the other end. Pant remained unbeaten till the end and played an innings of 89 runs, apart from this Washington Sundar scored a brilliant 22 runs to shift the momentum towards India. India broke Australia’s pride in Gabba by winning this match by just three wickets.
Rishabh Pant scored a total of 112 runs in this match, while Gill added 98 runs in both the innings. Washington Sundar took 4 wickets with 84 runs, while Shardul Thakur scored 69 runs with 7 wickets. Siraj got a total of 6 successes during this period and all these players were the heroes of India’s victory in Gaba.