INDIA IN HISTORIC WIN ON AUSTRALIAN SOIL
SYDNEY—India celebrated an historic test series victory in Australia after the weather-affected fourth match at the Sydney Cricket Ground finished in a draw. Captain Virat Kohli’s team entered the final day with hopes of a 3-1 series victory and also its first win at the SCG since 1978, but rain meant there was no play on Monday and umpires called it off early. The draw gave India a 2-1 series win.
“A very proud moment,” Kohli said. “More so because for the last 12 months we understand what we have gone through as a team, we understand the kind of cricket we have been able to play.
“But the fact that the reward has come in the most historic series for Indian cricket is the cherry on the top of the cake.”
Six hours of play was also lost on Sunday because of poor weather, but Kuldeep Yadav still had time to take his second fivewicket haul in tests as India rattled through Australia’s lower order with only a late 42-run rally by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood taking the hosts to 300 for just the second time this series.
Marcus Harris top-scored for the hosts with 79, Australia’s highest individual score in the series.
Leading by 322 runs, Kohli had little hesitation in enforcing the follow-on and Australia reached six without loss in its second innings—with Harris unbeaten on two and Usman Khawaja on four—when bad light stopped ended play on day four.
The last time Australia was required to follow-on at home was in 1988 against England at the SCG, a match which finished in a draw. “We’re really disappointed,” Australia captain Tim Paine said. “We know we had some guys missing but we honestly felt coming into this series that in Australia, we could beat India.
“Throughout the series, more often than not when those big moments came up, Virat [Kohli] scored a century or [Chetweshwar] Pujara scored one or [Jasprit] Bumrah bowled a great spell and got them through those moments.” AP