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OTD in 2019: When Virat & Co Achieved Historic Maiden Test Series Win in Australia

image-lr32j23qIndia won the 2018-19 series 2-1 (Twitter)

A rain-abandoned Day 5 in the New Year's Test at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground ended the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in a decisive 2-1 scoreline and gave India an unprecedented Test series win in Australia. 

Virat Kohli's men managed to eclipse the mountain which had seemed unreachable once and recorded the nation's finest-ever hour in the history of Test cricket. India not only pulled off their first series win Down Under but also became the first Asian side to achieve the incredible feat. 



Having taken a series lead on the back of remarkable victories in Adelaide and Melbourne, the visitors were set to bag their third win of the four-match series after posting an insurmountable 622/7 declared and dismissing the hosts for just 300 on a good batting surface. 

However, rain put paid to India's intentions of clinching a first win at the SCG since 1978 after the final day's play was completely ruined by torrential weather and gave the Tim Paine-led Australians a great relief after being asked to follow on. 

When India Bagged Maiden Test Series Win Down Under 

But even rain couldn't stop the mighty Indian juggernaut from achieving the greatly desired first Test series win in Australia on the back of a tremendous team effort across the four-match rubber for the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

As he had done all tour, India's stoic No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara dominated the proceedings with a career-defining knock of 193 in the first-innings, which was backed up brilliantly by a terrific 159 from wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant and half-centuries by opener Mayank Agarwal (77) and allrounder Ravindra Jadeja (81). 

Having broken the back of the Australian pace pack and the entire team with a mammoth batting effort, India managed to ruffle their feathers further with another exceptional outing with ball in hand. 

The experienced trio of Mohammad Shami (2/58), Jasprit Bumrah (1/62) and Jadeja (2/73) build inroads before wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav bagged a special fifer to dismiss the Aussies well short of the follow-on mark. 

Earlier in the series, valiant contributions from greats Pujara, Kohli, Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma had helped India come out triumphant at the Adelaide Oval and MCG either side of a defeat in Perth.