![Indian team after winning the Gabba Test [Source: @ICC/x]](https://onecricketnews.akamaized.net/parth-editor/oc-dashboard/news-images-prod/1768813456208_IndianteamafterwinningtheGabbaTest[Source@ICCx].jpg?type=hq)
Indian team after winning the Gabba Test [Source: @ICC/x]
Some victories are etched into scorecards and cricketing archives, and then there are those that transcend results and expectations altogether. The latter of the two once unfolded on this very day, five years ago, for the Indian cricket team, in conditions far from home that had long resisted India’s success.
The moment in question was none other than Team India’s historic triumph at the Gabba in Brisbane, a venue where no Australian team had lost in over three decades.
When a depleted Indian side conquered Australia in Australia
The Indian team toured Australia in late-2020 for a four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series. With series locked 1-1 going into the decider at the Gabba in Brisbane, the spotlight firmly fell on an injury-ravaged Indian side, forced to field an inexperienced bowling attack against a champion Australian unit unbeaten at the venue since 1988.
With series on the line, a young Indian brigade under the charismatic leadership of stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane punched above its weight to stun the great Australian team in its own den.
How the Gabba Test unfolded?
The gloves were touched, the challenge unfolded as Australia won the toss and opted to bat first.
Batting against an inexperienced Indian pace attack whose most experienced fast bowler in the playing XI (Mohammed Siraj) was the one who made his Test debut barely three weeks ago, Australia stacked up 369 with a century from Marnus Labuschagne and a fifty from home skipper and loudmouth wicketkeeper-batter Tim Paine.
The Indian team, in the absence of Virat Kohli in the XI, slipped to a precarious 186-6 around 66 overs before young all-rounders Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar reduced India’s deficit to just 33 runs.
Both Thakur and Sundar smeared dazzling half-centuries in their courageous 123-run stand for the seventh wicket as India charted 336 in 111.4 overs. For Australia, Josh Hazlewood scythed through the Indian line-up with a sensational five-fer.
Australian batted again and listed 294 at a brisk pace of nearly four-runs-an-over to set India an imposing target of 328 on the final day. The target would easily have been a much bigger one if not for Mohammed Siraj’s five-wicket haul and a Shardul Thakur four-fer.
India lost vintage opener Rohit Sharma early on Day 5, before a hot-headed Shubman Gill and ice-cool Cheteshwar Pujara stitched together a 114-run partnership in their own contrasting ways. While Gill top-scored with 91 from 146 balls, Pujara coped multiple body blows in his glacial 211-ball 56.
Sniffing a chance going into the final session, blistering wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant took centre-stage for India, plundering 89* runs off 138 balls with nine boundaries and a six. Washington Sundar also scored a handy 22, before a straight hit from Pant notched up the winning runs for India with three wickets and few minutes to spare.
India achieved the unthinkable
And just like that, a depleted Indian side had scripted history in Australia, retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy title in the absence of several senior members like Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and others.
The outcome also marked Australia’s first-ever defeat at the Gabba since 1988, and India clinched the BGT title for the second time in succession on Australian soil, mere weeks after getting blown away for a shambolic 36 in the series-opener at the Adelaide Oval.
