‘Relief’ as Australia grab test win
Australia celebrated their first test win under captain Tim Paine and coach Justin Langer after they defeated India by 146 runs in Perth yesterday.
It was the culmination of nine months of soul-searching and struggles.
Australia levelled the fourtest series in style, turning the screws in 65 minutes on day five to set the stage for a high-stakes Boxing Day bout.
‘‘It’s probably more relief at the moment,’’ Paine said. ‘‘The first win has taken a while. I’m really proud of all our players.’’
Australia captured the early ascendancy from the moment Paine won the toss and stayed on top of the world No 1 test team despite a couple of inspired fightbacks, the most notable of which was spearheaded by Virat Kohli’s first century on tour.
‘‘They were more relentless,’’ Kohli said. ‘‘Australia played much better than us, especially with the bat in the first innings . . . they deserved to win.’’
India resumed at 112-5 yesterday, having been asked to complete what would have been a record-breaking chase of 287, and were quickly rolled for 140.
Their hopes of a miracle evaporated amid a brutal bouncer barrage, in which Mitchell Starc struck Umesh Yadav on the shoulder and then accepted a return catch in the same over.
An outstanding catch from Peter Handscomb helped man of the match Nathan Lyon dismiss danger man Rishabh Pant.
Lyon, the leading wickettaker in the series with 16 scalps at 19.43, finished with match figures of 8-106 to raise further questions about India’s decision to pick a four-prong pace attack in Perth.
‘‘Every team wants a spinner like Nathan,’’ Paine said. ‘‘You can throw him the ball in any conditions, any end, to any batter.’’
Australia snapped a six-test winless streak, which dated back to their infamous tour of South Africa in March.
Much has been made of Australia’s failures, on and off the field, since the Cape Town cheating scandal.
Paine, whose cheeky chirping behind the stumps continued on day five, has remained calm throughout the crisis and in Perth his inexperienced teammates showed similar fight.
Australia celebrated jubilantly when Pat Cummins held a skied catch off his own bowling to end the match, shook hands with Kohli’s team then quickly turned their attention to thanking the fans at Perth Stadium.